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Well,
What an amazing first holiday.
We were lucky enough to go to Koh Lipe in Thailand for our first half term at GIS and...well, it was a learning curve.
The flight was fine, we left on Saturday morning and headed for the airport, boarded our plane and within 1 hour, we landed at Hat Yai airport in Thailand. We arranged a transfer to Pakbarra (the harbour) and a speedboat which would take 2 hours, but drop us off at our beach (Pattaya) on Koh Lipe.
Koh Lipe is located 60 km from the Thai Mainland. It is the most Southern island in Thailand and on a clear day you can see Langkawi Island in Malaysia, which is just 30 km away.
The island is part of the Adang Archipelago, a cluster of about 10 uninhabited islands (Koh Lipe being the exception).
When we arrived, we were 2 days early for the tourist season and there were big boats on the shoreline with mattresses for the beach huts and bottles of water and stocks for the restaurants and shops. As night fell and we couldn't see the big boats anymore, we realised what an amazing island it was as it came alive.
There were so many little beach bars playing beachy, island music and reggae and all kinds (much to our amusement, as lots of absolute classics were reinvented as reggae smash hits - favourites included take that, ben harper and of course mr marley).
Dinner was catch of the day which had been displayed in ice on the beach front, lit by the fire shows up and down the beach and the lanterns stuck in the sand. You just pointed to the fish or crab you wanted and they BBQ'd it for you right there and brought it to the table. They were DELICIOUS!
After our first sleepless night in our very basic, but very islandy reed hut, we decided to walk across the island and explore sunrise beach on the other side. We set off down walking street and spent the next 10 minutes on high alert dodging renegade moped taxi drivers who hurtled towards you to offer a lift. Between dodging those and dodging the excessive amount of dogs which inhabit the island, it was a relief that there were so many amazing little shops and food places to slip off your shoes and duck into. Selling all kinds of jewellery and clothes, traditional Thai bags, pillows and purses and lots and lots of food, it was really, really lovely. At the end of walking street, you take a detour through the village where the locals live which I think is extremely poor, but sometimes it's hard to tell whether people just have different priorities and luxuries on an island? For example, the houses were small huts, often with just a mattress as a bed, but the locals would be sat around playing on the latest mobiles and whizzing round on scooters. Maybe I am being naive but although they seemed incredibly poor, I'm not sure whether they actually had what they needed and chose different luxuries to perhaps we might?
Through the village and onto sunrise beach...wow. So beautiful with lovely bars, this beach had quite a small amount of sand, but in general was much quieter than ours. There were masses of longboats which were used as taxis all around the island which clearly had moped engines in them and were ridiculously loud. Our side of the island, early in the morning was really loud because of all the day trips and diving that was setting off, once it had quietened down later in the day it was really stunning though.
We walked all the way along the beach to sunset beach at the top which was also really quiet and very picturesque but quite isolated in the evenings.
We basically sunbathed and relaxed our way through the remainder of our holiday which was the original plan. Jono got a Thai massage which seemed to injure him rather than help but I managed to get sufficiently burnt that I didn't risk the experience...another time. One day we went on a snorkeling trip with Laura and Scott, a couple from our school who were staying on the other side of the island and it was absolutely brilliant!
After 2 hours out into the big wide ocean, we eventually reached stop 1 of 6 which were massive boulders balanced 1 on top of the other sticking out of the sea - a really strange sight and a great place to snorkel with loads of tropical fish and lovely coral. We visitted a few more little stops which were pretty amazing on our way to lunch which was on a deserted island, on the beach. We had delicious chicken and rice with watermelon for desert, played around in the sea and had hermit crab races. It was SO good. Onto a couple more snorkeling spots and a weird black stone island which had us all completely confused as everywhere around us was turquoise water and beautiful white sand? Still, we made sure not to take any pebbles as there was a sign which clearly said that we would be cursed and may die or our family "shaltered" (no idea?) if we took one...nice.
A final snorkel and back to shore for a shower, a dousing of aloe vera and an amazing meal in castaway, a really nice resort/bar/library/spa/amazingly chilled out place on sunrise beach.
The last day came too soon as we soaked up our last rays, took our last photos and boarded the speedboat back to pakbarra. After a scary crossing including a broken engine and a blinding storm, we arrived safe and sound to our lift who took us to an impromptu hotel for the night in Hat Yai before our flight the next morning (poor planning by me!).
A brief exploration of Hat Yai revealed lots of walking streets with all kinds of Hawker stalls, whistling, shouting, large incredible hulk models (see photos) and most importantly...a McDonalds which sold...wait for it...DOUBLE BIG MACS!!! Obviously Jono got one (and I wished I hadn't been such a girl and just got one too) and it was, I am reliably informed, a revelation!
A nights sleep and a plane home to verve, which after our reed hut, we now love even more. We are so lucky to be living here, if you are even considering it, please come and visit!
Love you and miss you all,
Sarah and Jono
xx
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