Ko Lanta & KoHub
A couple of weeks back, the wife and I spent one month on Ko Lanta. It is a small island in the Andaman Sea, approximately 80 km east of Phuket.
(To be precise: We stayed on Lanta Yai, which is the southern island, whereas Lanta Nai is the northern part. Both are connected to Krabi via car ferry. We arrived by ferry from Phuket via Ko Phi Phi.)
We first heard about Ko Lanta back in Chiang Mai, when our friend Sascha told us about KoHub. We looked at their website and I talked to some people via Twitter that where on Ko Lanta at that time (thanks Daniel!). We quickly made the choice to go and stay there for a month.
I am very glad, we made that decision.
KoHub is one of only a few, non-urban co-working spaces in the world. That means it is beautifully located near the beach, surrounded by palm trees.
KoHub’s owner James told me, that in the beginning he was not sure, if the atmosphere would allow people to actually get any work done – with the beach just two minutes away. (You can actually walk to the beach, have a swim in the ocean, then use the shower in the garden and get right back to work.)
Everyone I talked to, said they were indeed very productive. So was I.
When the weather is nice (which means: not too hot) you can work on the patio, overlooking a garden with a Buddha statue and some hammocks, which you can use to relax or sit in, while doing Skype calls.
When I needed to be really productive, I preferred one of two A/C rooms.
Internet was fast and very stable. In fact, it only went out once, while I was there, because of a power outage. But not to worry: KoHub has it’s own generator. So even if the power goes down, they just start their own power supply and you can keep working.
KoHub has lots of ideas on bringing people together. One of the best opportunities to get to know your fellow co-workers is lunch. Everyone gets together to talk about their current projects and their lives as digital nomads. Tuesdays and Thursdays is salad day (which was my favorite).
KoHub also regularly organizes group events (on weekends) so you can, for example, explore the surrounding islands, like we did, when visiting the Emerald Cave.
Ko Lanta itself is very laid back. People are very friendly, there are many good options for food.
We arrived here at the start of the so called “green season”, which is another term for low season. Prices are much cheaper, than during the main season. Visit lanta.info – a website we created during a hackathon at KoHub – to find out more about what to do on Lanta.
Another great place find up-to-date information about where to stay on Ko Lanta and what’s generally going on, is the Kohubbers Facebook group.
We are definitely thinking about coming back to Ko Lanta in the future.
BTW: The wife also has a post up about Ko Lanta.