Ko Lanta, Thailand

12/04 A mini bus picked us up around mid day, got chatting to a very interesting couple,(him Italian, her Russian. Picked K&G up on the way – fab surprise but they were having a nightmare with the landlord who said they owed about £300 for the electricity!! Got Ferry to Phi Phi. Big and packed but at least everyone got a seat. Had a couple of beers, great atmos and great to be with K&G. Changed ferries at Phi Phi, was all very well organised. There was a tuk tuk waiting for us when we got off the ferry, we immediately took to Lanta, has a great feel about it. It is predominantly Muslim and it was nice to see

so many Muslim ladies, working either as tuk tuk drivers or in restaurants – most running a business without the support of a man. Got to Ko Lanta Pearl Beach Resort at dusk and instantly fell in love with the place. Dotted in front of the restaurant are little hut type eating areas with low tables – which me and the girls love, Pete struggles with his long legs haha. The room itself is beautiful and spotlessly clean. It’s a bungalow hut with steps leading up to it, with a little terrace, table and chairs and a hammock!! It is decorated to a high standard, the bathroom is huge and all black matt tiled, the shower area is superb with a little step down so the rest of the bathroom stays dry, very well thought out and fabulous value again compared to the beach huts in Palolem. The beach itself is 2 minutes away. We ate in the restaurant, delicious food. Green and masamam curry. The girls got noodles but they were the flat glass ones – didn’t got down too well. Soon it was dark and all we could see where pretty little lights dotted around the resort. Beautiful and peaceful. Had a couple of drinks at the bar. The girls met

some Thai girls – somehow connected to the owner there was a large tv the other side of the bar with Disney movies on – Mummy and Daddy happy, children happy. I think we’re gonna like it here….(sang Annie style).

13/04 Decided to try out a scooter. We’ve never done it before as hasn’t seemed safe enough. However it’s so quiet here and the roads are in perfect condition, it feels safe enough. Shells practiced and felt confident. E loved it. Though we wouldn’t be using scooters the rest of the day as it was Day 1 of Songkran. Crazy Thai New Year celebrations which is all about water! Bucket loads of it – quite literally. Basically it is the biggest water fight you’ll ever see. Pete got soaked on scooter. People were partying from about 10am. It was crazy down on the main

road so after getting soaked and taking in the sights we heading back to our resort and started on the beers, it’s New Year after all. Girls had a super time playing with owners children again and some French girls, they had 2 huge tubs of water and were soaking unpressumming passer bys. Met an Oz family from Darwin - Kelly, Jono, Bailey (6), Tom (14), baby Oliver. Girls played ages with Bailey. Met English guy Ben from Brighton with his son Zackary, on a gap year as well. Dinner on beach at Mr Wee’s pizza place, Oz family were there, recommended by the Toms. Great eve – fab pizzas.

WEEK 29

14/04 OMG hilarious – we hired a tuk tuk to drive ourselves. Worked out cheaper than 2 scooters and much safer. I don’t think we’ll ever be the hippy type to take the children on scooters, God forbid if anything happened, we’d never forgive ourselves. Tuk Tuk is perfect for what we need. Drove to Karen and Gav’s pool. Karen got the girls doing running into pool,

cartoon character style, i.e. legs going round and round before they fall into pool – funny! Dinner at fat monkey with KG, oh dear, not good food. Great eve though on a comedy level. We complained about almost everything haha. Also dramarama as Elodie’s tooth really wobbly and she bit down on it and there was blood everywhere. Tooth now hanging but she won’t hear of us twisting it or trying to get it out. Poor kid couldn’t eat. Drinks back at our bar, I was so nervous in the tuk tuk, Gav was clowning around. Gav v funny with barman. Met Carly a teacher from London now teaching in Bangkok, she had just arrived, by herself, really lovely.

15/04 Girls played with Bailey at hotel and at beach. Beautiful beach, stunning water but wow the heat, unbelievable. A Spanish family has moved in to the bungalow next door. Had dinner and drinks with the Oz family and Spanish family (Katherina from Czech and kids Leonardo and Amelie) who live in Paris. He is a researcher of dark matter!!!! She’s 7 months pregnant, don’t know how she is coping in this heat!!

Great eve and lovely seeing kids playing together. Leo and Amelie only speak French and Czech so the kids have created a universal language which consists of the word ‘coco’ only. Funny.

16/04 Girls played with owners daughters Londa and Noi and we said goodbye to the Oz family who are moving 10km away to a different hotel for a few days. Chilled out around resort. Girls had nap. Dinner with KG at Pattys Secret Garden, girls loved as there was a play area. Complained about the wine 3 times, turns out it was the whole box that was off. Great starters of tofu and chicken. It was our last supper with K&G for a while as they’re off travelling tomorrow. E lost another tooth!

17/04 Met K&G at Living Room for farewell coffee. It was hard saying goodbye, we’ve kind of got used to having them around. The plan is that we meet in Vietnam, hope so! Drove to Koh Nin to see Bailey and family. Another drama as Kelly fell and broke wrist so had to go to hospital. We took Bailey for lunch at Rock and Roll in Kantiang. It was really hilly and on one particularly steep one we ended up kangarooing, and went flying off to the side and crashed into (and knocked over) a massive sign!!!! Kids were terrified. On a positive note lunch was good, great Pad Thai, lovely seeing kids tucking in. Restaurant quite cool but not sure it was worth the journey. Pete took it really easy on way back!! Had beers with Javiere and then others at the hotel bar: Josh and Lisa from Alaska, a German couple (lovely, not long married, she confided to us that she was in early stages of pregnancy – aaaaah) and an Oz couple from Perth. Late night. Great food at hotel again!

18/04 Lazy day at hotel as felt v hungover. Girls played with Thai girls again. Had dinner at night market in ban Saladan with Spanish family. It wasn’t until we were stuck into the meal we realised we were sitting under a huge pylon – aren’t they meant to be really dangerous?! Great food but Chloe being a

fusspot. To be fair our girls were shattered from last night. We left the others there and headed back for a relatively early night, we all needed some good sleep before our trip tomorrow.

19/04 Early start for a 4 island snorkelling trip from old town. Superb! Elodie very brave and really enjoyed the snorkelling, Chloe was too scared. Stopped at Ko Ngai, Ko Mook, Ko Kradan, Ko Maa and Ko Chuek. amazing lunch on beach at Ko Kradan. Shells and Elodie swam 70m through a cave on Ko Mook to reach a secret beach, Elodie super brave. Lost Elodie’s flip flop – annoying. Went to beach for sunset and dinner at hotel with Spanish family.

20/04 Went to old town with Spanish family (they’ve also hired tuk tuk). Super day. Stopped to feed a couple of elephants on

the way (random). Found a little play area, kids loved it but so open and the sun was neating down, they were sweating loads. Headed into the town. It’s quite sweet but nothing special and really just as new as the rest of the Island since it had been hit massively by the 2005 Tsunami. Both the Toms recommendations were closed for the season. Had lunch at Shine Talay, good food, fresh whole seabass, delicious, Elodie ate loads, Clo being v fussy again grrrrrr. Walked around the shops bought Chloe a hat, she loves it. Went to My Place Boutique to use their pool. Chloe had pre shower with all her clothes on by mistake – she was so embarrassed and cried for ages but then swam 24 lengths without being asked to! Poor little Clo, she’s such a trooper we forget that she’s only just turned 5. She’s probably exhausted yet she just keeps going. Final dinner with Spanish family, they leave tomorrow – ahhhhh, we’ll miss them and early (relatively) night. We had a little birthday celebration as Leo will be 6 in a couple of days. Of all the nights the Thai kids were in bed, annoying but it was

still a lovely eve.

WEEK 30

21/04 Felt odd waking up and seeing the Spanish family’s bungalow being cleaned. Shells and I took turns walking down beach for an hour each as we are getting zero exercise on this trip! Girls just happy to chill. Long beach is truly stunning. There’s hardly any people or rubbish, just beautiful fine white

sand about 3km of it, contrasted with that clear, light blue sea, it’s idyllic. Went to the beach at 5pm for sunset. Best one since we left UK, breath taking, it’s surreal seeing the sun so orange edging below the horizon – we felt blessed. Amazing food at Lyms on the beach. Fab setting. It’s run by two Thai laddies in their 70’s!! Load of hermit crabs walking back in the dark. Chloe was freaking out so we had to take turns carrying her all the way home – arghhhh.

22/04 We all went down to beach and S and P took turns going for walks. Had noodle soup at cafe on way to Ban Saladan. Bought hat for E and flip flops for girls. Went to the opening of the new bridge between the two main islands, very very busy. Ended up having dinner at night market. Girls happy as bouncy slide (20p each) Chloe finally got her head scarf (she’d

been going on and on about getting one, probably because so many Muslim ladies wearing them), ended up getting Elodie one too – they were only a quid each, best money spent so far. Pete made Shells laugh ‘are they auditioning for Homelands. A Slovenian couple and little boy Sven have moved in next door. The little boy not nearly as friendly as Coco ?

23/04 Lazy morning playing IT Head because E complaining of

sore ear. Pete walked on beach and Shells had the worst reflexology ever. Had Sunset drinks with Damian and Andrea from Slovenia. Dinner at hotel was interrupted by Shells in chronic stomach pain and bowel pain. Ambulance came in 5 minutes. All ok after pain subsided and blood and vitals all checked. Scary for all. Doctor was very good – the diagnosis was food poisoning?!? Shells feeling like a complete dramatist but hadn’t experienced pain like that since childbirth.

24/04 Lazy morning. Walked along beach again. Went to Relax Bay Resort to use pool, on next beach down. Sunset drinks and dinner at Lyms. E very naughty when we got back but its just because the poor kid is exhausted, so many late nights and experiences.

25/04 Our last day in Lanta. Tried to find places recommended by the toms in Klo Nin beach. We gave up and had crepes in the end. They were really delicious, we ended up ordering more - then regretted it as we saw local Thai boys putting dirty hands in ice, yikes and the Thai girls back here putting their hands in the urinal and putting the white urinal tablets in their mouths, triple yikes!!!! Had a magical last sunset down at the beach. Girls played beautifully, making potions (they were very busy). Played 'the what did we like best today' game. C’s best was banana chocolate pancake and worse the dirty ice. E’s best was sunset making bread with sand and water. S and P best was sunset. Worst was Thai girls putting hands in urinal!!! Dinner at hotel, yummy chicken again for girls and green and red curry for mummy and daddy.