Out last week in Thailand! We are sad to be leaving but also excited to see a new country. We saved the last island for one of the ones we were most looking forward to – Koh Lipe. It is just a little bit bigger than our Stretch Island in Washington State and that means that it isn’t big enough to have any real roads. There are paths for motorcycles and tuk-tuks but we didn’t see too many trucks or real cars because there isn’t any place to go. We arrived by a “speedboat” ferry from Koh Lanta. I have said before on this blog that ferries are preferable to trains, buses, or planes. We may need to revisit that list of preferred transportation options. The wind was pretty harsh and we had some big rollers that were hitting us nearly head on. The 2.5 hour trip took over 4 hours after at least 2 of our 5 motors stopped working. The waves created some huge sprays which cooled down the folks in the back of the boat that had to use their life preservers to block the splashes. We were very happy to be back on dry land at Koh Lipe.
Koh Lipe was worth the trip. The beaches were calm and had bright white sand. The sand combined with the blue skies made the clear water have picture perfect blues and green colors. The coral started a 100 yards off our beach and the snorkeling was fantastic. There was a huge variety of fish as well as a lot of different shapes and colors of corals. The overall beauty of the beaches are incredible and I had a hard time stopping myself from taking too many pictures. We have some pictures that are worthy of being printed and framed.
We enjoyed snorkeling off our beach so much that we decided to take a guided snorkel boat trip. We hadn’t done one since we were at Koh Tao a month ago because we didn’t think the snorkeling at the other islands would match Koh Tao. But Lipe was the best, so we did a morning 4-island long boat tour to some of the best spots around Koh Lipe. The snorkel trip we did in Koh Tao was on a huge boat with 150 people. Our long boat only held 7 of us so it was much more relaxed and enjoyable. We stopped at our snack spot on an island with a bunch of other snorkeling boats stopping for lunch. When you have food and tourists, the monkeys always seem to show up. We watched a monkey steal someone’s lunch that was unprotected. We have learned a little about to take care of stuff around monkeys in our travels. Monkeys are fun to watch but they are also thieves.
The took us to another island on the snorkeling tour and after seeing some great fish they wanted to show us some black rocks. It was hornfels which is a metamorphic rock that was mildly interesting because it isn’t seen in many places. We got our water shoes on and M had not wore them since the day before when she left them out on our front porch all afternoon and night to dry out. Getting back in the boat, she started to pull off her shoe and a 4″ centipede slithered out. She shrieked a little, and I didn’t feel it was right to take out my camera and get a picture right away. She didn’t get bit and we got the centipede into the water so everything was just fine. Thailand has some venomous centipedes but those are usually bigger and red or brown and this one was kind of a silvery color. I suppose we learned a lesson… although we already the rules and just temporarily forgot them. Never put your shoes on before looking in them/shaking them out in a tropical climate. I think I remember M telling our kids that many times when we would camp or hike in Eastern Washington. The only pic I have… is her shoe with a lump in it before she knew there was a centipede inside. Another good reason for me to not wear shoes.
The rest of the week was pretty relaxing. We didn’t do much except hangout on our beach and move from the hammock to the water to the beach and then to get a beer and then back to the hammock. We were on the sunrise side of the island but the island was so small, that it was easy to walk to the other side and get sunset pics. So I have both.
Our place did have some free bikes to ride and I tried taking one out. Only one gear and the 26″ frame was a little small for me, so it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience. But, there really weren’t that many places to go on the island anyways… We had already walked most of the roads.
This was our last Thai island and we were hoping to decide “the one” that we are going to come back to again and again. Koh Lipe is up there but it isn’t perfect. We liked Koh Lipe and Koh Tao as well, but both of those islands don’t have many Airbnb’s. We want to find somewhere to stay for a month or two and really need a place with a kitchen if we are there that long. Koh Lanta had a great resort for us but there isn’t a real town feel on that island and I’m not sure if we could find an Airbnb there either. Koh Samui had expats and condos to rent with kitchens but we didn’t really like the beaches we were on. Krabi was fun but it didn’t seem like somewhere to stay for more than a week. But we are going to come back to Thailand. We will keep investigating until we find our perfect spot.
Next stop Langkawi, another island and our first stop in Malaysia.