Heading south, I went down to Trang, a place that I had visited before when I cycled through it. Jogging the memory, I remembered the clock tower and night market, but not where I stayed. Still got a cheap room in a cavernous old building. They were a few different boats going to the islands, so I choose a random one, Ko Libong, wonder what is there. A van was to take me to the port, but the driver went to the wrong pier. "I drive limos in Bangkok!", he protested, "Never driven in Trang!". Still I made it to the right place, and after about an hour hanging around, a longtail arrived to ferry us across. I met up with Peter & Monica, who told me a recommended place to stay, so I headed off there (I had bought my ticket which included a motorbike ride) and they followed after some bargaining with the motodrivers. I decided to stay in the adjacent resort in a bungalow 30m from the beach. Later the other moved over. They are really only three resorts on this side of the island. Two of the them side by side and the pricier one is isolated further along the coast. I tried a spot of snorkeling but it wasn't a great success, only seeing a few fish.
The beach was nice, but not outstanding. I decided to have a small campfire on the beach, despite the rain earlier, managed to get it going with some soggy wood! But alas no marshmallows :(
Next it was off to Ko Mook, a nicer beach in a shallow bay of blue water. We had a look at a couple of place, then settle on the cheap Hat Farang Bungalows, which was a good deal. A bit busier to Ko Libong, with a handful of restaurants (mostly attached to guesthouses) to choose from. Good spot to lazily read a book or chat. One day we went snorkeling again and spotted a lot more fish and corals, then a cuttlefish appeared looking very weird and translucent. Being not very sure at the time what it was I kept my distance!
After that I headed over to Ko Lanta, which has a decent beach, certainly long, a good stroll from one end to the other. Still some trees at the beach side and not covered in hotels, yet. I had a wander around, pretty hot when the sun comes out to play, bit sunburnt. Had some barracuda for dinner one night, very tasty (or maybe just because I was very hungry!)
