I have stayed at a great hostel near the beach here in Koh Lanta, and fallen in love with the island. It is so relaxed and has such a better feel than the other more touristy islands. The sights are as beautiful as others, but the vibe is so much better and it’s still pretty to me! At my hostel I befriended an awesome girl from Holland named Sophie. We spent a day on motor bikes driving along the west side of the island. We stopped at the national park which was 22o Baht to enter. I learned my lesson about monkeys there… they steal from you. We left our bags in the shade under some trees and went for a dip. While swimming a man came up to us, “Are those your bags over there?” he said… “Monkeys are going through them!” We ran up and they had opened everything up and scattered it around. They stole my tin can of hand balm and a little of her money. We had to batt them away and one stole my water bottle and opened it and poured it out. Apparently they love shiny things and pouring out your water. You learn something new every day.

Afterwords we rode around and stopped at a market to pick up dinner. I got an amazing grilled mackerel, dragon fruit, fried chicken and sticky rice. We also picked up some Chang beers from the market. Then we meandered around the beach, looking up to see the stars. The sky lit up with lightening, a luminescent back drop behind the tall billowing night clouds. It was delightful to say the least!