Koh Lipe

We caught an early morning ferry from Langkawi to Satun, made our way through Thai immigration and shared a bakkie with another couple who were also travelling to Pak Bara pier. Our original plan was to head to Koh Taratao but after chatting to them we decided to head straight to Koh Lipe. My initial impression of Thailand was that it was very beautiful but I was just wondering if that would be outweighed by the fact that everybody seems to want to rip you off. I knew straight away that my patience would be taken to the limit.

After finally arriving on the island and having donated most of our money to the locals en route we discovered that finding accommodation would be more difficult than expected. My 1st question to everyone who'd told us about the island was if it catered for budget travellers and they had all said yes. The problem for us was that most of this was gone. Somehow we managed to find ourselves an awesome spot on what we would later find out was the island's best beach.

Sunrise beach, a place that received it's name for good reason, would be our base for a couple of days and after venturing to the other side of the island we were thrilled. A beach littered with bars, boats, people getting their feet massaged and crawling with cockroaches that arrived in Thailand a decade ago and have spoilt themselves with a new tattoo every few months.

We joined a snorkeling tour of the surrounding islands, organised by a local girl named Boi, and spent most of the day in the crystal clear waters of the national park. Beautiful hard and soft corals and plenty of fish but I decided to turn my attention to the anenomefish of the area, 7 different types in all. I found 4, including nemo (the clown variety), but my favourite was the skunk, with a white stripe from between his eyes to his tail.

It must be even worse in the real tourist hotspots up north but even on Koh Lipe, because of the demand for food and accommodation, most of the restaurants and hotels couldn't care less about the people walking through their doors. Whenever possible we don't give money to these types but sometimes it is difficult. The best food on Koh Lipe is at a small place called the Sunrise Beach restaurant, run by Kong and his wife Sarah (the chef). Coincidentally it is also the cheapest and most welcoming and we enjoyed every meal with them. Jacks ordered a sprite the one night (she was going to have a shandy) and Kong, without saying a word, hopped onto his bike and vanished into the village, leaving only Sarah in the kitchen and a full restaurant (6 tables). Two minutes later he returned with a couple of sprites in hand.