The Thai government has established a brand called OTOP (One Tambol, One Product) to help generate income to the villagers. Therefore, each district in Thailand now specializes in something. The various products include batik textiles, wooden furniture, local coffee, herbs, crab cakes, shrimp crackers and handicrafts made from toey panan (pandanus tectorium soland), a local plant. In the fresh food department, there is hoi chak teen—wing shell which looks similar to walking legs referred as “feet” or ‘teen’ (informal Thai). Smaller and brown, this kind of shell is found in Krabi and nearby provinces. Hoi chak teen is eaten with a Thai seafood sauce which is a dip made with fish sauce, garlic, chilies, lime juice and sugar. If you have a Thai friend (who cooks) in your city, bringing back kapi (shrimp paste) and koong haeng (dry shrimps) for her (less him) will be equivalent to a brick of gold.

Money & Banking
One thing as certain as death and taxes is wherever you travel, even in the remote areas, you’ll feel comfortable to find an ATM to cash some or lots of money. Koh Lanta may be small but in recent years, the number of ATMs has increased immensely. There are ATMs everywhere scattered all over the island, even at the odd corners that you wouldn’t think of. There is actually no need to bring a bunch of cash from home. For more serious banking activities, Siam Commercial Bank (Tel: 075-620-621-3) and Siam City Bank (Tel: 075-611-320), located in Saladan Village, operates Monday to Friday from 8:30am-3:30pm. There is also a Western Union, just in case disaster strikes and you need money from home instantly.

Immigration Office
There is no immigration office in Koh Lanta. For visa extensions, visitors must contact the offices in Krabi. Krabi Immigration Office (Tel: 075-611-097) is located on Utarakit Road in Krabi Town.