{"id":7671,"date":"2015-02-25T18:31:37","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T09:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unknowngenius.com\/blog\/?p=7671"},"modified":"2016-03-01T21:24:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T12:24:29","slug":"ko-lanta-vignettes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unknowngenius.com\/blog\/archives\/2015\/02\/25\/ko-lanta-vignettes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ko Lanta Vignettes"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first stopped there, during\u00a0my last Asian trip<\/a>, Ko Lanta<\/a>\u00a0immediately\u00a0became my favourite spot in Thailand.<\/p>\n

Not having the best beaches, the best luxury\u00a0resorts\u00a0or the best party life, the island has so far escaped most of the tourism-driven\u00a0uglification of other\u00a0Thai islands, while at the same time remaining an easy destination for a low-maintenance stay in the sun.<\/p>\n

The island economy is still 90% tourism, but its\u00a0relatively small size and chill vibe do not sell well to party-oriented teenage euro crowds, and its\u00a0relatively stringent zoning laws due to its status as a national park put a limit to the number\u00a0of\u00a0obnoxious walled-in resorts that can blight the\u00a0landscape. Which might be why it reminded me so much of the first times I travelled through Thailand, some 15\u00a0years ago, before the whole of\u00a0Russian middle-bourgeoisie started spending\u00a0its Winter vacations lying on deck chairs along the beaches of northern\u00a0Phuket<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bamboo Housing<\/h3>\n

Owing to aforementioned lower rate of development and zoning laws, a good deal\u00a0of the housing on offer in Ko Lanta is at the more basic end of the spectrum1<\/a><\/sup>Not to say there aren’t a few of these huge concrete-y resorts, just like anywhere else in Asia where water meets sand.\u00a0And yes, these are\u00a0just as terminally boring as anywhere else. If resort life is what you are after, take my word: Ko Lanta is not where you want to go.<\/span>, which can be a great or not-so-great thing, depending on your tolerance for six-legged creatures, cold showers and bamboo as a major building material.<\/p>\n

Actually, any\u00a0particular item of housing comfort can generally be obtained for a little extra cost, but even when budget is not an issue, there is much to be said for the simple comfort of a basic bamboo bungalow next to the beach. Even at peak season, it takes only a bit of looking around to find the right place, with the right amount of compromise on comfort, cleanliness and simplicity.<\/p>\n

One\u00a0ground rule is\u00a0to not<\/em> book your place online in advance. Or at most\u00a0for the first couple nights\u00a0if you want to\u00a0save yourself the trouble of looking, when freshly landed and lugging your\u00a0suitcase around. Places available online aren’t necessarily bad, but showing in person and asking for vacancies practically guarantees you half-price. With the huge added bonus that you can see the room you’ll actually be\u00a0sleeping in, rather than whatever propped-up photo set they put together for their website 10 years before. TripAdvisor is a great tool to weed out scams and egregiously bad hotels, but it is incredibly poor at telling just-passable\u00a0places from hidden jewels2<\/a><\/sup>Law of averages. Fleetingness of service quality levels in hospitality businesses. Low IQ of average travelling reviewer.<\/span>. Lots of decent\u00a0places on the island are more or less absent from the Internet (or at least from the main online booking websites).<\/p>\n