Final Hoorah!

For those who may not know me, I am Maggie’s younger brother Ian and I am honored to have been asked to write a “guest post” on the infamous TwoForTakeoff blog.

The three of us, Maggie, Patrick and I had been living the dream for about a week in Thailand, when our last day on Ko Lanta Island quickly approached. It started with the normal continental English breakfast at the Mook Lanta Resort where we discussed what we were going to do to make our last day in paradise even better than the previous three.

We threw out multiple possibilities when we eventually decided we wanted a relaxing day, but also a day filled with blind adventure! So, Patrick and I rented two motorbikes for the day (not three because Maggie got her Thai license revoked day 1 in Chiang Mai).

Our rough plan was to make our way all the way from Long Beach, where we were staying, to the southern tip of the island at Ba Kantieng Bay. This beach was said to be remote and beautiful, so we strapped up our helmets, packed a few bags with the normal beach essentials (booze, towels, a book, and some sun cream) and fueled up the bikes.

We were ready to ride!

If you have ever traveled before, you understand and appreciate that even when you are 100% positive you know where you need to go, you still get lost. Anyhow, we started riding toward Ba Kantieng Bay and were embracing the scenery on the way. Beautiful mountains to our left and the coastline on our right made for an awesome up and down ride through Ko Lanta.

There is really something liberating about driving on a motorbike. It’s adrenaline filled and totally freeing. In awe of the view, we ended up missing a turn on our way but it worked out for the best. After all, getting lost on your travels is never a bad thing. You usually end up with either a great story, a great experience, or if your lucky: both. We ending up riding to Ko Lanta Old Town, where I imagine the main dock onto the island was once located, before the current one was put in place.

We drove out onto the old pier and took deep breathes of the fresh air, wiped the sweat from our brow and admired a fantastic view. Everywhere across the water you could see rock formations and mountains floating like lily pads on a pond. A great view!

We drove through the small streets of Old Town, filled with tourist shops and food vendors, then back tracked until we were finally headed in the direction toward our beach destination.

We reached Ba Kantieng Bay and it did not disappoint; a secluded beach inside a small bay with nice resorts lining the beach made for the perfect island day. We found a shaded spot to relax and cracked open a few Singha’s.

It was a great day on the beach that ended with a nice lunch at a local resort restaurants, which sat right on the beach front.

Then we headed a little ways down the road to see some elephants. A typical day in Thailand always includes a casual elephant ride after lunch right?

We settled for a small ‘Eco’ tour that meant a 30-minute ride with each elephant. Though the experience was filled with fun and laughs, it was also a lesson learned too. You often hear stories of the mistreatment of animals, particularly elephants, in Thailand. While we thought that since this was an ‘Eco’ tour, we were sadly mistaken. It was obvious to our us the the elephants had been abused if they didn’t “perform” properly with customers. The gentlemen who guided our elephants also carried small pokers – that look a lot like the tools you use to poke firewood in your fireplace. It was hard to watch and be apart of, quite frankly. After our rides were over, we hurried out of the tour center and agreed that if we were to ever do elephant rides in the future, we’d be sure they were safe and ele-friendly.

The setting sun was making it’s way towards the West coast and we wanted to be sure we had a great view for our last night on the island; we hurried off to our former spot on Klong Nin beach, and grabbed some beers from the local restaurant. After hiking down the rocks to the beach, I set up my Go-Pro in the sandy waters, while Patrick pulled out his new camera to capture the scenery.

Together, we watched the sun slowly drift into the horizon and agreed that it was our best sunset yet.

After making our way back home for check out, we washed off and made our way to our favorite local restaurant for one last night of authentic Thai food. We reminisced on the amazing trip in Thailand over Pad Thai, curry, fried rice and panang, and mentally prepared ourselves for the journey home the next day. A private driver was scheduled to pick us up at 5:40am for our venture back to Krabi island airport, so after dinner, we packed our bags and were off to bed.

Our driver arrived as scheduled, and packed us into a luxury van for our trip back to Bangkok. With tired eyes, we loaded into his car and watched the scenery pass by the windows.

While we were exhausted, we were gifted with one last view of mother nature’s beauty on Ko Lanta — the most stunning sunrise you could imagine. It was the perfect way to end our time on the island, and a wonderful send-off as I made my way back to the United States after a year teaching abroad, and three uninterrupted months of adventure throughout Asia.

Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for one final post from Maggie and Patrick’s last night in Bangkok!

-Ian, Two for Takeoff Guest Writer