Bits and Pieces of Life…

Beach Volleyball is the daily routine on Lipe's Pattaya Beach at dawn

I first heard about Koh Lipe, or Lipe Island, in southern Thailand in Andaman Sea, was during Dive Expo in PWTC, Kuala Lumpur. Got some brochures about Lipe from one of the booths, read it up but didn’t really have any plan to go visit. And then I heard about it from a diver friend who herself hasn’t been there. And then I read an article introducing Koh Lipe in one of the dive magazines. Checked out some Lipe websites and I am sold, and managed to get Bill and JS onboard with me.

We went there 20 Dec 2007 (yea I know, it was over a year ago, but so what?) – it was super peak season during year end so if you happen to plan going Oct/Nov/Dec you better book the resort first. We’ve seen backpackers walking to and fro at the main Lipe beach (called Pattaya Beach) trying to get a place to stay but to no avail.

Getting There

The most convenient way for Malaysians (or from Malaysia) to get to Lipe is thru Langkawi Island. We used boat transfer from Langkawi direct to Lipe which costs RM228/person for a roundtrip, using Telaga Harbour’s service. There are other boats departing from other harbours at Kuah so you need to ask around (heard that those would be cheaper). Telaga Harbour’s catamaran takes about 10-12 persons and the trip takes just over 1 hour. Telaga Harbour is just beside the Petronas at the northern side of Langkawi island, and not that far from the Langkawi airport. There is a simple custom facility up at the 1st floor of the Telaga Harbour building for cleerance purpose, and on Thailand side, a little hut situated at the Lipe main beach served as the custom checkpoint. Do call and confirm the boat schedule in Telaga Harbour.

There are other ways of getting into Koh Lipe if you are from Thailand side. Check out the Useful Links at the bottom of this page.

Accommodation

We stayed at Varin Beach Resort, http://www.varinbeachresort.com/. Our rate that time was 1500B for 3 persons/night for a bungalow hut with air-conditional. Varin is located near the middle of the popular Pattaya Beach (see map below) and I have no complaints on the room for the price that we paid. Varin is also very near to the main island link road that connects Pattaya Beach to Sunrise Beach. Below is one the most comprehensive maps that I can find for Koh Lipe online, from http://www.kohlipethailand.com:

Island Map of Koh Lipe

We used the dive shop Lotus Dive, which is attached to the Pooh’s Bar, the self-proclaimed “The friendliest place on Koh Lipe”, and deservedly so. The dive shop is run by foreigners (US/Europe). AVOID THIS DIVESHOP BY ALL MEANS! The 3 DMs were struggling to use the GPS to locate the 8-mile Rock location during our first dive, and we ended up spending 3 hours on the boat without able to locate the mooring line and forced to turn back, and then the next day they also can’t find the wreck site (can’t recall the exact dive site name but it is an advance site). They even tell us that their boat is the fastest on Lipe, which is an outright lie – the boat is slow like snail. Things might have changed to better, but do check it out properly and ask around before diving with Lotus. There are a few dive shops on the island for you to pick too.

Tomato Anemonefish

Best dive site is 8-mile Rock which we didn’t manage to dive due to huge waves. The site is like 1.5hr boat ride so it has to be good. Pelagic site (I think for Advance only), current can be very strong and low vis. Worse yet, it can only be dive 2-3 days per month (near the full moon period) due to the tide condition. Other sites are OK, but nothing very special or distinct like Sipadan or Mabul.

In short, I have no dive shop to recommend but just don’t dive with Lotus. That said, you have to go visit Pooh’s Bar – the owner, Pooh, is a really nice, friendly and interesting guy. Check out Pooh’s website here, there are some useful travel information there. He even dived with us during one of our dives.  Pooh’s Bar is along the road linking Pattaya Beach and Sunrise Beach, you won’t miss it.

Food price in Lipe is reasonable. I recalled that we have a big grilled Barracuda steak for 120Baht or somewhere around there. Not dirt cheap food prices but definitely not cut-throat like those in Redang restaurants. As good as it was, Lipe’s grilled Barracuda steak still can’t beat those found in a Warung at Tulamben, Bali. Yummy!

I like this island for the laid back style, after all, it is Thailand and not Malaysia – I much prefer this than Redang (too overly crowded, and most resorts are running the packaged deal) or Perhentian (too peaceful). And of course, you can find Thai traditional massage here on Lipe, and many bars and restaurants scattered around the island. Lipe is really a great place to relax adn get away, and it is still relatively unknown to Malaysians. Locals here are friendly, just like what you would expect from Thai people. Water is pristine clear, as anyone would expect for Andaman Sea.

Reggae - Africa Sorrow I Know I Know

Check out my photos from Lipe at my Photo Albums page, or click here for the direct link.

Give Koh Lipe a chance, and you will find out that lesser known places can be as good as the famed ones, if not better.

Useful Links

A great and comprehensive site on Koh Lipe, you probably won’t need to read another ones: http://www.kohlipethailand.com/

Pooh, the friendliest place on Koh Lipe: http://www.poohlipe.com/index.htm

Varin Beach Resort: http://www.varinbeachresort.com (no affiliation, this is just where I stayed during my visit)

Lotus Dive: http://www.lotusdive.com/en/dive.php

Forra Diving: http://forradiving.com/