Hey, everyone! I’ve spent the last ten nights on Koh Lipe, a tiny little island down in southern Thailand. The main goal was to spend as much time as I could underwater and I certainly achieved that goal. It was quite a trek to make it down here but I’m glad I made it in the end.

A few housekeeping things:

1) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
2) If wanting to read my first novel, Eclipse Me, you can find the link here.

Bangkok to Koh Lipe

I had a long journey from Bangkok to Koh Lipe. At least it’s over with now. I took an overnight train from Bangkok down to Hat Yai which was about a 15hr train ride. Honestly, it wasn’t too bad. During daylight hours, I enjoyed the scenery. Later, I wrote up last week’s blog post, read a little, and had dinner. I had downloaded a few shows, too. By midnight, I was ready for sleep. As is the trend with these longer transit journeys, sleep was haphazard but I do think I managed to sleep basically until 6am.

Around 7.30am, we arrived at Hat Yai. As the train got closer to town, I noticed a lot of rubbish in the foliage along the sides of the tracks. It looked… really awful. It reminded me of how Cao Bang looked after the flood which makes sense – I later learned Hat Yai had very recently gone through the worst flood in something like 300 years. Glad I missed that one!

Once at Hat Yai terminal, I had to wait until 10.45am for a minivan to take me to the ferry, which would then take me to Koh Lipe. After such a long journey, it was a bit hellish to have to sit around waiting all that time. At 10am, I received a text message… and my minivan trip had been cancelled. WHAT? NO!!! I started to panic a little. There were only so many minivan trips in a day. They basically stop at noon because the ferries to Koh Lipe don’t run very late. How was I going to get there now?

I texted back and forth with the person who let me know about the cancellation. They told me if I come to the airport, I can join another minivan. I called a Grab and got to the airport with moments to spare. The minivan left at 10.39 (early). We arrived at the ferry terminal and I was escorted to the pier. “Sorry, the 12.30 ferry is full,” they told me. Yeah, of course it is, I thought to myself. But then a moment later, they were conversing with the ferry staff and they ended up squeezing me on. SUCCESS! That was a major win of the day. But the biggest win was being able to get to Koh Lipe instead of being stranded in Hat Yai.

Everything works out.

Koh Lipe

The ferry took about two hours. By the time I arrived, I was… well. Done. So glad I had completed the long journey from central Thailand to this tiny little island in the south.

I found my hostel easily enough. Unfortunately, I had to book a dorm room. Privates here are just wayyyyy too expensive – there’s no way I could afford it. It’s high season and there are lots of tourists enjoying Thailand during the holidays. So, dorms it is. Blah! It actually had been fine, though. Surprisingly, nobody snored during the 10 nights I was here. And the only hiccup was someone having sex one afternoon on the top bunk. They tried to be quiet, though. But it’s like – get a private room? Or at least go in the woods lol. Rude as hell.

Alas.

I was eager to get in the water and scope out the snorkeling situation but because it was already mid-afternoon, I decided to wait until the next morning. I don’t think I did much that first day.

The island is, as I’ve mentioned multiple times, very small. There is a big “walking street” with lots of restaurants, souvenir shops, massage parlors, etc. I walked along and was, honestly a bit appalled by the food prices. Because it’s an island two hours from the mainland, food is much more expensive here. I wasn’t really expecting that. However, I’ve always been able to find affordable meals.

Sunrise Beach

The next morning, I woke up and changed into my swimsuit. I grabbed my goggles/snorkel and rented fins from a spot near my hostel… and off I went to Sunrise Beach, the eastern part of the island. I had heard the eastern side of the island was the best spot for snorkeling.

On my way to the beach, I came across Satun Dive shop. I chatted with the employee for a moment and mentioned I was solo and if it would be okay for me to leave my belongings in the shop. Sin, a lovely Thai fellow, said it was fine. I saw Sin almost every day during my time in Koh Lipe.

Ah… the ocean. Reunited at last! It has been about three months at this point since I’ve been in the water. It felt good to be back.

I had to swim for a little while before reaching dense patches of coral. I was pleased with the sea life. Lots of little fishies, a couple that I’d never seen before. There were also heaps of clams and oysters wedged into the coral. I even saw a small group of squid which was exciting. I’d only ever seen them once before, in Amed, Indonesia with my friend Luchi. That was right after my first eye injury.

I followed the squid for a few moments before they escaped my vision. Those guys are very flighty.

There are two small islands off Sunrise Beach. It’s easy enough to snorkel around the circumference of both of the islands. So that’s what I did! Again, lots of cool fish. But… in a way, it was much of the same from what I’ve seen before. I’m always hoping to discover something new – or at least something more on the rare side. Sharks, cool eels, big stingrays, octopus, cuttlefish, etc. I’m always on the lookout. I did see a Dory fish, though! I don’t think I’ve seen them before.

Later, I did find moray eels, but not that first snorkel. I divided my time snorkeling on three parts of the island during my stay – Sunrise Beach, Pattaya Beach, and Sunset Beach. All of them were good in their own way. I even saw lobsters and crabs which were always a treat.

I got out of the water, had lunch, and went for another snorkel. More of the same – plenty of fish, sometimes big schools, but no “big ticket” items. That’s okay! It’s random. I suppose in that sense, I was a little discouraged, though. I was really hoping to see some super cool shit.

In the evening, I met up with a fellow traveler at Sunset Beach. Zarko, from Germany. We were waiting for the sun to dip below the horizon, when… what looked like a thick cloud of mist started to come in through the north. “Is that rain?” I asked. A minute later, it started pouring. Zarko and I sought shelter at the Fish & Wildlife hut for a few minutes. As the rain lightened, we decided to grab food. There was a fish restaurant he really liked, so I joined him there. That was over on Pattaya Beach, the southern part of the island where the ferry pier is.

Dinner was good. I got pad thai while Zarko got some kind of fish. I’m not super big on fish but I did return with Zarko on his last night on Koh Lipe and tried marlin – that was really yummy!

Pattaya Beach was quite atmospheric. A number of bars line the beach. Tiki torches are wedged into the sand, near the water edge. Holes are dug in the sand and candles inside jars. And depending on the venue, people are fire dancing outside. Cool! It did remind me of Gili Air in that sense.

After dinner, I grabbed dessert. Zarko and I parted ways but continued to meet up for dinner during his time on the island. He was getting his advanced diving certification. We spent a lot of time talking about that – I’m getting my advanced cert in a few weeks, so was curious to hear about his experiences.

Snorkel Tour

Many of my days on Koh Lipe were a bit of the same. Wake up, go for a snorkel, grab lunch, go for another snorkel. Have a shower, chill out inside and avoid the high sun. Maybe get a massage, then go to the beach for sunset, followed by dinner/dessert, a phone call with family/friends, and then retire to the hostel for the night. There were exceptions, though. Early on, I decided to book an all day snorkel tour with Satun Dive. Sin helped set it up.

I hopped on a boat with five other guests and we drove about 45min to get to our first snorkel spot of the day. It was pretty good – lots of healthy coral and fish.

The second spot was even better, though. I saw a few Dory fish, a group of squid, and then right underneath our boat… a giant, pink jellyfish! Score! It was cute to see all the baby fish hiding underneath its bell.

In between the snorkeling spots, we would stop at random islands to stretch out and take selfies. I usually used those stops as an opportunity to have a cigarette. One of the islands had a bunch of monkeys who were lunging at people and snatching their plastic bags. CRAZY! Luckily, I was not attacked. Yet another rabies attack successfully avoided. Phew.

Our third snorkel spot was nice but to be honest, I don’t really remember much from it.

To be transparent, it was a windy day and I was shivering in between snorkel sessions. I should have brought a towel, but alas.

Our last stop, though… incredible. It is the highlight of the snorkel adventure, and for good reason. Jabang Reef. It is known for its pink coral. And it is… unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The area was crammed with snorkelers, as its a major highlight of snorkeling around Koh Lipe, but I managed to find spots away from others. I really, really enjoyed this coral. I love the color pink and while I’ve seen blue and purple coral before, I don’t think I’ve ever seen pink before. And if I have, definitely not a vibrant pink such as this. Yay! Amazing.

The current was incredibly strong here, though. There were ropes with buoys lined up and I definitely had to hold on at times!

We returned to the island around 4pm. I was ready to be done by then. Which… was kind of weird for me. Why was I ready to be done snorkeling?! I think it was the wind, though. I was just cold and wanted to warm up. But that brought up something else for me. I was having a hard time connecting with Koh Lipe. It is busy season right now and so there are a lot, A LOT of tourists all over this tiny island. Taxis (aka motorbikes with sheltered seats for passengers) are constantly driving around the narrow roads. And there’s not much of a reason for taxis! It takes twenty minutes to walk from the south to the north of the island. Longer from east to west though.

I think… it was just very apparent to me that tourists have really taken over this island. Yes, of course there are locals – and they are catering to the tourists. I get it. But, I don’t know. I think the island just felt very westernized to me. Girls in bikinis taking selfies at sunset, people going to bars and smoking weed or drinking… It just feels like an Idyllic Instagrammable Island moment and it just kind of… well, it’s just not my vibe. The snorkeling – yes. But the way Westerners have taken over the island – no.

I felt pretty claustrophobic. There was even one night when Zarko and I were walking around where I was like “I need to get the FUCK [off this street]” and accidentally shoulder checked somebody on my way out. It was way too crowded. Sometimes that feeling can become very overwhelming. Claustrophobic.

Secret Beach

The perfect escape from the hordes of people was taking a morning walk to Secret Beach. Secret Beach is all the way on the western side of the island. A road weaves through local neighborhoods for most of the walk but the last twenty minutes or so, the road fades into a dirt track and morphs to a light jungle walk. I saw a few lizards along the way. I had my eye out for snakes but no such luck. I’m sure I’ll be seeing plenty of them soon in Khao Sok.

The walk was easy enough. I had to dodge a few tree branches/vines, but before long, I arrived at the beach. It was very cute. Tucked away, small, quiet, secluded. There was a fisherman in the middle of the bay.

I found a spot in the shade and read a book for a while.

One thing I maybe should have done on Koh Lipe was just properly lay out on a beach towel and take in the sun. Within the past year and a half, I have been a bit more conscious about how sun damages the skin, and so I am always trying to cover up. I don’t want to get skin cancer so laying in the hot Thai sun on a towel just wasn’t happening for me. I loved doing it in Australia, though! (Plus, more skin = more sunscreen needed. And you can never cover every spot on your own haha.)

My time at Secret Beach felt like a reset. It told me – OK, if you get too overwhelmed by the crowds of people, you can always come here. I didn’t end up returning to Secret Beach, but it was good to know I could if I needed to.

I ended up taking a different trail to see if it could get me back into town. It did not haha. It ended up leading me to another little small beach. I snapped a photo then went back to the original trail.

Later, I returned to Sunset Beach – which became a recurring event during my time on Koh Lipe. I loved watching the sun set below the horizon. One evening in particular, as the waves lapped onto the beach, the water appeared to be the color of mercury. It was beautiful. Now and again, very tiny schools of fish would leap out of the water – as if for show.

Diving

I was originally going to go diving on Christmas, but after talking with Sin, we decided that the better dive site was scheduled for two days earlier. I trusted his judgment so I signed up for two dives.

I arrived at the dive shop around 8am and was met by five other divers. Not long after, we drove to our first dive spot, which was on the western side of Koh Adang, a large island opposite Koh Lipe. It has been a few months since I’ve been diving but I was pleased to find I didn’t have any issues equalizing. I’ve always been able to, but sometimes my ears have a hard time at first.

The first half of the dive, we were muck diving, which is cruising along the sandy bottom. Lots of weird, interesting creatures can be found while muck diving. But at first, I was like, “um… where’s the coral? Where are the fish?” instead, I encountered more nudibranchs than I’ve seen on any other dive before. Some of them were really incredible! My GoPro isn’t the best at filming them so apologies for blurry photos.

Not long after, we came across a small piece of coral surrounded by baby fish. But resting on the coral were not one, not two, but THREE lionfish. And on the sand just to the side were two more! I adore lionfish – their patterns are striking and we all know I love venomous things. These guys have venomous spines. It was so cool to see so many in one spot. I’ve only ever seen them solitary. We saw two more lionfish during that same dive. Crazy!

We also had a nemo fish attacking us. He actually bumped up against my guide’s head and then started charging my camera. L’il guy.

The second half of the dive was following along a reef wall. Lots of cool fish, some pretty large schools. There was one school that was particularly captivating – they were all calmly moving together when all of a sudden they rushed towards and past me. Amazing! Shortly after, we finished our dive and drove to our next spot.

The second dive was very special for me because… well, it was my very first time seeing a seahorse in the wild. I’ve seen pipefish before which are very similar and in the same family, but never a proper seahorse. I’m so glad my guide spotted it! As I was swimming away, I almost accidentally slapped it with my fin. While I have about 28 dives under my belt now, I still don’t quite have my buoyancy down. I hope to improve it when I get my advanced certification. We saw more nudibranchs and some truly interesting coral which looked like gigantic fish eggs. I usually am not super impressed by coral but Koh Lipe has been changing my mind on that!

After the second dive, we began our return to Koh Lipe. I talked with one of the other divers, who had just done a “try dive,” which means you’re not certified but you get to do a dive to see if you like it. He was traveling with his partner and the pair have been bicycling all around Southeast Asia. He had been to many of the same places as me – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore. Thailand and soon to be followed by Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I gave him a few recommendations for their upcoming spots.

He told me he and his wife had been camping on Koh Adang. I’d been considering doing a day trip there but I was 100% sold after he told me there are a few resident hornbills that hang out near the campground, and pythons are spotted somewhat regularly. Suddenly, I knew how I would be spending my Christmas!

The dives were wonderful and have me excited for my seven day liveaboard to the Similan Islands in a few week’s time. That is supposed to be some of the best diving in Thailand – maybe Southeast Asia in general.

Goldilocks Massages

After my dive, I had a shower and then went to a nearby massage parlor. There have got to be at least twenty of them on this small island. The massage was… perfection. The pressure was just right and the masseuse was very skilled. At the end, when she was rubbing my scalp (my favorite part), she even rubbed some kind of menthol roller stick onto my skin. Love it!

Because it was such a nice experience, I decided to go back the next day. I didn’t see that masseuse but figured, hey, maybe they all have the same technique here. No. This lady beat. the. SHIT. out of me. I should have just said, “could you be a little softer?” but there was a language barrier to begin with. So… I put up with it. Later, I was expecting to find bruises on my body. There were none, though haha. I like a deep tissue massage, but this was next level.

I think this is my curse. I can never have two amazing massages in a row. It’s always GREAT followed by disappointing.

Would a third time work? I decided to visit another parlor the next day, my third massage in a row. Well… it was fine. It wasn’t painful really but also there was just no passion whatsoever. It felt very “clinical” as my mom said. Just totally technical but I didn’t get any tingles at all. Super disappointing. Damn it.

Locals of Koh Lipe

Despite my bitching about Westerners taking over Koh Lipe, I did have a few repetitive interactions with locals that I wanted to mention.

Sin, of course, was a total legend at Satun Dive. He scheduled the snorkel and the dive tours for me, and otherwise he allowed me to leave my bag at the shop pretty much every day while I went snorkeling on my own. I was always greeted with a smile.

I also rented fins from the same shop every day and often encountered Ying, one of the employees there. She would take photos of me holding the fins so she could track of if I returned them or not. By my third visit, she remembered me and stopped taking my photo.

There was a restaurant I frequented for lunch post-snorkel session, where I would pretty much always get chicken pad thai. When I was there today, one of the ladies walked up to me and said my order before I could hahaha. “Yes… and a mango shake, please.” I didn’t learn that lady’s name but she was always nice to and remembered me.

And lastly… Madame Yoo-hoo. THE LEGEND. The first time I encountered Madame Yoo-Hoo was on the main walking street. “Coco NAHT, Dough NAHT, Ten Baht, TEN BAHHHHT!” she would scream to passersby. She was an old aunty, maybe in her 80s, selling donuts, coconut sticks, and samosas for ten baht, which is very affordable for a snack. One evening, while watching sunset with Zarko at the northern side of the island, Madame Yoo-hoo suddenly appeared.

Obviously I had to buy something. I LOVED this woman, I told Zarko. Obsessed. I frequented her family’s restaurant on Walking Street and always sat near the edge of the restaurant, watching Madame Yoo-hoo shouting at people and seeing their reactions. There was one time where she had stepped away but her tray of goodies was sitting out there. Hardly anyone came to inquire about the goods – but as soon as she returned and started shouting… somehow her marketing worked. People wanted those goddamn donuts. AND SO DID I!

And of course there’s Nui, the manager (owner?) of the hostel I’ve been staying at. Always helpful and even helped get me a discount on my ferry from Koh Lipe to Koh Phi Phi (about USD $20 cheaper than online!)

Christmas on Koh Lipe

I set an early alarm and walked to Sunrise Beach to grab a taxi boat from Koh Lipe to Koh Adang, a nearby island. I had a hard time finding a boat at first – they were trying to charge me extra for being solo, even though the signs always said 200 baht per person round trip. They wanted to charge me 300 round trip. I decided to walk around to see if anyone else was going on boats. No luck. Eventually, I returned to the first guy I asked. “You want to go?” He asked. “Yeah, but I want to pay 200 like everyone else!” I said grumpily. “Okay, okay,” he said, probably annoyed that I was having an attitude. I didn’t mean to, but sometimes it is very frustrating that I have to pay more for things just because I’m traveling solo. In fact, it should be the opposite, damn it! Nevertheless, as I was loading into the boat, two other people joined us so it didn’t even matter in the end.

We made it to the island in ten minutes. I had two objectives – search for hornbills near the campground, and climb to the viewpoint.

I walked along the sand, keeping my eyes peeled for hornbills, but wasn’t seeing anything. I made my way through the campground. Nothin’.

I stopped at the toilets and decided I would spend more time later looking for the hornbills. But then… wait, is that it? On the ground, a lone hornbill was feasting on some kind of berry. I slowly approached and snapped a few photos. After seeing hornbills a number of times in Asia, this was the first time I’d ever been able to see one in its full glory, not obscured by tree branches. Success! After a few moments, it flew off. Merry Christmas to me, I thought.

I found the trailhead to Chado Cliff and began the ascent. It was a rocky and somewhat steep ascent pretty much the whole way. The trail was mostly in the shade but had three viewpoints to enjoy.

The first viewpoint was shortly after beginning. The trees opened up and I was able to see the ocean, far off islands, and another mountain to the left. Beautiful.

I continued on and was delighted to find lizards. I’d seen the same species on my way to Secret Beach but didn’t have my camera with me at the time. I’ve never seen this type of lizard before so I was glad I got to photograph it.

Maybe ten minutes later, I arrived at Viewpoint 2. I’d been told this was the best viewpoint and I agree. It was pretty awesome to see the entire island of Koh Lipe from the viewpoint. How bizarre. All the people, all the boats, the reefs in the ocean. Beautiful. The photo may not look like much but trust, it was pretty beautiful in person.

Another ten minutes or so and I’d arrived at Viewpoint 3, greeted by a Finnish guy. We ended up chatting about Thailand. He has been to Koh Lipe a number of times throughout the years. Maybe five minutes later, we were joined by three Latvians. The five of us chatted for a good ten minutes. To be honest, it was nice to be conversing with people. Zarko had left a few days prior and I’d been pretty solitary since then. The guy who talked with me about Koh Adang on the dive had mentioned the place was host to a number of eclectic people. I knew almost immediately that I should have spent a few days in Koh Adang to break up my stay in Koh Lipe. It was wild, more nature-y. And people saw pythons! Not me, though.

The Latvians left and after talking with the Finnish guy for some more, I decided to head back down too. As I reached the campground, I looked for the hornbills once again. Nothin’.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark shadow flying by behind some trees. Hmm, let’s go check that out. Sure enough, it was a hornbill – only partially obscured by tree branches.

But then… another one!

Before long, they both flew over to a leafless branch, one in which I was able to photograph/observe them for probably five minutes. Success!

They were close! And they didn’t seem particularly bothered by me. In fact, they seemed pretty curious. At times, it seemed like they were enjoying the attention. The way they slowly moved their heads and bodies, it almost seemed like they were posing for me. “You’re beautiful,” I told them.

The two flew off deeper into the trees for a few minutes but then returned to an even closer branch. This one offered some of the best shots of the day. I was so, so, so pleased with them. I’ve been wanting to get photos of hornbills like this since I first saw one!

The pair flew higher up, onto one of the branches of a pine tree. And then, to my surprise, a third one joined them, too!

They seemed to be done feeding for the moment. Instead, they plucked each others feathers. When one was being groomed, it would completely tilt its head backwards which had me chuckling.

After watching them for a while, I decided to leave them be. “Merry Christmas! Thank you,” I said. Delighted, I waited for my taxi boat to pick me up.

Once I returned to Koh Lipe, I grabbed my finished drawings and decided to visit all my local Koh Lipe friends. I stopped by Sin, gave him a drawing. I got a chicken pad thai and gave one to that lady. I stopped by Ying and gave her one. This was just earlier today. I will visit Madame Yoo-hoo tonight to give her one as well. One thing I thought was interesting is that everyone wanted to make sure I had signed them. C’mon, crediting the artist! (Ying also took our photo with a filter on which is why I look so good lol.)

I got a hair cut and beard trim, too! Desperately needed. I had read reviews saying the barber lady was kind of rude. I could see by her tone at times how people could read her as such but she was very nice to me. And afterwards, she wanted to take photos of us in hats together hahaha. Cute.

I won’t get up to much tonight. I don’t think I could bear it if I got a fourth massage in a row that ended up being shitty, so I will NOT be getting another massage on Koh Lipe. I will finish up this blog, watch sunset, get food, and then pack up because I leave tomorrow! (This is exactly what I ended up doing btw.)

It has been sort of a weird time on Koh Lipe. It took me a while to get into the groove of the place, to sort of “cancel out” the crowds and lock into the island and locals. But it has been nice. I’ve had many lovely underwater adventures, ate really good food, and connected with a few people.

Miscellaneous

When on my dive, one of the guests (from Korea, I think) had a face completely reworked with plastic surgery. It was, truthfully, alarming. She’d clearly had her eyelids down, her nose, had lips plumped… and even her jaw shaved. I think her boyfriend had his jaw shaved, too. So scary! It’s at a point where they don’t even look human, it’s like a doll or robot.

And also, while I was eating at Madame Yoo-hoo’s, a bar across the way was playing the saddest Evanescence song – My Immortal. So random!

Some more food below:

Art of the Week

Finally, after probably two months, I managed to pump out a drawing! I like the construction of the piece but not pleased with the color combinations. I am running out of markers so my color options are a little limited. Once I get to a bigger town, I’m going to restock.

Reflections

And just like that, ten nights in Koh Lipe is coming to a close. Like I mentioned, it has been a mix of feelings. But overall, I’m glad I made the effort to get down here. Such a beautiful place with unreal underwater experiences. And who knows when the next time I’ll see a seahorse is?!

Tomorrow morning, I take a ferry from Koh Lipe to Koh Phi Phi. I’m only there for a few nights. Something tells me I will not like the crowds there, either. Koh Phi Phi is a hotspot and notorious for drunken crowds of people. I’m only there three nights and my main objective is to go on a dive to try and see the resident leopard sharks. I really hope that works out!

After that, I’ll take a ferry to nearby Railay Beach, which hopefully is slightly calmer. I’ll be there five nights.

Until next time, sending you all my love. And MERRY CHRISTMAS! x