The main reason we decided to go to Koh Lanta was to visit the Lanta Animal welfare centre. I had come across some posts on instagram about the centre and insisted we paid a visit. I am so glad we did! Lanta animal welfare centre has been running for about 17 years now and I was so amazed by the work they do. Their main goal is to sterilise and vaccinate stray animals in order to prevent overpopulation as this is the main reason they are often abused. If the shelter feel the animal has a safe environment to go back to they will release it however if not they will work on rehoming the cats or dogs worldwide! Having been here almost a month now and seeing literally dozens of stray cats and dogs it's amazing to know places like this do exist and do their absolute best for the animals!

We helped out by giving some of the dogs their morning walks and lots of love and cuddles! I walked Andre, who was a pleasure! Before arriving to the shelter Andre was hit 3 times by a local with a machete whilst trying to look for food and yet he was still one of the friendliest dogs there! I have no doubts he will have a bright and loving home to go to one day!

After almost 3 weeks into our trip we finally made it to the beautiful island of Phi Phi. We initially planned to stay for 5 nights but ended up staying 6 instead & what an amazing few days we had! 

For such a small island Phi Phi has a huge amount to offer, on one of the first few days we headed up to the Phi Phi viewpoint where the entire island is visible. We just lay on the cliff top for about an hour admiring the view it was beautiful!

BOAT DAY

Heading to all of the surrounding islands while at Phi Phi is a must! We did a full day tour, we were all completely shattered by the end but it was worth it! We left at 9:30am and finished at 7pm. The tour included the famous Maya bay from the movie "The beach" as well as monkey beach and a few other bays and national parks. Sadly we had to swim or kiyak to all of them so it was very hard to bring my camera to get some pictures! 

The day cost 1100 baht (about €28) but this included the fee of 400 baht to go onto maya bay and the national parks. We also got a meal on board and for me it was great I was able to request no meat or egg.

As much as I loved this trip, I would still rank the snorkeling trip in Koh Tao as my favourite day trip so far!

OUTFIT

I literally saved this outfit for a day it would be worth wearing lol! The camouflage jokes were continuous throughout the whole day! 

I picked up this super cute bikini from a shop in Koh Tao for about 200 baht which is about €5 or €6 and styled it with my fave camo bucket hat from Nine Crows! 

I bought the glasses for about €2 on one of the stalls at the floating markets in Bangkok and the bag is my usual one from forever 21!

In terms of where to go and what to eat or do, you're never stuck for choice. I even found a vegan/vegetarian restaurant with such a huge selection of foods on the menu, but even the days we didn't eat there it's been pretty easy to order vegan everywhere. Most places do tofu if you ask and will cook fried rice or noodles without egg once you ask! 

At night time the beach goes crazy with fireshows and plenty of music. The music was mainly EDM and we were kind of looking for more of a chilled vibe most nights so were absolutely blessed when we discovered a bar called banana bar. Every night at 7:30 they play a movie. Its also a Mexican food place so we had the best of both worlds. If you're visiting Phi Phi and need a break from the madness of the beach I'd highly recommend here! 

As well as avoiding the main beach during the night we did the same thing during one of the days also, we walked towards long beach, it's on the other side of the island but only about a 30 minute walk. Something well worth doing if again you need a break from the madness!

After our 6 nights in Phi Phi we finally decided it was time to move on and we jumped on a boat to Phuket.

Thailand, see you in August!!! Next stop Cambodia! 

Grainne 

XO