Sunday, May 29, 2011

Koh Lipe: My Own Paradise on Earth (part 1)

This is it! A place I can call my own paradise on earth. Nooooo, I am not exaggerating, I really do feel that way. Koh Lipe is amazingly beautiful, great snorkeling sites, great people, and great fresh seafood. What more could I want for a great holiday?



Koh Lipe is situated in the Andaman Sea, south of Thailand in Satun Province. It was a little bit of a pain in the ass to get there (literally my butt hurt from sitting). There are many ways to go to Koh Lipe but I will talk about the route I used, I think it was the most convenient and saved the most time.

Plane: Bangkok - Hat Yai
We left Bangkok early morning at 7 a.m.  and landed at Hat Yai airport at 8.30 a.m.

Van: Hat Yai - Pakbara pier, Satun province We booked a service in advanced with Bundaya resort* The van driver picked us up after we landed and we arrived at Pakbara pier around 10.30 a.m.

Boat: Pakbara pier - Koh Lipe
We left the pier around 11.30 a.m. and arrived at the island around 1.30 p.m. We used Bundaya resort's speed boat service*.
*The time we traveled to Koh Lipe was the low season (May - October), there was an only one boat service left to commute between the mainland and island which was Bundaya resort's speed boat, therefore we decided to book the van and boat tickets altogether with them. If you travel in high or peak seasons, there will be many more travel providers.

We flew with Nok Air. The word 'nok' in Thai means 'bird', 
that's why their planes have been painted like birds.


If you see this sign, it means you have just arrived at Pakbara pier.

Koh Lipe doesn't have a pier, all speed boats or ferries need to drop passengers at pontoons, then we took a long-tail boat to the resort.

Here we are Koh Lipe!! We stayed here at Mountain Resort.

We booked a bungalow on the beach! Yay!

On a balcony with a hammock to admire the beachfront view.
There was only one hammock, so sometime I had to fight for it! haha

When I lose my turn in the hammock T.T

View from inside our room

Surrounding atmosphere


Up there was the reception area and restaurant, make sure you feed yourself well enough before you leave. My hubby drank less because of those stairs ^.^

Resort sign with sunset

Adorable and super friendly puppies on the beach!!!



Chilled atmosphere in the evening


Walking street was pretty quiet due to the low season, a lot of shops and restaurants were closed but it was okay for us, there were not many tourists.


Island map

We were so lucky that this restaurant was still open for the last two days before they went to the mainland!!! Fresh seafood!


Grilled prawn.. yum yum.. my friends have allergies to prawns, a kilo of this grilled prawn was all mine and my hubby's >.<

A famous dish: Tom Yum Koong

Fried fish with garlic (I forgot what kind of fish it was)

Grilled Crabs

Fried squids with garlic

Are you full yet? haha 

The food was really good, and the price was amazingly cheap because it was their last two days. There were pros and cons to travel during the low season, pros were everything was cheaper, a lot cheaper! And there weren't many tourists. But a con was we had to pray that the weather wouldn't be bad, so we could go out for snorkeling. And...we weren't disappointed :)

                                                                                                            .. To be continued .. 

4 comments:

CrazyCris said...

Gorgeous! Definitely looks like a candidate for Paradise on Earth!
I usually prefer travelling in the low season as well... fewer things to offer (commercially) is usually more than compensated by lower prices and especially fewere people! :p

Unknown said...

I've added Koh Lipe to my list of places to check out next time I'm in Thailand! Wonderful post, Bay, and thanks for adding such great information about the flights and transfers. Your posts are always so helpful. Your photos are fantastic too! The resort looks gorgeous as does the beach and the food. Brilliant!

Lawrence Westfall said...

Now, Nok Air and AirAsia both have fly/van/boat packages for a very good price - about 5,300 baht round trip

Bay said...

Hi Lawrence,

Thanks for the update! It is indeed a very good price!

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