Malaysia Day 5 Koh Lipe, Thailand

Today was our day trip to Koh Lipe, Thailand. We had to get up quite early as we were on a tour and being picked up. Our hotel had a free breakfast included so we ate a small breakfast and waited to be picked up. The driver came and then we stopped to get 2 more passengers. We stopped at their office and got some arrival documents for Thailand and then got in the van with another couple, plus the earlier 2 passengers and went to the immigration office to be stamped "departed" from Malaysia. I joked with Jacob on the drive from the immigration office to the boat port we were kind of "off the map" since we had been declared "departed" from Malaysia! We waited a little at the boat port and then boarded our boat. What then ensued was the worst boat ride ever. It seemed like we hit every single wave wrong. It was up and then we were bumped down hard at the bottom of the wave. For the whole hour boat ride. I didn't really get motion sick so much as feeling uncomfortable from being jostled around so much, but I don't think I could have taken another 5 minutes of that ride. We came to a small platform to dock and then boarded another smaller Thai boat to get to the island. We the boat came to shore, we had to step into the water and then onto the beach. First, right to our tour groups office to get our passports taken care of and exchange Ringgits to Thai Baht.

About $15

Arriving to Koh Lipe

The boats to take us from the platform onto the island

Welcome to Lipe!

We were reminded several times to return to the office at 4:30 and to remember that Thailand is one hour behind Langkawi. Then we were off to explore Koh Lipe! We walked and found our way to a different beach. It was beautiful. So, so beautiful. The sand was sand and shells that were white and the water was so clear and blue. The water was a little bit warmer than the water in Langkawi but not as warm as I was expecting. We took a dip in the water and layed in the sun to dry off a bit.

Beautiful Beach!

Jacob and me

So amazing

Enjoying the water and sun

Around lunch time we went back to the town area to find a place to eat for lunch. We found a nice authentic Thai restaurant and ordered two different kinds of noodles and shared spring rolls. After lunch we strolled around and looked at souvenirs before heading back to the beach. Then we came back to go on our boat ride back. It was the same boat, but now there were about 15 other people on the boat with us! It was not as bouncy as the arrival ride either. I was able to fall asleep on the boat ride back. We were split up into three different vans to go to the immigration office. Jacob and I were in a van with an older couple from Australia and an older American woman who was a freelance blogger. Anyway, most of us got through immigration with no problem, but the American woman had an issue with her Visa I guess and we had to wait an extra 10 minutes or so for her to work her problem out which was a bit of an annoyance to us. We were tired and hungry and wanted to get back to our hotel and get some food but we had to wait. A test in patience I guess. We were so tired we decided to go back to the Mexican place for dinner. After dinner, we called it a day.

Yummy lunch (about $2-3)

So many stray dogs...I wanted to take them all home with me :(

Sand