Koh Lanta Beaches/Weather Etc

[vesiva]

I am new here and I have a few questions regarding this wonderful island. I went to koh Lanta last february and fell in love with the place so much that I want to know more about it (even if I did stay at a bad resort for the first week :-)

1. Where are the best beaches? I stayed at a resort on khlong nin the first week and was not that impressed. I would be looking for somewhere with white sand preferably.

2.What is the weather like in july/august/september?

3. Would there be anywhere to stay during those months?

4.I'd like to stay during the winter season (when it's winter in Norway,that is.Which means pretty much all year :-)

Where could I find reasonably priced accommodation and would there be any chance of a job anywhere on the island?(I know, I'm sure thousands are thinking the same, but here goes for trying! :-)

I have been to thailand several times, but I just think there's something very special about Koh Lanta and I miss it every day.

I do hope I will get some replies from people living on the island.

Have a nice day!

[klongmuang]

Klong Dao beach and long beach are certainly nice. But there are also nices beaches more to the South of the Island. July to September is the monsoon season and you may expect some heavy rainfall. But the sun will shine, as well. However, since these are westerly winds, you commonly have high waves at the beach, which makes swimming not so pleasant. There is no comparison to what you've experience in February. About the job, there is no job for a foreigner in Thailand, unless he has his own venture ore is in an executive position in a foreign company.

[vesiva]

Klong Dao beach and long beach are certainly nice. But there are also nices beaches more to the South of the Island. July to September is the monsoon season and you may expect some heavy rainfall. But the sun will shine, as well. However, since these are westerly winds, you commonly have high waves at the beach, which makes swimming not so pleasant. There is no comparison to what you've experience in February. About the job, there is no job for a foreigner in Thailand, unless he has his own venture ore is in an executive position in a foreign company.

Thank you fpr your reply:-) About working in Thailand: Does this mean that every single foreigner working there either has his/her own venture or has an executive position in a foreign company? Either way, I could save up and stay for the darkest months (here), in thailand. I have searched some sites for accomodation on the island, but they only list a few. I am single, don't need a lot of space, love basic thai food, need the internet but apart from that, just something basic: kitchen,bathroom and electricity:-) Are there any sites to be recommended for flat-searching on the island?

I have read through a lot of the topics on the forum , but maybe there are some new sites not mentioned in the previous posts?

[vesiva]

Klong Dao beach and long beach are certainly nice. But there are also nices beaches more to the South of the Island. July to September is the monsoon season and you may expect some heavy rainfall. But the sun will shine, as well. However, since these are westerly winds, you commonly have high waves at the beach, which makes swimming not so pleasant. There is no comparison to what you've experience in February. About the job, there is no job for a foreigner in Thailand, unless he has his own venture ore is in an executive position in a foreign company.

Thank you fpr your reply:-) About working in Thailand: Does this mean that every single foreigner working there either has his/her own venture or has an executive position in a foreign company? Either way, I could save up and stay for the darkest months (here), in thailand. I have searched some sites for accomodation on the island, but they only list a few. I am single, don't need a lot of space, love basic thai food, need the internet but apart from that, just something basic: kitchen,bathroom and electricity:-) Are there any sites to be recommended for flat-searching on the island?

I have read through a lot of the topics on the forum , but maybe there are some new sites not mentioned in the previous posts?

Ps. I would also very much like to hear from single scandinavian women living on the island ( if they do exist); I''d like to know what it's like being a single foreign woman on Koh Lanta:-)

[klongmuang]

Obviously you're a female ? There are some Scandinavian (also female) tour guides on Lanta during the high season despatched from their companies. But all left in April and some of them will come back again in November. There is not much on the web for flats. Usually people come here, stay at a hotel or resort and start their search. In the diving industry there are many illegal foreign workers, i.e. instructors and dive masters. They are here on tourist visas without work permit and frequently have to make their visa runs to renew the visa. But I do not recommend or support this, although the diving industry has a hard time to survive without these foreigners. Unfortunately there are still not enough Thais who are capable to teach diving students in their language. There are some skilled Thais teaching in English, but this is not the world language everybody understands well.

[vesiva]

Obviously you're a female ? There are some Scandinavian (also female) tour guides on Lanta during the high season despatched from their companies. But all left in April and some of them will come back again in November. There is not much on the web for flats. Usually people come here, stay at a hotel or resort and start their search. In the diving industry there are many illegal foreign workers, i.e. instructors and dive masters. They are here on tourist visas without work permit and frequently have to make their visa runs to renew the visa. But I do not recommend or support this, although the diving industry has a hard time to survive without these foreigners. Unfortunately there are still not enough Thais who are capable to teach diving students in their language. There are some skilled Thais teaching in English, but this is not the world language everybody understands well.

Thank you:-) Yes I am female(forgot to mention that) I don't do diving so that would not be an option for me, unfortunately. I speak English, though. My ex-husband is thai and so I have a good understanding of the culture and also speak some Thai. I suppose the best thing is to do what you say most people do: stay at a resort and start searching for a place:-) Thank you for useful information:-)

[grumpyoldman]

1. Where are the best beaches? I stayed at a resort on khlong nin the first week and was not that impressed. I would be looking for somewhere with white sand preferably.

I like Khlong Dao and Kantiang beaches

2.What is the weather like in july/august/september?

You'll have some rain but sunny days too, strong onshore winds regularly

3. Would there be anywhere to stay during those months?

Absolutely, and prices will be cheap too

4.I'd like to stay during the winter season (when it's winter in Norway,that is.Which means pretty much all year :-)

Where could I find reasonably priced accommodation and would there be any chance of a job anywhere on the island?(I know, I'm sure thousands are thinking the same, but here goes for trying! :-)

Give up thinking about getting a job during low season in Lanta. As I have stated in Lanta threads before, it gets so quiet there, you could shoot a cannon off in Saladan town at this time of year and no one would notice. No people means no business means no work especially for foreigners. Show up with a per month budget.

A good source of information is Junie at Time For Lime. Shes been there forever, runs an animal welfare outfit and could probably in the beginning get you cheap accomodation at her place then point you toward a cheap bungalow somewhere on the island. Good luck!

[Roel]

Best beach: Kantiang and the other smaller ones farther to the south.

Weather: more rain than sun I am afraid.

Prices: all the places offering accommodation fight for the clientele of the handful of people on the island during low season. You are in pole position to negotiate a good deal especially if you are going to stay for several months.

Working: difficult for foreigners. But I have seen many foreigners volunteering at the Animal Welfare Centre. As grumpyoldman said, go visit Junie for good and up-to-date advice!

To klongmuang: actually most foreign dive instructors in Thailand do have work permits (nothing to do with having to leave the country every three months). Koh Lanta might be an exception if authorities allow them to work without.

[vesiva]

Thank you grumpyoldman(you don't seem like one:-) and Roel! I have thought about looking up Junie, but the last time I was on Koh Lanta,time just seemed to run very fast. I never got to do half of the things I wanted to do/see. I understand that Junie is from the same country as myself(?) I am very interested in contributing at the animal welfare center. It seems sometimes a mystery to me how a lot of foreigners are able to stay for a long time, and/ or even live in thailand for years on end,even if they are not allowed to work or even in places where there are no work. Where do they get the money from? How do they manage? And I am talking about those foreigner that are not married to a thai. Makes me so curious! Anyway, lot's of good info here.Can't wait to come back:-)

[grumpyoldman]

HI Vesiva,

many people here work in internet businesses.

I once mentioned to a lady from Estonia that wanted to stay here to hook up with Lemon Grass Spa products Phuket and market their stuff in her home country. Aren't there a lot of the sauna/spa places where you are? Set the site up, hook up with Lemon Grass, use DHL Worldship software on the site to do the shipping, go sell to all the spa places in Norway showing them the site and how to order.

Anyway, just an idea, and yes as far as my nic, don't believe everything you read ;-)

[hellodolly]

Following this thread with interest. I notice there is no mention of cost of housing. I imagine it is the same as here in Chiang Mai as much or as little as you want to spend but let us say for 8,000 baht a month what could I expect long term?

[grumpyoldman]

Following this thread with interest. I notice there is no mention of cost of housing. I imagine it is the same as here in Chiang Mai as much or as little as you want to spend but let us say for 8,000 baht a month what could I expect long term?

Seasonality comes into play.

What you describe yes, show up in June, you should find that one bedroom bungalow flat at that rate. Show up in December, that 8,000 flat will be 12,000. BR, GOM

[vesiva]

HI Vesiva,

many people here work in internet businesses.

I once mentioned to a lady from Estonia that wanted to stay here to hook up with Lemon Grass Spa products Phuket and market their stuff in her home country. Aren't there a lot of the sauna/spa places where you are? Set the site up, hook up with Lemon Grass, use DHL Worldship software on the site to do the shipping, go sell to all the spa places in Norway showing them the site and how to order.

Anyway, just an idea, and yes as far as my nic, don't believe everything you read ;-)

Hi, Grumpyoldman.

Thank you for your kind reply and good advice. I will look into Lemon Grass and how to use DHL:-) I received an email from the company yesterday and will look into the marketing! Looks like their products are good quality:-)

Yes, the internet business. Also one of life's mysteries to me. A lot of people tell me that it's a big business.And I wonder:what is it and how do you get started seeing that so many apparantly is doing it. Yes, another one of lifes' great mysteries to me :-D