Lanta's Low Season

Ko Lanta is preparing for the start of tourist season, though the island is still getting a lot of rain. It's located south of Phuket and east of Ko Phi Phi, both famous resort areas in southern Thailand. The beaches of Ko Lanta are concentrated along the west side of the island, with formal hotels and more casual bungalows lining the shore. There are only a few tourists now, as this is still the low season.

The high season is from November to May. Some of the accommodation businesses on the west side are doing renewal and repairs right now. While it's not sunny all the time, it is not always raining either, and this is probably the best time to be working on such tasks, before the tourists start coming in droves in a few weeks time.

There are no beaches to speak of on the east side. Instead, mangrove forests face the ocean and small fishing villages dot the coastline. The biggest of the fishing communities on the east side is Old Town Lanta. For fishermen on the east side, there is no tourism high season, but they too renew and fix their boats and houses. The weather pattern is hazy sun in the morning, with a high possibility of showers or thunderstorms from the afternoon into the night. Winds shift their directions, so rain and storms can come from any direction.

In the evenings in Old Town Lanta the clouds increase as the sun begins its downward decent into the ocean. Everything takes on a magical rose-orange hue. The clouds, ocean, off-shore islands, the villagers' faces, the leaves of the coconut, banana, papaya trees, the houses, and even the tropical air itself, all seem to glow with red, pink and orange light. Frogs and insects begin singing in the coconut forest nearby.

Sunsets on the west side of Ko Lanta are absolutely breathtaking. The cloud formations offer gorgeous effects, creating the illusion of the sky on fire. Our eyes follow the clouds that reflect the sun, and we loose our words watching this golden drama acted out on the horizon. It's around this time when the fishermen in Old Lanta town launch their boats for an evening of squid fishing, casting their silhouettes off in red and orange before night falls on the island and the dark sky begins to twinkle with starlight.

The locals seem to be welcoming the weather, saying "this is a cooler time of year. " For us, the beautiful sky filled with a changing palette of color each day was a pleasant surprise and we felt that the rainy season on a tropical island isn't so bad after all.