Old Town Koh Lanta: A Piece of Peace
I loved Time for Lime so much, it was hard to leave. But I decided to spend my last two nights on the other side of Koh Lanta, in Old Town. The east side of the island is pretty undeveloped because the beaches aren’t really swimmable there, and it sounded like an interesting place to explore before flying to busy Bangkok. Although I looked forward to a change of scenery, it was honestly hard to say goodbye to my new Time for Lime family. I met up with the staff for one last afternoon lemongrass margarita, said goodbye to each of the cats, and loaded my pack into a tuktuk. As we sped east, the island breeze whipped across my face as I struggled to hold back my tears. Though I love the connections I make while traveling, sometimes it is quite hard to leave them behind.
Luckily I was not to regret spending a bit of time in Old Town. As my tuktuk pulled into town, a crowd of kids chased me, yelling out the typical southeast Asian kid greeting: ”Helloladyhowareyou?!” As I walked down the dusty one lane town, I got nothing but big smiles from the locals. Old Town Lanta felt like Banyuwangi in Indonesia and Kratie in Cambodia: no gorgeous beaches or flashy restaurants to speak of, but a true experience of local life.
I had booked a room at a lovely guesthouse run by Maayan and Mon, a Thai and Dutch/Israeli couple. Old Town is lined with old Chinese houses on stilts that sit atop the water, which meant that I could hear the tide coming in and out underneath my bed each night. The sea might not be swimmable here, but it is certainly atmospheric.
There isn’t much to do in Old Town. A few shops, a handful of restaurants. It’s an excellent place to marvel at marshmallow clouds on the pier, to discover surprisingly skilled latte art, to make friends with a cat and dog who will follow you home and fight for your affection.
The next morning, I waited patiently, alone, for the van that would take me to Krabi, where I would fly back to Bangkok, the last stop on my journey. The black dog who I had befriended much farther down the road showed up, almost as if he knew I was feeling emotional about leaving this special island.
I hugged him, squeezed into the van, and began my journey back to the big city.
