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Published: December 3rd 2011
The Islands
So we set off for the ferry from Georgetown very early, and after a rough 2.5 hrs on the water, we finally arrived on Langkawi island. First impressions, weren’t helped by the dull weather, cloud and rain everywhere, but as well as that it was dirty and hardly any westerners at all. Instead there were poor flea ridden cats with half their tail chopped off everywhere on the island. We checked in at the ‘Azio’ which was a very nice hotel, then went for a walk around the Kedah area which is where we were staying and scoped out the shops and street stalls, got a bite too eat, from a local (busy) restaurant then went back to the room. At night time, the markets were on, so we went back out again to check out all the offers and foods on show, which was a little more promising but still not really impressed.
The next day we got a taxi to the other side of the island, to Pantai cenang as we were getting the speedboat to Koh Lipe the day after. First impressions of this place were great! As we drove
through, all we could see were nice restaurants and shops. We checked in our hotel ‘Mali Perdana’ which was o.k. then went for a wander around the shops before checking out the beach. The beach was nice, not amazing, but clear white sand, and restaurants all the way across it. We went to the supermarket got myself a couple of strong bows and Jen found a ‘Hooch’ drink reminiscing from her teenage years (see pics) ha-ha and sat on the beach for a couple of hours. At night we went for a walk the other side, had an amazingly fresh tropical cocktail on the beach front, before trying out a restaurant again and finding a lovely bar called ‘The Cliff’ for a nightcap, then returned.
The next morning we got a taxi to Telaga Harbour for our speedboat to Koh Lipe, it was either 95ringit for a ferry in 3 hrs, or 115ringit for a speedboat that gets you there in 1 hr. When we set off I think Jen wished she got the ferry cos the waves at 2.5 metre high were making the speedboat near enough take off, it was so cool! We couldn’t believe
our eyes when we got closer to Koh Lipe, it was like you see in the movies, clear white sandy beaches and clear water so deep into the ocean.
We went through immigration at the beach front (see pics) in which we just filled a form in, as we already had our visa’s, then set off for our accommodation at ‘the Box‘. When we arrived, it was a typical beach resort place, very nice and tidy and we met the Spanish owner Javier who had only been there a year himself. We chucked our bags in, then went to the beach front on Pattaya beach, which was heaven.
As we walked through the main walking street, we noticed there were dogs everywhere, but nice dogs with collars and full tails, although they did fight a lot and scare a few kids. When we got back our room was unbelievably hot, and we didn’t have air con, just a fan (big mistake) the actual room was made out of metal shipping containers that had been dressed up with timber cladding around them. We both officially had the worst nights sleep I can ever remember, too
hot and you couldn’t sleep on top as the mosquitoes would have you, and even when I tried too ignoring the mozzies, it was still too hot too sleep.
We finally got up at 6.30am as we knew we weren’t going to get any sleep, so we waited a bit, then went searching for air con rooms. We finally found one at the Kasirin 2, just off the walkway for 1000 baht per night, cheaper than the box at 1100 baht and that only had a crap fan! We threw the bags in again, and went for breakfast at the pancake shop which was pretty cool. After breakfast, we did a little shop for some necessities like water, beach towels etc. We decided to try out the other beach, which was sunrise beach, a lot more quieter.
After a few hours in and out the sea, we went for dinner, and that’s when we realised how hot it actually was. Jen looked like a cooked lobster from head to toe, and was even using factor 30! I got lucky as I kept either in the sea or just kept topping up as I get
bored lying there.
At night we went for a meal at a lovely thai restaurant on walking street, then went to a bar called ‘Phoo bar’ which had a live singer on. The place was packed but Jen had sunstroke, so we had 1 drink, left early and stocked up on bottled water and after sun.
The next morning, was a bit of a right off considering we didn’t leave the room till gone 12pm. Jens sunburn was really bad, so we couldn’t walk anywhere, I managed to drag her to get summit to eat and have a few cokes (alcohol is too expensive) at a bar called ‘Love and peace’ on Pattaya beach, owned by a nice fella named ‘piste’, then the heavens opened for about 10mins cooling the place down. We got a few beers from the supermarket, went back and sank the beers whilst chatting n listening to music, before heading off to a very lively bar called OMG Sports bar which was packed with Thais in Liverpool shirts to watch the Liverpool vs. Man City game. I was gutted it was a draw considering Liverpool played them off the park,
needless to say we got back a lil tipsy for the 1
st time since Queenstown, New Zealand and retired around 2am.
For our final day in Koh Lipe, we decided to walk to the other side of the island to Sunset beach. The weather was amazing, so we chilled in the sea, but most of the time Jen was still hiding in the shade due to the sunburn. We walked right round sunset beach to the 4 star mountain resort, but to be honest didn’t seem all that too me. Around tea time, we went for a meal at Fino’s which was a really popular restaurant right near our accommodation, this is where I tried my 1
st coconut juice, straight from the coconut. They really just take the lid off them and stick a straw in them. It was really sweet, but nice.
In the morning we got on the chao leys longboat to access our speedboat to Koh Lanta, and couldn’t believe it when we were told we had to pay a further 50 baht each, on top of the 1900baht each for the trip other wise the sea gypsy’s wouldn’t take us
out to the speedboat. A bit of a con, but your always going to get them, and its only a quid each. There was a Dutch guy on board, who was so rude, he kept shouting to them ’f**k you’ but eventually he paid it and we set off to Koh Mook, Koh Ngia then Koh Lanta. The islands all looked amazing as you can expect (see pics) and 3 hrs later we arrived at the pier for Koh Lanta. We walked literally 1 minute to our guest house (Jens getting so good at studying places) Sincere guest house, which was nice n clean and the lady who owned it with a man called chompoo were really friendly. We went for a walk around the markets area, grabbed a bite to eat then went for a cocktail at a cool bar called ‘barracuda’ before returning for an early night, as the sea air had got too us.
In the morning, we were advised that to see Koh Lanta properly, as it was the biggest of the islands, your best to hire a scooter. After convincing Jen it will be o.k., we hired a scooter for 250 baht
(£5 for 24 hrs) from our guest house. It had been a while since I ridden one, but it didn’t take much getting used to it.
We set off for the ‘Lanta Animal welfare centre’ in khlong khong which had been recommended on Trip Advisor. When we got there, a man called Adam greeted and explained that all the dogs n cats we were about to see were strays, found around the island, that had been rescued and vaccinated. Some of the poor animals had 3 legs, ears missing, huge scars and some were really timid around humans. Adam told us that the locals hate the strays and will do anything to get rid of them, like poison them, hit them with sticks and put fish hooks in food to kill them. It was awful hearing all the stories. We were introduced to 1 dog called ‘Doc Den’ which had boiling oil thrown over him the poor thing. Adam told us that they love travellers visiting the centre, as we can give the animals attention and even take the dogs for walks, whilst the vets who are also volunteers attend to the needed animals.
We volunteered to take 2 dogs named ‘Zip’ and ‘Long’ (I think it was due to the size of the dogs schlong haha) for a walk on khlong khong beach for 40 mins. When we returned, we went into the cattery for 30 mins, so Jen could get her cat fix and give them some attention (she really misses her 2 cats at home Jack n Tilly, bless).
Once we left the animal centre, we set off to view point, which was basically a restaurant which had amazing views, the pics don’t do it justice. On the way there, we encountered some wild monkeys swinging around the trees nearby which was an experience. We set off to the hammock house in koh lanta old town, as Jen had researched that they do cat hammocks, but was gutted when the owner explained she had none left (see the pic of the owners cat in a hammock).
On the way back we decided to drive down the scenic road as wanted to see some more stuff, and we couldn’t believe our eyes when we drove past a Reticulated Python along the scenic road!! It was huge
and it really freaked us out, so we didn’t stop to take pics ha-ha. There isn’t much to do at night, so we went for a meal at ’The Black Pearl’ which is highly recommended, you have to try the lasagne its amazing!
The next day we set off from Koh Lanta by ferry to Ko Phi Phi - made famous from the film ‘The Beach’. We’d only booked one nights accommodation in advance on Phi Phi as we thought we’d find somewhere cheap and cheerful for the next few days.. how wrong we were! Upon arrival we were greeted by a porter from our accommodation ‘Twin Palms Bungalows’ who walked us through the ‘town’ over to our bungalow right near the beach.. it was great, little bamboo hut with semi-outdoor bathroom, really cute! We spent the whole afternoon visiting various guesthouses and bungalows for prices, all of which were in excess of 1000baht..even the really disgusting ones!
Eventually we decided the place was a bit of a dump and thought instead we’d do a whistle-stop Phi Phi trip and leave the following afternoon. Before that we had to try out the infamous nightlife
so Darren went for a well needed haircut (his hair was out of control) and we hit the Muay Thai stadium for a bit of fun! It was a great atmosphere and the gist of it was basically ‘we’ll give you free booze if you come up and fight’ - so you can imagine the scene! One English guy who was just doing it for a bit of fun got knocked clean out by another English guy who was obviously some kind of pro boxer.. It was really bad actually but the lad was alright and Darren went over to give him a pat on the back for giving it a go. We then went onto a couple of bars and ended up at Slinky beach party which was just insane, just like an Ibizan party.. dancing on tables etc. It was only a stones throw from our accommodation and we did wonder if we’d get any shut eye due to the noise but we both went out like a light!
We’d booked a boat trip on a traditional long tail for 10am the following morning (great idea Jen) and were both feeling so ill, and Darren
was suffering with a minor case of bed bug bites, but we still managed to get there on time and set off with about 10 other people. Rough doesn’t come near it…. that’s both the sea and Jen! The waves were so big and the boat looked like it was about to sink, it was a really scary half hour..but was worth it when we arrived on Maya Bay at Phi Phi Ley (where they filmed the beach with Leonardo dicaprio).. It was a beautiful place. We had an hour to explore the island so went for a wander around and had a dip in the sea, but unfortunately the island was ram jammed with tourists arriving on very loud speed boats, which kinda ruined the ambience! Later we went snorkelling which was absolutely amazing, there were hundreds of fish all around and the water was crystal clear. We then went onto monkey beach for a short while and fed the monkeys and kept a tight hold of our sunglasses as they have a tendancy of stealing them! The boat trip was great and such good value, £5 each!!! Once we returned at 2pm we jumped straight onto a ferry
to the mainland to Krabi.. We both passed out for the whole two hours on the boat, exhausted from our island hopping adventures!
Until next time…
TTFN folks xxxx
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Mum
non-member comment
Life's a Beach!
Well, what can we say but, JEALOUS!. The places look amazing, wish we could experience these Islands too. So many wonderful memories for you to treasure. What wonderful stories you will be able to tell your family. Hope the rest of your travels are as beautiful and memorable.. Keep Blogging. Love ya trillions and billions. Mwaaaaaa Mum xxxxxx & Dad x