Following the lead of our new friends Sarah and Ruben, we decided to shake up our planned itinerary and head north into Thailand. Our destination? Koh Lipe: a small island about 50km away from Langkawi. The Dutchmen had a friend who had previously been to the island on holiday, and had spoken glowingly of its riches: nicer beaches, cooler temperatures, and no mosquitoes! Sounded like a winner to us. So the four of us caught an early morning cab to the ferry terminal for our trip en route to Thailand. As usual, we had chosen the absolute cheapest route to get there: a ferry ride + speed boat combination that took us 6 hours to arrive at our destination. Ughh. We should have ponied up the extra $10 bucks for the non-stop speed boat (50 minutes). Next time I guess. But even with all the extra delays, we were still able to arrive early enough with lots of time left in the day. After finding a nice spot to stay (Mountain Resort), we immediately headed down to the beach to soak up some rays and perhaps get a swim in or three. The first thing I can say about Koh Lipe is, “Wow”. What in the world were we doing in Langkawi? This place was waaay better… Just as advertised. The temperature was cooler, with a gentle sea breeze blowing on-shore. The water was noticeably cleaner, with no questionable items flowing in from rivers or streams. There were no jellyfish (Sweet!) in the water, which meant that I could swim to my heart’s content. And really, there weren’t many mosquitoes to speak of…. Probably a result of the aforementioned on-shore breeze. This place was absolutely perfect. At one point during the day, Ana and I looked at each other and said (pretty much simultaneously), “This is just like Belize, but with a nice beach!” Pretty high praise from us considering Belize was one of our favorite stops on this trip!
We contemplated doing a lot of things while staying out here: scuba diving, island hopping, snorkeling trips… but ended up doing a whole lot of nothing. Which was great. Just sitting on the beach, going for a few swims, taking a few naps: I felt right at home. We played cards a bunch, and learned a new game, 7 of diamonds, which is great because you can play it with 3 or 4 players (etc.). We even taught Sarah and Ruben to play Euchre, which was a hoot. My favorite quote (as heard in Ruben’s Dutch accent), “It’s called Euchre, but it’s played without any yokers (jokers)!” Good Times… :o) Ana even learned some Dutch, though for some reason she could only remember the word for clothespin: Kniper! I think maybe she’s watched too many Dora the Explora episodes…
Some photos of Koh Lipe: http://picasaweb.google.com/richmosko/KohLipe
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