Day 15: Ko Lanta

I'm aliveeeee! Just about. The scooter experience was both terrifying yet exhilarating. When I went to hire one from the guy at reception he was wary about the whole thing given I hadn't ridden one before. Then a girl passing by told me to be very very careful. Then my dad text me telling me I was nuts and it was very dangerous. So I'm already shitting my pants at this point. The guy hands me the key and says 'bike 8'. That's it. No instruction, no tutorial, no manual. I stood there for about 10 minutes trying to work out how to turn the bloody thing on. These things are much heavier than I had realised. 

I was about to give up and abort when I was approached by a young German girl called Marie asking if we wanted to share a scooter and travel together. After asking someone to show us how to work it, I had a go around the hotel area to make sure I was comfortable and then we were off. I don't know who had more balls, me for attempting to drive the thing all day or her for putting her life in my hands. I certainly wouldn't have trusted her to drive with me on the back. I like to be in control of my own fate. Once I got the hang of it it wasn't so bad, although there were a few wobbly moments (quite literally). With such short ass legs it's hard to steady the bike when you stop!

At one point Marie wanted to try it. I told her how to work it, she got on, turned the handle and went straight into a row of bikes. They fell like dominos. So embarrassing! She was fine bless her but didn't want to drive after that! Anyway, you can't 

get anywhere on this island without a scooter and I'm glad I did it as otherwise I wouldn't have seen all the amazing places I did today. We went to the very south of the island where the lighthouse and national park is. Then we stopped off at a few beaches along the way, including Nui Bay which is one of the nicest on the islands. I have to say I was relieved when I got back to the hostel after being on edge driving the whole day and that beer I had on the beach when I returned never tasted so good. 

The two of us watched the sunset and then I got chatting to another girl, Gigi, who is from France but lives in London and she's lovely. Soon enough we were joined by another girl from Amsterdam (this is a great hostel to meet people)! The four of us went out for dinner and some cocktails tonight then just chilled in the hostel. We've heard about a party tomorrow night in a tree house bar, so that sounds too good to miss.