11:00 30/04/2015 A plane ride of 70 minutes from KL to Hatyai Thailand, then another hour plus 45 minutes of land travel from Hatyai to Pak Bara pier. Followed by speedboat ride of two hours from Pak Bara to Koh Lipe and 15 minutes boat transfer from platform to the island. By far this is the most not so convenient travel we ever had. But why we’d to go through all of these just for an island? Simply because we made a pact to Koh Lipe and owe her to visit no matter what. This promise had been long overdue and was only fulfilled after 3 years.
Just when we arrived from the platform, a panoramic view of beautiful beach front surrounded by thick foliage screaming of a different hue of verdant colors.
Koh Lipe is an island within Andaman sea that belongs to Satun province of Thailand. It is under the jurisdiction of Tarutao National Park, which is the only inhabited island among the ten. Chao Ley or the sea gypsies are the major inhabitants of this island until this date.
The island is famous for its powdery white sand, crystal turquoise water, and a perfect spot for snorkeling and diving. Though commercialism is evident on the island, still it doesn’t lose its charm and tranquility.
Where we stay?
Most of the budget accommodation on Koh Lipe are either huts or chalets. We stayed two nights at Green View Beach Resort which is walking distance to Pattaya Beach. And the three nights on the secluded abode at Gecko Lipe Resort. We’ll share our detailed review in this temporary abode in the coming posts. Want to compare the best accommodation deals from all the top travel sites? Let HotelsCombined help you up.
One of the best about staying at the Green View was the beach view of Pattaya beach. They had a bamboo beach lounge chairs free for the guests to use. We had spent a lot of idle moments here.
If Bangkok has Khao San and Melaka has Jonker, Koh Lipe has a walking street. This long strip is the busiest and only happening place on the island. There you could find restaurants, ATM’s, convenience stores, souvenir stalls, diving shops, restobars, coffee shops and more.
When night comes, Walking street turns vibrant. All walks of life converge here. There are also some nice restaurants and watering holes along shorelines of Pattaya beach. Of course, a beach vacation wouldn’t complete without a booze while watching some Fire dance shows.
A must do on our list when traveling to Thailand, devouring some Thai food. Though the prices were inflated a bit but it’s all worth it. We highly recommended Tiger Restaurant who serves the freshest seafood and authentic Thai meal. They’re located along Pattaya beach. There we spend our dinner 3 times including the pre-birthday celebration of Summer.
Being the sun chaser, we witnessed some magical sunrise and romantic sunset burst with different colors. Sunrise beach is ideal place to view when the sun goes up and head towards Sunset beach to gaze the sun down.
We’d visit this piece of paradise on a weekday so we own Karma beach by ourselves.
We availed island tour hopping which we covered the idyllic Koh Rawi and Koh Dong. The stacking of black stones at Koh Hin Ngam and amazing boulder formation at Koh Hin Sorn.
Our 5 days stay at Koh Lipe was more memorable meeting with the nicest and quirkiest people on the road. We befriended a local named Choi, who served our Thai food with a contagious smile at Tiger restaurant. Summer get along with nice and friendly Thai ladies named Pound and her best friend during our island hopping. While Sky had enjoyed his acceptance as the new member of these youngsters from Malaysia. Summer showed her crazy side together with these Korean siblings on our 2nd day island hopping. Thank you guys and being part of this epic trip.
We’ll uncover the beautiful islands we visit, lounging at Karma Beach and Summer’s first snorkeling experience in the succeeding posts.
Beach Bum,
Sky and Summer
Koh Lipe Trip Series:
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