The waves are big and I am uncomfortable. We sit on the ferry on our way to Koh Lipe. The small island is located in the Andaman sea and about two hours from Langkawi. I am afraid about the shaking of the boat and the waves. Sally is completely comfortable and sleeping. I never thought me as a surfer would be so afraid of boat rides. But here I am and my body is shaking and trembling in fear. I check the time and every minute feels like it is two hours. Checking the time again and not even a minute has passed. Two hours later we finally arrive. It felt like an eternity. I’m just glad to get off the boat.

We didn’t expect Koh Lipe to be this small. There isn’t even a pier, where the boats can be docked. Let me explain how you get from the ferry to the beach. First you get picked up by a long boat. It is the smaller boats you see on the right. The long boat brings you to the blue floating pier. The floating pier is shaking and moving from the small waves and the water. Some people almost loose their balance on it. From here you enter the beach and you can enjoy the show of other tourists walking like ducks on the pier. This hilarious sight let’s you kill the time.

Before I entered the country legally I already walked around the island. I got some Baht, the Thai currency, and I even got a coffee before I went back to the immigration office. The immigration office was just a desk at the beach. Talking about a dream job, this must be pretty close. Toes in the sand and waiting to be called for the stamp in the passport. This is definitely one of the craziest, but also most relaxed immigrations I have ever seen!

When we first discover the island we notice that Allah gave way to Buddha. Muslim are suddenly a minority and Buddhist people are the majority. Weed is legal in Thailand and we stumbled upon a lot of cannabis dispensaries. Even on such a small island. This is even more crazy considering that Singapore and Malaysia have some of the heaviest penalties for cannabis possession. This has always been the craziest part to me. You cross a border and suddenly the language and culture are very different. This has been one of the most extreme cases for me. Usually the change is gradual. You notice a few differences here and there. On this border it was a massive difference.

After that we tried to find our accommodation. We decided to stay in a traditional bamboo hut. We search for it and apparently we have to cross a beach. Unfortunately it was high tide, so we were literally walking through the sea again. Eventually we find our bamboo hut and it becomes inherently clear that this is not a stay for two days. It is just to good to be true! We ended up extending for two more days and than two more days, again!

Koh Lipe is just beautiful. I didn’t expect the clear water. On Langkawi the water was rather murky and grey. Here it is crystal clear and as blue as it can get. With the swimming glasses you could even explore the reef, which is right outside of the door. We did this everyday. Well I did this everyday. Sally’s foot was infected so she had to wait a few days. Sounds like torture to me. Imagine seeing this beauty and you can not immerse yourself in it. After a few days the infection was gone and Sally could enjoy this, too. We even found Nemo in the reefs near the beach.

What a beautiful place on earth. Nothing more I have to say. Enjoyed the Thai cuisine and our bamboo hut. We didn’t do much more, than snorkeling and relaxing at the beach. The upside traveling in low season you have all this beach almost all to yourself and the prices are very low. If you are not bothered by a little rain this might be the perfect time for you. However keep in mind that the ferry operation is shutting down in June. The reason is the monsoon. It creates a lot of waves and turbulences in the Andaman sea in that time of the year. This makes the ferry not operable. This is our queue to get off the island before the ferry shuts down. You can only charter speed boats to get back to the mainland. The best part I will remember about Koh Lipe, was the sweet old lady that sold donuts at the beach for ten baht, equivalent of 27 cents. The moment I was dreading the most arrived. We had to charter a speed boat and drive back. Luckily the sea was just flat. So no anxiety for me this time!

Back at the mainland we go to Ao Nang. There are beaches too. However nothing beats the beaches at Kho Lipe. Ao Nang almost seems a little bit ugly in comparison. Don’t get me wrong it is a beautiful spot. Just not the same, when you come from such a beautiful island. That’s why we decided to do something else. Luckily there is plenty to do or to explore. We rented a scooter and started to cruise around. We want to check out an elephant sanctuary. To get there, you need to ride the scooter along of these beautiful lime stones full of jungle and plant life.

Turns out the elephants of the sanctuary walk around freely in the jungle. They are not forced to be there. There are no cages, no fences or anything like it. This means the elephants just come to the sanctuary for the feeding time. We are out of luck and and have to try again later. On the way back we found a goat farm. We saw it before on Maps. I told Sally, that we also have goats at home and asked her what the big deal is here. Since we are already at that location we went and checked it out anyways. This let to some fun pictures with the goats. There was no person there, so we just picked up the goat. Sally even thought to steal one goat and carry it on the scooter. The small goat always came back and wanted to be picked up. I have to admit it is quite a scenery!

Anyways, when we got back to the elephant sanctuary the owner tells us the dark story of the two elephants. The name of the elephants are Pinky and Pumpuy. Pinky was formerly used as a tourist attraction. At some point she murdered a person and got neglected afterwards. People were riding on the back of Pinky until someday someone rode on the head. Pinky had enough and threw him off of his head. The person fell down and Pinky stepped on the person. If this was accidental or on purpose is unclear.

Pumpuy was used in one of the rubber plantations and had to carry heavy logs around. In the end she had a lot of scars and a skin issue. Not useful to the plantation anymore she was neglected, as well. Now they roam around the jungle freely and can enjoy the rest of their life’s peacefully. The sanctuary gives them baths and showers and a location they can trust. The whole relationship is build on trust here. It was a great experience to feed these magnificent creatures. They are so big, but so gentle when they pick up food from your hand. They also still posses joy and trust to humans. This is the most impressive part in my opinion. Such gentle animals. The only beasts are the persons standing on the other side of the fence..

We saw a café in Ao nang that is supposed to be in a rubber plantation. There is a great view on top of the cliff. When we got there, we got swarmed by a million mosquitoes. This is not a great start. Afterwards we want to explore the cliff, that lies above the café. The owner pointed us to the hiking trail. The trail was almost not visible anymore. We tried to go anyways. After a few hundred meters the trail just disappeared. We were also wearing flip flops, so we had to gave up. We were not keen of having leeches suck our blood. We were also not keen about ticks or any other animals that could bite us in the food. This would have been a different story if we had long clothes and proper shoes. Sometimes it is just not worth the risk. The café was still gorgeous and in the middle of nowhere. Oh what crazy places you encounter, when you travel.

Thanks for reading and until next time!