Jaunted

For 250 baht (about $7), plus gas, two pals can rent a motorbike and traverse the island in a single day. First, stop in the port town for supplies: Check your email at less inflated prices than you'll find elsewhere and maybe pick up a Frisbee for some beach-side action. Escape quickly, though, because this area is the only place on the island where the stain of sun seekers is significant. If you’re into a day of sarong and cheap sunglasses shopping, however, hang around.

The Old Town blows the tacky port area out of the crystal-clear water. Spread along the island’s mangrove-forested eastern side, has an eerie Old West feel to it with dark wooden, clapboard homes sitting on stilts over the water. I counted one solitary yuppie Western restaurant while all the other places seemed like authentic Chinese-Thai haunts, with all the delicious food and kitschy atmosphere that comes with.

Further south along the island’s easternmost road is one of the so-called sea gypsy villages. Because the area hasn’t turned into a tourist attraction, it just looks like a typical village, with dogs, chickens and beautiful children running around while women prepare meals in houses painted exceptionally bright colors. There's also a Monkey School and a Cobra Show on the northern portion of the road. But since I've been suckered into those kinds of adventures before and always left feeling guilt-stricken and abused, I skipped them.

I'd recommend sticking to the southern portion of the island in general, where the terrain is beautiful, the population sparse and the roads windy. Several restaurants have porches that offer sweeping ocean views. Look for parked motorbikes along the roadside to find hidden paths to quiet beaches.

Motoring around the island can become a multi-day project, though Lanta offers other activities. It has two cooking schools, the pricier, foreign-owned A Time for Lime, which offers beautiful beach-side facilities and an expansive menu; the cheaper and locally-owned Lanta Cooking School taught us how to make the best-damned Panang curry ever. At night, Ting Tong Bar--ting-tong is Thai slang meaning “nutty”--near the beach’s northern end has the liveliest scene. Chill out alongside afro-ed Thais who fire dance and love themselves some Bob Marley.

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