Waking up to Day Seven of this Roadtrippers 1.0 means leaving the beautiful island of Phuket and head to another lesser known but very nice island called Koh Lanta. The trip will take us a good 4 hours, including a short ferry ride across the Andaman Sea.
Our day starts off with a lovely breakfast at The Maya Hotel Phuket. There were ample choice of Thai and International hot dishes, some selection of pastries, good choice of local fruits as well as cook to order eggs and sweet dishes like crepes and pancakes.
After a quick breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and head out to the lovely Naiyang Beach for some photos. You can immediately recognize that Naiyang Beach is more of a local beach, quieter, and you don’t see so many farangs hanging out. The sea is very calm, and I would say idealistic for a family picnic.
The quieter beach also meant we were able to bring our KIA Sorento onto the beach for some photoshoot and videoshoot opportunities. Not often one will have the opportunity to drive their SUV (and also to test out the SUV on sandy beach) onto a public beach for a shoot like this.
After a good 15 minutes of playing in the sandy beach, we took off to the Naiyang Beach Airport Viewpoint. This is where you will be able to catch airplanes flying extremely low as the approach the landing strip at Phuket International Airport and no worries if you cant catch your perfect photo as there is an aircraft landing almost every 5 minutes or so.
We spent a good 30 minutes there at different view points to finally catch the perfect photo. This is a definitely must visit for those driving up to Phuket. You can’t exactly drive up until the viewpoint, but you can park by the road and there are some scooter buggy that will fetch you the viewpoint for 100 baht per buggy (can sit up to 4 persons).
After the fun shots, we left Phuket with a heavy heart, promising to be back again one of these days and head off to Koh Lanta. The drive is simple, pretty back on Highway 4, driving pass Phang Nga and Krabi and continue southwards towards Trang. However, before getting on to the jetty we stopped by this famous kanom jeen shop in Krabi.
The noodle shop is one of the oldest if not the oldest kanom jeen shop in Krabi with the noodles made fresh daily. The choices of curries goes perfectly well the noodles and the fried chicken is just amazing. There are also abundance of vegetables and sides to goes with your perfect bowl of noodles. The Ko Joi Kanom Jeen Kai Tod is open from 6am to about 1pm. If you have an opportunity, definitely have to visit this shop.
After a sumptuous lunch, we continued our journey for about another 45 minutes before getting to the Krabi Pier for a short ferry ride across to Koh Lanta. The wait for the ferry is quite fast, as there’s a ferry service pretty much every 15 minutes. However you need to take note to purchase your ticket prior getting to the pier at the ticket booth on the road-side.
The ferry will take you across Koh Lanta Noi where you will continue to drive across Siri Lanta Bridge to SalaDan on the Koh Lanta Yai. From there it was an easy drive to our destination – Layana Resort and Spa. After staying in many top notch hotel over the past few days, Layana Resort and Spa does not fail to impress as one of the top resort in Thailand.
A small adult only boutique hotel with only 57 rooms, suites and villa, I would call the Layana Resort and Spa the ultimate spa resort. The service is impeccable from the moment we arrive till we left. Upon arrival at the hotel lobby, we were greeted with the lei and was taken to the Sundowner Bar where we were given refreshments and cold towels. We were briefed about the resort as well as our arranged candlelight dinner by the beach on the evening as well as the yoga and spa session in the morning tomorrow.
We were led by the buggy to our newly renovated 100sqm+ Ocean Deluxe Villa.
The duplex villa was immaculate – comes with an over-sized bathroom which opens up to the small garden and with a soaking jacuzzi tub right smack in the middle. There is the living area attached with a dining area and a fully equipped kitchenette. The living area opens out to a patio with large lounge sofa and from the patio, its just steps to the resort’s private beach or the salt-water infinity pool.
The upper floor holds the bedroom which has an expansive view of the pool and the sea (although partially blocked), as well as another bathroom with separate shower stall and a twin sink vanity.
Being a boutique resort, Layana Resort and Spa was an idealistic place for a nice relaxation time after spending the past few days travelling. We just chilled around and get ready for some sunset shots. The sunset here was one of the most beautiful I have ever come across, so much so I wish I could freeze time as the sun goes down just too fast.
Once the sun has set, the girls got back to change and got ready for their candle light dinner on the beach. This is a service Layana Resort and Spa can arrange for their guests but is limited to just two couples an evening.
The girls were served a wonderful Thai set-dinner with warm bread selections, appetizer, rice with three dishes and dessert. The ambiance was great as they dine to the tune of the waves splashing up the beach.
After dinner, we just went back to the villa, chilled and chatted about the trip till it was bed time.
Day Eight will be taking us from this beautiful island of Koh Lanta to the bustling Southern city of Hatyai.
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day One here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Two here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Three here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Four here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Five here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Six here
