Thailand Tour

Start & End Location - Koh Lanta
Day Trip Locations - Koh Talabeng, Koh Lanta's Mangrove Forest
Distance Traveled by Land (Truck/Scooter) - 24 kilometers | 15 miles
Distance Traveled by Sea (Longtail Boat) - 13 nautical miles | 15 miles
Mode of Travel - Truck/Scooter, Traditional Longtail Boat
Meals Included - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
​Main Activity - Longtail Boat Tour of Koh Lanta Mangroves & Koh Talabeng (optional kayaking)

Today is all about discovering the secret wonders of Thailand's southern coastal areas - parts that most tourists don't know about and never get to see.

Breakfast

This morning we'll have our lovely buffet breakfast at the hotel.

Get your day bag ready for another incredible longboat journey to the islands. This time, we'll be going to an entirely new region that feels more untouched, secluded, and private than anything we've previously seen.

Ride to Thung Yipeng Pier

As the sun rises over Koh Lanta's lush jungle-covered hills, we'll make our way either on scooter or in the truck to the island's lesser-known pier - Thung Yipeng. Because it's on the side of the island facing the mainland, we'll have to cross through the rural interior to get there.

As we twist our way through the hills, we'll come to a flattened out mangrove area that is Thung Yipeng. And from there, we'll board our longtail boat for today's voyage.

Into the Bay

Past the mangroves and into the bay between Koh Lanta and mainland Thailand, we'll sail into new waters where gorgeous limestone islands freckle the landscape. Today's journey keeps us closer to our home base and nestled in the island's calmer seas.

Sea Kayaking on Talabeng Island

This morning, we're headed to one of these tiny outcroppings in the bay - an island called Talabeng. It's a deserted island, and as we pull into its protected inner lagoon, we'll most likely have the entire hidden paradise to ourselves.
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This little cove isn't the only incredible thing on the island, because there's a cave not far away that we can kayak to on the open ocean! This kayaking portion of the trip is optional, but it's very easy and fun. 

Once our longtail boat anchors, we'll jump out and our guide will uncover a bunch of hidden kayaks from the trees! If you would like to go kayaking, then we'll split into pairs, collect our paddles, and get into our kayaks.

If kayaking isn't your thing, it's absolutely magical just to hang out in this private cove as well! Enjoy floating around in the bathtub-warm water, or snap pictures of the friendly monkeys that live here.

Talabeng Cave

For those of us who are kayaking, we'll cruise along the left side of the island, enjoying the views of cliffs, jungle, and tranquil waters around us until we come to a cave.

Talabeng Cave is just the perfect size to kayak into, dock on the little beach inside, and take in the experience of being in a beautiful sea cave on a deserted Thailand island. It's definitely a memory that you won't be forgetting anytime soon.

Lunch on the Boat

While we were gone exploring Talabeng Island, our boat's captain was preparing a simple but delicious lunch for us. It's rice with a heaping helping of Thai Basil Chicken and an optional fried egg on top.

If you're vegetarian or vegan, they'll also have vegetable fried rice for you.

Into the Mangroves

After lunch, we'll head into the placid waters of Koh Lanta's mangrove shores.

Here the mangrove trees grow right out of the saline ocean waters, providing an important habitat for the island's wildlife (and we're about to see some). Mangrove forests are also vital ecosystems that protect shorelines from erosion, they create the perfect environment for fish nurseries and other marine organisms, and they even combat climate change by storing tons of carbon dioxide (literally tons) while filtering pollutants out of the water. They are amazing!

But we are here in Koh Lanta's mangrove forest to not only enjoy the forest for what it is, but we're here for a very specific reason as well... monkeys!

Monkey Time!

Over the many years we've been traveling, I have formed a love/hate relationship with monkeys. Actually, I love them. But sometimes if they get too close, I'm afraid they'll bite me (or steal from me 😜). And I don't like it when I see people feeding them which might encourage them to become a nuisance, or worse, dangerous.

But this experience is very different. Let me show you what happens and I'll explain why I love this so much.

Do they feed the monkeys? Yes. But actually, these are not the "wild" monkeys that you think they are. This is because the Thai people have been feeding these monkeys for literally hundreds, if not thousands of years.

In Theravada Buddhism of Thailand, every house has a small temple or altar devoted to Buddha, Bodhisattvas, even other gods and ancestors. And every single day, sometimes multiple times a day, people put out offerings, mostly in the form of food. And what happens to this food that's left out there? Monkeys get it. Every day for hundreds of years.

On our trip to the mangroves, first we'll pull the boat up close enough to the forest so that a monkey can swim out to the boat. And yes, they swim very well!

Then our guide will have some fruit chopped up for our new monkey friend. On the day that we went, he had watermelon. Only one monkey is allowed on the boat which makes the experience more pleasant and relaxed for everyone.

This monkey was so cute and calm! She was as sweet as the monkey from Friends. I guess after generations and generations of being around humans, they've become perfectly tame.
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And if you want, the guide can, well... guide the monkey up onto your shoulder for the ultimate selfie! If you don't want this, don't worry, the monkey won't climb on you unless you have watermelon on your head. But Tim loved this experience and said it was remarkable how heavy the monkey was!

Absolutely everyone on our boat fell in love with this monkey. But sadly, once the watermelon comes to an end, it'll be time to say goodbye to our new furry (and very wet) friend.

​In order to get her off the boat, we drifted back to where she first swam over and we tossed the last of the fruit into the water. The monkey then belly flopped into the sea in a dramatic fashion, and we all had to smile and laugh as she stuffed her cheek pouches with the floating watermelon and swam back home to her family.

I didn't really appreciate how truly special this monkey experience was until Tim and I went on a Phi Phi Island cruise. It was horrible (NOT recommended), expensive, and at one point, they took us to Monkey Bay where there were no less than thirty other boats all vying for a spot along the rocky coast.

We sailed around, eyes peeled, not seeing anything except rocks, until finally someone spotted a monkey! The crowd gasped and grabbed their phones, pulses racing...

We were taken about 50 feet away from this solitary monkey. And as everyone snapped their ultra-zoomed-in pictures, Tim and I just had to shake our heads. All those people had no idea what they were missing.

But that won't happen to you!

You are going to join us on the absolute best experiences that a person can have in Thailand! It'll be authentic, unique, and memorable. And we're not monkeying around 😁.

Evening on the Beach

From the mangroves, we're not too far from the pier where we began our journey. So we'll get back to the hotel with plenty of sunshine to still enjoy. Today's excursion was somewhat shorter than yesterday's, and so you can take the rest of the afternoon to leisurely relax before we reconvene for dinner.

Then tonight, we'll have our delicious dinner at the beachside restaurant while watching another incredible fire show.

If you want to stay up late, tonight's the perfect night to do so because tomorrow will be what you make of it. You can sleep in, eat breakfast late, and have a care-free, schedule-free morning.

Start & End Location - Koh Lanta
Day Trip Locations - Old Town + Optional Excursions
Distance Traveled by Land (Scooter) - 58 kilometers | 36 miles
Mode of Travel - 150cc Scooter (or Truck)
Meals Included - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
​Main Activity - Old Town (+optional excursions)

It's our last full day together, and so I wanted to leave the schedule fairly open for you to do what you want. 

After a relaxing morning, Tim and I will be headed to Old Town on the scooter for lunch and some souvenir shopping, and you're welcome to join us. But you can also stay back to soak up the beach, take a Thai cooking class, see elephants again... There are tons of options.

​We are going to outline some of your day-off options below.

Beach it Up!

Assuming you aren't too hung over from last night's festivites, you can attend a yoga session that will be held this morning at 7:00am. The teacher is certified in Hatha, Flow, Vinyasa, and Ashtanga yoga. Sessions last for an hour and beginners are absolutely welcome.

You can also book at private class with the teacher for a later time. If any of this is of interest to you, let us know early so we can reserve your mat as it typically needs to be done one or two days in advance.

If you want to continue the theme of having a restful morning, after breakfast you can always find a peaceful spot on the beach to relax. Grab a refreshing drink, bring a book, or consider putting that private jacuzzi to good use. Now that I think about it, that might be exactly what's on the agenda for me - a soothing bath while listening to the waves lapping at the shore. 

Alternatively, you could go to the spa. Why not? After all that adventuring, you deserve it!

Then there's also always the pool, don't forget. And for a little elevenses snack, I highly recommend trying out the scrumptious delicacies found at the resort's bakery and café. There you'll find homemade cakes, tarts, muffins, croissants, even bagels (a rarity of Southeast Asia). Tim's rueben sandwich was to die for - heaps of corned beef between thick slices of dark, baked bread that had a sweet finish. And my lox bagel of smoked salmon and cream cheese was 😋... well, it may have been the best I've ever had. I can't wait to go back and have another!

If you want to move your body as opposed to laying around, how about renting one of the hotel's kayaks or paddle boards and take a journey out into the ocean? Especially first thing in the morning when the sun is slanted and sparkling off of those aquamarine waves, there is almost nothing more soul-satisfying than that.

You could ABSOLUTELY do this all day. You could just stay on the beach from sunrise to sunset if that's what your heart desires. And although this day is called Scootin' Around the Island, you don't have to get on your scooter at all if you don't want to! Like I said, this day is YOURS.

But if you want to take a ride, you can hop on a scooter later this morning and join Tim and me as we head off to Old Town.

Scootin' Around

Because you'll have your scooter, you basically have free rein over the entire island of Koh Lanta! This is one of the many reasons why we picked this island, because it is so perfect for riding around on a scooter... it's just fun, fun, FUN! Doesn't really matter where you go (but we'll outline some cool places). But you can just ride your scooter from coast to coast, end to end if you want, discovering all the secret places this island has to offer. And actually, that's not a terrible way to spend the day at all!

Tim and I are going to Old Town on the scooter around 11:00am or so. It's about a 25 minute ride there. You can join us for that, or veer off on your own, it's up to you. We'll also be going to dinner more than a half hour down the island's coast tonight, so you'll have one more chance to ride a scooter with us as a group today.

Lunch & Shopping in Old Town

Old Town, which is located about 25 minutes away from our hotel on Koh Lanta's other coast, is a special place. It's a small little walkable town that is wooden, and as the name describes, old. The coast over there is beautiful and even more placid than by where we're staying since it's a bay. And along the streets are little quaint shops that will sell you homemade crafts, trinkets, and other souvenirs such as t-shirts, hats, Thai pants with elephants on them, magnets... all the good stuff.

So get your friends and family a little something, and then meet us at an oceanside restaurant for lunch. The place will be elevated on stilts over the ocean itself so we can look out across the tranquil bay as we eat fresh seafood (or if you're Tim, anything other than seafood😉).

Explore the Island

Although we've already seen a lot, Koh Lanta has even more to offer. For the avid hiker and the truly adventurous, the whole southern portion of the island is a national park that has a beautiful waterfall, an iconic lighthouse at its southern tip, stunning secluded beaches, and they even do wildlife conservation projects down there. It's exciting stuff, and so if you want, after lunch we'll show you where to go.

Elephants, Cooking, & More...

And these are not your only options of things to do! If you were utterly enchanted by your elephant experience in the north, Koh Lanta has its own ethical "no-ride" elephant sanctuary that does great conservation work with rescued elephants. At Lanta Elephant Sanctuary, you can have another opportunity at being close to the elephants, as well as bathing and swimming with them. Let us know if this is something you're interested in.

And you can also do something that's always a favorite - take a Thai cooking class!  

Learn how to cook your favorite Thai cuisine and delve into the different ingredients and flavors that make up a single dish. Whether its Pad Thai, Thai Holy Basil, red curry, or even a dessert of mango sticky rice, you'll come away with the knowledge and experience to bring a little slice of Thailand back home with you.

And besides elephants and cooking, there is plenty more to do on your day off as well! There's a butterfly farm, mangrove kayaking, oceanside cave exploring, offshore snorkeling trips, and if you're certified, lots of SCUBA diving.

So let us know what type of experience you're craving on this final day, and we'll make it happen for you.

Farewell Dinner

For our last dinner together, we wanted to take you to our favorite little spot on the island. It's perched up on the southern cliffs, nearly 40 minutes south along the coast. The food there is Thai, very local, and nothing extravagant. But our meal together will be special because we'll be together for the last time, and best of all, this place is perfect for watching our final Koh Lanta sunset.

As the sun descends, singeing the clouds and scalding the sky until the ocean puts out its fire, we can take this perfect moment in time to reminisce about all we've done, all we've accomplished, and all the unforgettable memories we will forever carry with us.

Start Location - Koh Lanta
End Location - Wherever your journey may lead you...
Main Activities - There are no activities planned today. We will provide you with transport to the Krabi Airport if you'll be flying out.
Meals Included - Breakfast

This is it, we've come to the end of our incredible journey.

Today we'll have breakfast together, and then we'll be assisting you in getting to wherever your next adventures are. That might be flying out of Krabi Airport, and we'll arrange for transport at two different times in the day to the airport from Koh Lanta.

You might also decide to stay longer on the island or visit something else in the region, such as other islands like Koh Samui, or head to Bangkok. You might even want to explore nearby Malaysia and see their famous islands of Langkawi and Penang, or stop by Cambodia to see Angkor Wat.

If you have questions about other wonderful destinations in the region, let us know, because we have been all over Southeast Asia and are just brimming with advice!

What an adventure it's been...

As we say our goodbyes, we'll be reminded of all the incredible moments we've had in the past ten days. From twisting roads that lead to ancient temples, to walking hand in trunk with elephants, to hidden pirate coves, and the coral reefs of the Andaman sea... From pagodas and monasteries, to night markets and beachside spas, from riding a big motorcycle over thousands of curves, to hopping on a little scooter to explore a tropical island... This has been the stuff of dreams.

​But what has made it all the more special is that we got to share these experiences with each other - new lifelong friends that we've made. So whether your plans from here are to head home, or to continue your adventures around Southeast Asia, you will always be able to look back at these moments we've had and simply smile.

If you're interested in this tour,
​we'd love to hear from you!
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I'm Interested!