This small island is one of the best hidden gems in Thailand-with a freight-free beaches, luxury hotels and fruit-loving monkeys

Koh Lanta, a island in the southern Andaman Sea ThailandThe west coast is one of the true hidden gems of the country.

There are no western chains here. There is no girls. There is still an unbutt beachfront, although it can be gone in five years. There is a plan to build a bridge that will soon connect Koh Lanta to the mainland. Once it is done, it will be an easy 45 minutes for the Krabi International Airport (KBV). But this is the concern of a travel writer for a second day.

For now, Koh Lanta is relatively ignored, especially by Americans. During my second consecutive January visit – from November to March, the best months to visit the island in terms of weather – I did not meet another American. Scandinavian, however, has a different story. There are nonstop flights from Stockhom For the Krabi International Airport, and I spoke to Swaroops and Norwegians, who were eager to avoid the darkness of winter. I found a lot of those snowboard Rini Warin Resort and SpaA baby friendly luxury hotel, and on Pimlai resort and spaOne of the top qualities of the island (it has two Michelin keys) -My wife and I spent almost the right week this year.

22 years ago, established in 100 unheard acres, Pimlai has a 3,000 feet Prime Cantiang Beachfront. Most of the morning, I slowed down its entire length, which reaches the verge on the plateonic ideal of one. Tropical beach: Mostly empty, soft sand that can be found both under and out of soft water. Luxury is perfect, with more beach and poolside lounge than the guests of the Pimlai Hotel. While in the morning, there are small resorts on both ends of Kantiang, I almost saw no one.

Because of the terrain, Pimlai feels like two resorts, each with an infinity pool and restaurant. There are only 121 total housing. The deluxe rooms are located near the beach, while the pool villa is tucking in the terraced hill. All guests have access to round-trip van service at Crabby Airport and speedboat transfer at Pimlai’s ghat-it cuts by 45 minutes from the time of travel. Then, real luxury.

A memorable morning, my wife and I was raised in Pimlai for a beginning of a day Snorkeling charter Koh ha and koh rak. Because we are old and clever, we sat next to the driver, Jaron, while other passengers were engulfed in uncomfortable benches seats in the pickup bed. After 40 years of chasing the sun (and then only a bit bad) on Thai beaches, we have learned that the best part of the journey is those you meet and talk. Most Thai, like the people, Jaron was soft, sociable and warmly suited to tourists. He apologized for his English (which was quite good) and laughing when I told him that my name was “Khun Khon-D”, which broadly translates to “Mr. Goodman”,

Because Koh Lanta is to the south of Thailand – Nari Malaysia – 90 percent of the residents are Muslims, including Jaron. He admitted that many of his friends drank alcohol, although he did not, perhaps because he had 500 rubber trees on his property from where he used to gather latex starting at 3:30 am before going to work. Income from his rubber trees doubled his monthly salary as a driver, which enabled Jarun to send his daughter to college. BangkokA fact in which he was appropriately proud.

Snowkling was fantastic on Koh Rak that day. I saw a lot of healthy soft and hard coral. Everywhere there was fish, big and small, and although I had been diving in Thai water for some time and snorkeling, I saw something that I had never seen before: a 15-foot crown-thorn starfish. It was an electric blue huge that had a black thorn surface.

On the boat back from Koh Rak to Ghat, our captain made a previous round of a mangrove jungle settled by a large band of swimming, fruit-loving monkeys. I had never seen the monkeys in water before, but I thought that these monkeys eagerly waited for the remaining watermelon and pineapple for their daily treatment of our boat.

One evening later, in the week, we hired Jarun to take the east of Koh Lanta to Old Town. The coast faces the draft of Malacca instead of the Andaman Sea, and is located along a traditional trade route to Malaysia. The east coast of the island does not have sandy beaches or Upskale resorts, but it has Mocains (a group of indigenous sea nomads) community. The second major attraction of this unique place is a simple restaurant built on wooden piling – we heard of the breakdown of the waves because we had feasted on squad and gropper.

We loved our time in Koh Lanta and Pimlai, which was incredibly well; Our room was serving three times a day. International breakfast buffet included vague regional specialties, Thai noodle soup, an array of tropical fruit and organic juice. Food in rak locks, beach seafood restaurants where we often used to eat dinner, not only luxurious, but also for the five star, surprisingly inexpensive. If you travel, try soft-shell crabs. You will be amazed by taste and how many crabs include the same order.

I can still taste them – and can expect again.