Sausage is on the mend!

If you live in Old Town, you know Sausage, a little tubby, long bodied dog with knock knees. She is a gentle soul and is very sociable, always popping into local bars and restaurants to say hi.

Unfortunately last week she had a fight with a car and lost, her back leg was badly broken and she had injured her front legs. A good Samaritan from Old Town rushed her to Lanta Animal Welfare, the only vet on the island, for urgent treatment

Sausage has never had a home, she has never been locked up and she has never had so many dogs and humans around her. She was also badly injured and old. She was terrified and in a lot of pain.

Sausage in the much hated collar

I knew Sausage from when Nick and I used to live in Old Town and every time she saw me her funny little tail would go crazy when I called her name. So as Lanta Animal Welfare is only a couple of minutes walk from Mook Lanta Eco Resort, I paid her a visit. Despite clearly being in a lot of pain, Sausage wagged her tail when she heard my voice. I went and sat with her and had to stop myself from crying, she was shaking with fear and I was told that despite the volunteers trying to show her affection she was not responding to them. So I made a pact with myself to see her everyday.

The second day she responded again to me but was still in a lot of pain. On the third, as I arrived she was going into surgery to have the leg removed. The vets allowed me to stay with her till she fell asleep. 

The next day I went to see her and she was very heavily drugged, there was no recognition of my voice, but I gave her some water and chicken broth and she started to respond. The fourth day she was remarkably herself and was up on her feet, so I took her outside for some fresh air. On day five they had moved her to a bigger kennel and when she heard my voice she whined for me! I found her and she demanded to go for a walk with me and even had a poo! Which got a round of applause from the volunteers! (it is important sign with sick dogs!)

Sausage is walking well on 3 legs

But what is truly wonderful is that the wonderful people from Old Town have offered her a safe home to stay so she is safe when she leaves Lanta Animal Welfare and they have offered to pay for her stay at Lanta Animal Welfare.

Lanta Animal Welfare is a charity that survives only on donations. Their mission is to improve the lives of animals on Koh Lanta through sterilisation, veterinary services and rehoming. They have transformed Koh Lanta which was over run with many wild dogs who were in poor condition and badly treated, to an island with a significantly smaller wild dog population with many fewer cases of cruelty. The founder, Junie Kovacs, came to the island, opened a cookery school, Time for Lime, and started to take in poorly treated cats and dogs. This grew from a small shelter to the number 1 thing to do in the Krabi Province according to TripAdvisor!

If you come to Koh Lanta, go to Lanta Animal Welfare, eat in Kitty City, take the free tour and maybe take a dog for a walk. But please donate generously as they are vital to the island.

Christmas in Koh Lanta

I have been often asked if I miss Christmas at home in England. Whilst I obviously miss my friends and family at this time, I have always been surrounded by expats, tourists and Thais who all share the holiday spirit. So this is my Christmas:

Santa Visited all the Bungalows

6:30am Santa goes to every bungalow on the resort, unfortunately we have no chimneys, so he leaves the presents on the door.

Our Guests made Bucks Fizz for Everyone

7am breakfast starts, and Christmas Day is always busy with over 70 breakfast for guests and outside guests to make. Bu our Waiter and Pi Deng. our chef, do an awesome job and Nick and I help when it gets too busy. Two of our lovely guests brought Champagne and offered everyone at breakfast a Bucks Fizz (Orange Juice and Champagne).

 After breakfast I finally had a shower and went to collect a guest from another resort.

Secret Santa Presents

At midday we close the reception, bar and restaurant and have lunch with the staff. All Thai of course (as we are the only Westerners working at Mook Lanta Eco Resort). Then we do Secret Santa. For those that have never done this, we all pick a name out of the hat to buy a present for. Nobody spends much money and the presents can be funny. Bu, the waiter got a alarm clock, because he is not the best at waking up in the morning. Kai, the cleaner, got a big box of chocolates, which caused her to whoop with delight (as she has been on a diet and lost loads of weight). Ya, the handy man, got some awesome combat design shorts and I got wine, so my staff know me well!

Christmas Lunch, Thai Style

However there were 2 notable presents; Pi Deng, our Chef, had to curiously stand on a chair whilst opening hers, when she unwrapped it, it revealed a very sexy apron! The crowd went wild (I was starting to worry I was going to start seeing #metoo trending) and honestly it was hard to get her out of the apron, or get the staff to leave her alone! The other present was instant snow, which was not real snow, but for the first time our staff had a snowball fight.

So at 2pm, the party ended and Nick and I planned to go to the beach, but just as we were leaving the house, we receive an urgent call from a friend who lives in Old Town. He had been driving home in his car and another car overtook him and caused our guests to swerve off the road. Thankfully the guests had only scratches but were too scared to get back on the bike, so Nick and I collected them in he car and I drove the bike back. Beach was going to have to wait.

I cleaned their wounds and ensured that they were ok and took my only 30 minute break of the day and we used this to wish our families back home a Happy Christmas.

At 4pm I I was heading back to the bar as my neighbour's wife (who is Muslim) swung by with her 2 little kids in her tuk tuk. The little girl screams 'Happy Christmas Mellisa' and the little boy High Fives me! Back at the bar, celebrating Christmas with our friends and guests, Nick and I opened all the traditional English Chocolates that you eat at Christmas; Terry's Chocolate Orange, After Eights and Matchmakers. By 7.30 our work was nearly done when we received a phone call asking us to pass a message on to a guest regarding their dive course the next day. Luckily we knew where they were eating and popped in to give them the information.

Finally at 8pm, I was in the pub, relaxing with a lovely glass of wine.

Merry Christmas to you all

Love the Mook Lanta Eco Resort Team

Kayaking around Koh Lanta

We are often asked why we recommend certain tour companies and the answer is easy, it is down to our own personal experience and the feedback of our customers. If our customers love them, we recommend them, if they don't, their leaflets are not allowed on site.

2 days ago we had a family of 8 stay with us and they were looking for a fun half day tour. We recommended Lanta Kayaking who offer a 3 hour tour. As they were a group, we could get a discounted private tour just for them, at the time they wanted to go.

This tour takes you by longtail boat (a traditional Thai boat) to Talabeng island, Koh Kum and Koh Ung and finally ends with kayaking through the mangroves and to the Sea Cave at Talabeng.

The family loved it, but especially loved getting up close with the monkeys in the wild.

Pure Luxury

1 of 2 Luxury Villas

 Yesterday someone asked me, where I go on holiday, as I already live on a beautiful tropical island.

A large private pool with views over the Andaman Sea

Luckily for me, I have a wonderful husband who had come up with the perfect place: Kulraya Villas.

The view from our bed

Our Bedroom

The owners have built 2 stunning pool villas, set high up on Koh Lanta, which are perfect inside and out and have stunning views over the Andaman Sea. Each villa has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms a large kitchen, dining and living area. Each villa has private gardens with a large pool and a BBQ.

The Living Area

 If you want a few days in pure luxury, you'll struggle to find anything better

Outside Dining Area

Sadly we only had 2 days here, but we will be back!

Catch all the Sports in one place

Phra Ae village is small, but packed with great bars and restaurants and is only minutes from Long Beach, one of the most popular beaches on Koh Lanta. Mook Lanta Eco Resort, is nestled between the two, meaning everything is just a short walk away.

Whilst many spend their days on the beach or on boat tours around the island, many in the evenings want to catch up with their home teams.

Outside dining at Kandi Lounge

Kandi Lounge in the heart of Phra Ae village, is able to offer all the matches at once! They have 7 screens, and 1 large projector screen and not only can they provide the sound to one match, they can do it to them all! Because they have a special sound system that projects the different coverage to headphones, meaning you never miss anything.

Pool available

The main event is shown on the Projector screen, but you can ask Mark, the owner, to change one of the TVs to your home team.

Whilst you are enjoying the game, be sure to check out the BBQ and Home Comforts menu. All the meals are generous, so come with an appetite and if you enjoy a challenge or want to share with your friends, the Meat Feast is it:

Enjoy a BBQ with friends

Full Rack of Ribs

Whole Chicken

2 Italian Sausages 

2 Cumberland Sausages 

4 Chicken Kebabs

4 Chicken Wings

And corn on the cob, coleslaw, jacket potato or chips and onion rings!

So what are you doing tonight?

So why do you call you resort an Eco Resort?

It is a question we get regularly asked and for good reason. When we first decided to change the name to Mook Lanta Eco Resort, Nick was insistent that I check what I need to do in order to justify the name.

So I searched online and frankly was quite disappointed. There seems to be no universally accepted criteria (although some organisations have tried to create them) and many resorts used the name without any justification.

Nick and I were determined that whenever we were asked this question, we should be able to respond with multiple points that justified the name.

But we were also clear that we wanted our guests to no be unduly affected by the changes and to perhaps encourage other resorts to follow in our practices.

So why do we call ourselves an Eco Resort?

1. Recycling is a huge part of our ethos. We recycle all our cans, plastic bottles, cardboard and glass.

2. We only provide one water bottle per person at the beginning of their stay, but allow them to fill it up, as much as they like whilst they are here.

Our guests went to the beach and picked up rubbish

3. We love our upcycling, so our old shutters are new tables for the balconies, old roofs are now beautiful fencing, a recycling point and a new motorbike shelter.

I spent an afternoon picking up Rubbish

4. Use linen laundry bags not plastic ones.

5. Use dispensers, for shampoo and bodywash, instead of tiny bottles.

6. Service our air conditioning units regularly so they don't waste electric.

7. Food waste is given to our own animals or the dogs at the temple.

8. We participant in Beach Clean Ups and encourage our customers to bring litter back to the resort.

9.We encourage our guests to donate their sunscreen, mosquito spray etc to others rather than throw it away.

10. Support Lanta Animal Welfare and all their great work for the island. 

11. Encourage our guests to leave their unwanted beach toys for other guests and any left are given to the Children of the Forest.

Unwanted toys given to other guests or donated to Children of the Forest

and much much more! 

But best of all, I now struggle to answer this question at first, because it is so normal to us, that we cannot understand why every other resort is not doing it too!