Paradise in Ko Lipe

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07/0212

Visa run to Malaysia

We were nearly at the end of our 15 day visa so we had to head over the border to Malaysia to exit Thailand then re-enter to get an extra 15 day stamp on our visa. The country of Burma is closer with their border cross at Ranong but it had hassle written all over it, for example you have to catch a long tail boat across the water from Thailand to the Burma border, which the boat people can charge whatever they like. You need a brand new ‘crisp’ $10 bill within your passport and if this bill is not brand new you have to then pay nearly double the amount in Thai baht. As we wanted to visit Ko Lipe anyway we thought instead of doing a visa run lets go somewhere we want to go and stay for a couple of days, so this is where Langkawi island in Malaysia came about.

We caught the ferry from Ko Samui to Surat Thani, 140bht, £4.80pp From there we caught another public bus to Hat Yai 220bht pp (£4.40) where we spent the night. The next morning we caught a public bus all the way to Satun (63bht, £1.20pp) before a shared taxi took us to the pier (30bht pp but should of been 20bht for locals ;o)). The ferry was 300bht (£6pp) to Langkawi and departed at 4pm and arrived 6pm Malaysian time (1 hour ahead). We looked around the port town once we landed in Langkawi to see if there were any cheap places to stay as it was pretty late but everywhere was either full or crazy expensive. We then decided to jump in a taxi to the area of Pantai Cenang where there was meant to be a small budget area right bythe beach. Taxi prices are all fixed and advertised everywhere. Cost us 24MYR (£5) to get to this area. All the budget places were full so we walked along the main road to be told everywhere was full or rooms that were very basic were £20, where should of been more like £6. We found out that it was a Malaysian holiday for 4 days hence the busyness and price hike. It was nearly 11pm so we had to settle at some Russian run place, £20 and the room was shocking. Dirty, smelly, air con that did not work properly, we decided then we would leave for Ko Lipe the next day as did not want to pay these prices for an area that was ‘alright’. Even the food was more expensive then Thailand but full of holiday makers? Hmm when Thailand is on your door step we could not see why you would come here, but hey maybe we did not give in a good enough chance...oh well.

12/02/12

Ko Lipe

We caught the ferry over to Ko Lipe from Langkawi and we were so glad we did. Soon as you get closer to the island all you see is turquoise waters and white sandy beaches – paradise. The pier is a floating platform out to sea so you are carted off the ferry onto long tail boats to bring you to the island. Once on the island you have to queue up at immigration, which is a hut on the beach (how cool is that), ready to get stamped back into Thailand. It took us at least an hour as we were the last ones to be stamped in. It was hot and we still had to find accommodation – the worse part of travelling I think. Terry was tired today so I volunteered to go guest house searching. I am always getting lost so I picked up a free map, marked on where I had left Terry and our bags and went walking around the island to see what I could find. There is no cars, or mopeds on the island so was nice and peaceful walking around. Was very busy due to high season but not so that it ruined the island experience in anyway for us. Could still find a nice spot on the beaches and take photos out to sea with no large groups of people in the way.

I was getting quoted 1500 – 2500bht for accommodation per night which is approx £30 - £50 so was getting bit worried we would not be able to stay on the island for more than one night. Finally I saw a sign for beach huts on Pattaya beach at 600bht (£12), which in my opinion is the nicest beach. White sand, turquoise sea but the sea here is full of long tail boats carting people to and from the pier and around the island - still very picturesque though. The hut was fine, basic but pretty so ran back into the main town section to find Terry. However where I had marked on my map that I had left Terry was not the place I had actually left him! The dive shop that Terry was sat outside was their old premises and on the map I had marked him at their new premises (confused? So was I) so spent half hour running up and down the main street, cursing Terry even though he had no idea and totally was not his fault, but when it is 35c outside, sun belting and the cheapest hut you found was the last one they had available....I was getting STRESSED. Finally found him where I had left him, told him off for letting me go and search for places when he knows I am useless at directions and quickly walked back to the beach front huts. Once there the manager said it had already gone as he was not sure we were definitely coming back! Terry said the look I gave the owner was terrifying, he just froze under my stare, he realised I was not happy and he then suddenly remembered he did have another hut. Took us to see it which was a little further back from the beach but was much nicer than the other huts he had showed us. It was larger, built out of wooden planks rather than the bamboo style cheaper huts for 600bht. He grudgingly agreed to give it to us for the same price so we unpacked happily ready to hit the beach.

We spent 4 nights here altogether. There are 3 main beaches around the island; Pattaya where we were staying, sunrise beach and sunset beach – both named for obvious reasons. Most days we walked around to the north of the island which was in between sunrise and sunset beach. This has great snorkelling. At low tide you could walk quite a way out to a sand bank where from here you could then snorkel the coral reef which surrounds the Ko Adang island – wicked, saw lots of Nemo fishes (clown fish).

Terry and I also went on a snorkel trip, which was £9pp but included all the gear, lunch, the boat and a guide for the day to 5 various points around the local area where the coral reefs were. This included; Ko Yang which was full of tiny jelly fish that we could not see but could feel little stings over our bodies, we only lasted here for about 10 minutes. We went to Ko Rawi where we did not snorkel but enjoyed the inhabited island and had lunch here. We then stopped at Ko Hin and Ko Ngan. Pretty good value for the whole day we thought. The tour guide also had a underwater camera with him so gave us a few of his pictures for free.


Most evenings we ate at a Muslim restaurant and had their Massaman curries. This is Terry’s favourite Thai curry and it comes a close first for me between that and a red curry. It is peanut, spicy flavoured with beef/chicken, potatoes and carrots – delicious. We eat a lot of them.


On the evenings some of the beach bars have fire shows going on that you can sit and watch whilst having a drink. We have seen a few of these now as many of the bars on the islands have these shows to entice you in. Terry and I being the cheapskates that we are would go and buy a couple of cheap beers from the shop and bring them down to the beach to sit and watch what’s going on. People were buying and lighting the big Chinese lanterns and setting them off into the sky however most ended up falling back down and into the sea which was funny as everyone from the bars was watching , so as they go up everyone would cheer but soon as they start to drop there was huge gasps and shouts of noooooooo.


We saw some of the best sun sets from sunset beach since we have been travelling. Of course with a beer in hand in was nice to sit and chill in front of the bars.

Sadly after 4 nights we are leaving paradise, not sure we will see a more beautiful island on our travels but we need to move on. Next stop is back up north to Ko Lanta.

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Photos

We found Nemo!
Photo taken on our snorkelling trip

Comments

[Patty Pancakes]

Again wonderful photos. Love momma xxx