Maldives of Thailand
Koh Lipe is one of the smallest islands, which belong to Thailand; this small gem is located in Andaman Sea. In the summer month is a ferry shuttle going from Langkawi twice a day to Koh Lipe, the ferry ride is going through the open sea and take around 1.5h for the 35 km journey. Many little island passing by on the left and right side of the boat.
The first highlight is at arriving at the harbor at Koh Lipe, there is no jetty or any thing look like, small boats which called taxi too will stop beside the ferry and the passenger have disembark on the open see and climb into the local boats to get on land.
For the last few meters each individual has to walk a short distance through the warm crystal clear water to the beach to get to the Immigration where the passport get hand handed back to each visitor, the whole procedure was a new experience to me, the immigration officer was calling the nationality and name of the passport holder.
Just beside the immigration office is Harmony café and bakery located, I would say the best long black coffee on the island, a small selection of international bakery is offered too such as Danish, Muffins and Scones.
The taxi service is based on motorbikes with sidecars, easy to get on and get a lift to the booked accommodation. On our first night we stayed at sunset beach at Porn Resort in a small bungalow, which was very warm, and no air conditioning was set up just a fan on the wall. For my first time I saw a tarantula spider in the room as I went for a toilet at nighttime, it scared the s… out of me because I didn’t expect anything like that to see at the wall in the bathroom. Spider was around 5 cm in diameter.
Our second night we spend at Wapi Resort which is located at sunrise beach, south of the Thai Andaman Sea, this resort is absolute spotless clean any where you look. Free Wi-Fi gets provided on the whole property. At the beach is the massage center located I took a traditional Thai massage which was very relaxing to listen to the soft rolling of the waves at the beach.
On the next day we booked a snorkeling trip by Baan Kasirin, which included 5 individual stops on different location, we had nothing to took at food was provided, drinks, fins and snorkeling mask even swim vests every thing was provided. All locations where special with so many different corals on the ground the visibility was awesome crystal clear water, the corals where very color full and the fishes where in all bright colors you can imagine, yellow, orange, green, purple. I never experienced that much variation of fishes in the water.
On our final and last night we want stay some where close in town and we booked Lipe Inn Motel, the price is reasoble but no breakfast get served. Every thing is in the room what is needed free water bottles, shower and a air conditioning.
For breakfast we went for one of the street stands, and ordered Thai panama and chocolate pancake, mango and sticky rice, and to drink a fresh coconut, the perfect start into the day.
It take us just few minutes to walk into the main street, to get our last dinner in one of the famous fish restaurants, don’t get surprised if the restaurant is not open at 6.00pm, it is far to early. All the staff set up the BBQ and fresh fish display in front of the restaurant. All kind of fish is available squid, jumbo prawns, tuna, crab is only a few I can remember, charged get peer kg. One of my best seafood I ever had.
The ferry to Koh Lipe from Langkawi operates only in the summer month. It depart from Telaga Harbour to Koh lipe twice a day. The seats on the ferry are very limited if you want guarantee a seat I would recommend to make a online booking few days before you travel.