Trekking Around Koh Lanta

The next stop on our tour de Thai islands was Koh Lanta, another island located in the Krabi Province.

After our hour and a half ferry from Phi Phi, we took a truck taxi to Long Beach, as recommended by our driver for cheap bungalows and beautiful scenery. This beach definitely fit the bill as beautiful and we instantly appreciated the relaxed atmosphere of Lanta.

We found this island to be very (almost eerily) quiet and calm, but after eight days in Phi Phi, that was exactly what we needed to regroup.

Elephant Riding and Rainforest Trekking

While here, we booked an amazing tour to Klong Jask in South Lanta for an outdoorsy afternoon. We first went on a hike to bat caves and to a lackluster waterfall.

Overall, the trek wasn't incredibly impressive, but our guide's hilarious broken English and infatuation with spaghetti hair kept us entertained.

The best part of our day was defintely the one hour elephant ride. Dumbo was a childhood favorite movie of mine, so I was thrilled for this bumpy experience.

Usually, groups of two hop on the bench on the elephants back, but since we were three and the place was apparently short of elephants, I was chosen to sit bareback on our elephant's neck. At first, we were all a bit nervous riding on top this massive creature, but throughout our ride around the rubber plantation, our white knuckled grips softened a bit.

We affectionately named our elephant Slappy because of the constant ear slapping my legs endured. That, and because we couldn't understand our guide's Thai mumble of our 30-year old elephant's name.

Slappy took us on a gentle ride around a rubber plantation and into a few water holes (and gave us all a few trunk splashes). We were promised monkey sightings, but only saw some chickens and Asia dogs.

I will say, it was quite a smelly experience, but I'm not sure who smelled worse, Slappy, or the Thai guide I clung to the whole time.

My favorite part of the elephant trek was at the end when we got the chance to feed them whole pineapples.

Being up close and personal with an elephant was such a cool experience, and really made our time in Lanta that much more special.

 

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