Koh Lanta in brief   

Area: 152 sqkm

This island forms the most southern district of Krabi province.  It was known long ago by its name in the Malay language, Pulao Satak, which means Long Beach Island.  Later, so many Thais, both Buddhist and Muslim, came to live on the island that there seemed to be a million eyes, which is what some people think Lanta means in Thai.  Others hold that the name is corrupted from Javanese "lan-tas", and means a fish grill (which is built of wood with a square grill on top where the fish are set in a circle).