Lanta Old Town in the morning

Lanta Old Town, on the sheltered east coast of Koh Lanta, was once a stop for traders sailing this coast, and it is still a single street of wooden shophouses and century-old stilt houses standing over the water, with a Chinese shrine and wooden piers running out from the backs of the houses. It faces the sunrise, so it is at its best in soft morning light, when the wood looks warm and the water behind the piers is calm; by midday there is little shade on the piers and the light turns hard.

This is a working village, not a set. People live and work on the piers, so ask before stepping onto one, and accept a no. Fishing boats come in alongside them, which children watch for as long as anyone lets them — a family session here is often as much about that as about posing. Lanta is home to Thai Muslim, Thai-Chinese and Urak Lawoi sea-nomad communities, and off the beach a village asks for covered shoulders and modest clothes: bring a shirt or a sarong for the Old Town even if the rest of the day is swimwear.

At the Chinese shrine, photograph the shrine on its own rather than posing in front of it, and keep voices low. The classic route pairs the Old Town with a west-coast beach for sunset the same afternoon, a short drive over the hills — easy, but it trades the Old Town's best light for convenience, because by afternoon the sun is behind the houses. For the best of both, give the Old Town a morning of its own.