Fourth tropical island in seven days

Leaving Langkawi

I’m feeling more myself after a day spent largely indoors yesterday in Cenang Beach to attend to “to-do” lists.  My afternoon swim yesterday, planned to coincide with the tide unfortunately coincided with rain and was therefore shortlived.

My room had come with two breakfasts per day, available from 0700 to 1100.  My idea of taking an early one and another one as an early lunch didn’t eventuate.

I had finally gone into relaxation mode and slept till after 0800 on both days.  And with little activity now, I wasn’t very hungry and even managed to skip lunch yesterday for a whole mango and some cookies.

After the hotel breakfast, I had some time before ordering a car to Kuah Jetty for my ferry to Koh Lipe.

Crossing to Koh Lipe

I reached the jetty some 2h before the 1400 departure to check-in and clear immigration.  The check-in was conducted in a spacious room, a bit like a former café set up with tables and chairs.

One reports to the desk to get a boarding pass and then sit down at the tables to complete the Malaysian customs exit e-form and then the Thai arrival card.  The staff were awesome at explaining things to some pesky people.  The only thing that wasn’t ideal was that this office was up a flight of stairs.

We proceeded through immigration around 1320 to await the ferry in the swanky boarding area.  The ferry staff once collected our passports to pass on to the crew to then pass to their ground staff in Koh Lipe.  As there is no proper terminal in Koh Lipe, this is to reduce the risk of people skipping the entry immigration process and getting fined at a later stage.

About a third of the 90 min ride was getting around the south and west of Langkawi before making the crossing over to Koh Lipe.  Only about 20 passengers were on board the vessel with about 80 seats.

We stopped off the coast of Lipe’s Pattaya Beach and hopped onto two waiting long-tail boats.  Once seated, our luggage was loaded onto the front.  The long-tail chugged towards the soft white sandy beach and pulled up next to one of three blue plastic floating piers.

Our luggage were unloaded for us before we disembarked, walking to the boat company’s office to collect our passports.  We then cleared immigration, customs and paid our National Park fee.  It didn’t take long for the entire process at four different desks.

I had booked a place on Pattaya Beach to avoid the hassles of transport and it was also considered one of the best beach on the island.  The short 200m walk on sand with my luggage wasn’t as easy as you would have expected.

It made me wish that I had booked a different ferry (departing at a different time or from western Langkawi) to arrive straight in front of the hotel where there was another blue floating pier and replicated immigration, customs and National Park counters.

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First impressions

Koh Lipe, incidentally, is my fourth tropical island in seven days.  was very likeable as I explored the beach and Walking Street areas in search for dinner.  Both areas were full of atmosphere.

Walking Street was good for street food and meals whereas the beach was good for an evening drink.

As for the downside, prices were high compared to Malaysia (perhaps 50% to 100% higher).  It was akin to New Zealand prices for simple Asian meals before the pandemic, but you’d get larger servings in New Zealand.

I put it down to two reasons:

• Lipe is quite isolated and everything is shipped in.
• A lot of what tourists patronise in Thailand is priced for foreigners. Whereas, in Malaysia, the local market helps keep prices in check.