Lipe Love

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After an 8 hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpur, we disembarked in Hat Yai and made our way to Cathay Guesthouse to catch our minibus to the port town of Pak Bara. We were cutting it fine but we got to Cathay half an hour before the minibus arrived and 2 hours later we were standing on the pier in Pak Bara waiting to be called onto our boat.



The guidebooks say the crossing to Koh Lipe lasts 2 hours so I couldn’t help but study the ocean to see what sort of ride we would be experiencing. The boat had 4 large engines and was streamlined like a speed boat so I was assuming quite a fast smooth ride and I was right! After a relatively painless 1 and a half hour boat ride we pulled into a floating jetty about 200 metres from Pattaya beach on Koh Lipe.



Being stranded within swimming distance with your luggage is quite frustrating to be honest. No one likes to be that Western traveller who can’t chill out or accept the annoyances with open arms but I will admit to it this time. After paying for a ticket to the beach we had to queue for quite some time before being loaded onto a local long tail boat for the 3min ride to the beach. Once we had our bags on we were offered a motorbike taxi ride to sunrise beach, where we were staying, but we had seen the map and it didn’t look far. It was quite far. Blistering sunshine, heavy packs and conflicting directions further fuelled my frustration. We made it onto the beach (harder than it sounds) and walked in the direction of our resort. We had to walk through the stretch of beach that belonged to the local village and it was like a building site and there was a lot of rubbish. Frustration continued.



Finally we made it to our resort and thankfully the beach was very clean and the water looked beautiful. The check in process was fast and we were shown to our delightful little beach hut where we could finally drop our luggage and re-group. I was still on edge so we decided to have a nap as it was still only early afternoon. I was woken about an hour later by the unmistakable clash of thunder and I looked outside to see torrential - a felt a slight twinge as my earlier frustration threatened to reboil, until I saw a lady walk out onto the sand, look up into the clouds and embrace the rain with open arms. I realised then that I was being a bit silly. We decided to go to the restaurant next door, set ourselves up on one of the Thai flat beds and watch the storm over the water. It was a lovely evening and the Pad Thai we ordered was delicious. I was looking forward to exploring the island and the surrounding islands in the coming week. However, this day was a wash out so we played cards and scrabble then called it a night.



Over the next 5 days we got to know the island quite well. We learnt that we were just catching the last week of “low season.” This may not be significant on other islands, but on Koh Lipe as soon as High season starts (25th Oct this year), no building is allowed. This meant that there was a lot of building work frantically being finished on walking street - but there was none along the beaches so it didn’t cause too much stress. Another thing that this may also effect is the rubbish along certain stretches of the beaches. Because there are not as many workers on the island, the rubbish collections are less frequent so you may find more rubbish during low season. Again, this was not a big problem because all of the good stretches of beach were well attended to.



Walking street is great in the evening for Barbecued seafood and a few drinks on Pattaya Beach but there are also some really good food places along Sunrise Beach. On walking street there are a lot of stools set out in front of restaurants with an abundance of fresh seafood. We ate at a couple of these and tasted the crab, prawns, tuna and snapper and it was all delicious. They prepare the food really well before perfectly barbecuing it!



The main activities we did here were hiring kayaks and a boat/snorkel trip. Kayaking around the whole island is really easy and there are a couple of islands you can kayak to just off the island. The snorkelling is good and the beaches are empty so it is well worth it on a nice day. The boat trip we booked was amazing. Most of the boats head over to the National Park, which takes about an hour to get to on a long tail. We chose a perfect day for ours and enjoyed every part of it but I can imagine it being very different if you are unfortunate enough to catch a downpour or a storm. We stopped at some amazing snorkelling locations (I didn’t expect them to be so good) and had lunch on an empty beach on a beautiful island called Koh Dong. we also visited Koh Lugoi, Koh Pung, Koh Bulu and the mysterious Black pebbled island called Koh Hin Ngam. We really enjoyed the boat trip and it was the highlight of our holiday.





I am beginning to think there is no where in South East Asia that I won’t like! No matter what my first impressions are or what i hear from other travellers I always end up falling in love with these places. I will definitely come back to Koh Lipe as we live so close and the travel was so easy. I think the island changes with the seasons but that is the case with most Thai islands. Either way I had a great time here and gained more wonderful experiences. The water was some of the clearest I have seen and to be able to jump into it whenever I felt like it was a pleasure!!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Chill
It is a good life. Love following along