A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Ko Lanta, continued


Most caves don't start to freak me out until I'm well into the dark dank dripping battiness of them. This one was a notable exception -- it was disturbing from the moment we swam across the threshhold, not due to the darkness but to the powerful echoing noises emanating from within. In addition to the usual crash of the waves, which threatened to scuttle us against the shell- and barnacle-encrusted cave walls, the water rushing in and out of the long tunnel created a roar like the underside of an interstate freeway. Not a reassuring environment.

As we swam further things got worse, of course. It got darker and smellier, and the swimming got more difficult, fighting against changing currents. For those of you who will admit to having watched Baywatch a time or two, this resembled a common opening scene where dopey bikini-clad tourists laughingly explore a cave/drainage tunnel/shipwreck/ abandoned military facility and end up trapped with scant minutes of air left. Later in the show, improbably buxom lifeguards rush fearlessly to the rescue after addressing various relationship and hair issues and frolicking in a music video sequence.

But as always in baywatch, there was light at the end of the tunnel, and what a light it was. After maybe 150 yards of winding cave, we emerged into a tiny tropical eden, with a sandy beach maybe 30 yards across surrounded by trees and framed by sheer rock walls hundreds of feet high. No this whas what I pictured when I read "The Beach", not that crappy tourist trap garbage dump out on Ko Phi Phi. The cave still sucked, but the payoff was worth it.

We lunched at Ko Hai, which was uneventful apart from meeting an English guy who has mastered the art of leisure, and perhaps has taken it to ridiculous extremes. I ran into him studiously collecting shells in a plastic water bottle that had been cut in half. It was his ninth day on the island, on a stretch of beach less than a quarter mile long. He had so far taken no day trips, no runs to civilization -- nine days reading, sitting, sunning, and collecting shells. And he had six days remaining -- now that's a true commitment to doing nothing. I thought I was good at being lazy, but clearly I'm just a piker compared to this guy.

Well that's it for Ko Lanta. If you want to see what Kantiang Beach looks like, go to www.pimalai.com, which is the 5-star resort I mentioned. At the far end of the beach you can see some bungalows climbing up that hill -- that's the Lanta Marine Park View Resort. Their website is http://www.kolanta.net/MARINEPARKVIEW.htm


Copyright 2003 Katy Warren

posted by Katy at 3:47 AM