Author: Rach

Photos: Rach (unless specified)

The time had come for the last leg of the trip; 3 and a half weeks in Thailand with a short sojourn in Malaysia (Langkawi) first. We knew when we planned this trip that we’d be on the go and on the move A LOT. We were right – we moved accommodation every 3 nights on average, and certainly packed a lot of sightseeing, activities and experiences into our 139 days away. So the aim of the game now was a slower pace of life, largely centred around sitting still and enjoying beautiful beaches.

We planned the following itinerary for our final leg, working our way gradually up the Andaman sea coast of Thailand:

• 3 nights on Langkawi (a good gateway into the southern Thai islands in monsoon season)

• 5 nights on Koh Lipe

• 4 nights on Koh Lanta

• 2 nights in Railay Beach, near Krabi

• 3 nights on Koh Phi Phi

• 7 nights in luxury at a 5* resort on Koh Yao Yai (the first place we booked, as we knew we wanted to end in style and the comfort would be needed by then!)

This last leg of the adventure will be captured in 3 posts, each covering two destinations. They will not be day by day accounts given we have primarily been a beach-bum duo(!), but instead will provide a snapshot of each place we visited, our impressions, how we traveled in/out/around and some tips for anyone thinking of going there. Enjoy!

Langkawi, Malaysia

Our first beach destination was Langkawi in beautiful Malaysia. Langkawi is now a popular destination with beach dwellers, particularly around the Pantai Cenang area, where duty free shops are also in abundance.

Our impressions

It’s a bit touristy, the main drag being lined with the usual souvenir shops and mini-marts and burger bars. Water sports is more on the agenda of most as opposed to cultural activities, but in low season it’s not loud and it’s not busy, so a pretty nice way to kick off a period of relaxation.

We stayed at the Langkapuri Inn which we wouldn’t recommend (pretty run down and a terrible breakfast), but its location on the popular aforementioned beach was pretty neat, despite nearly not making it there in time – the check in closed at 10.30pm and they warned us that there were no exceptions. Our flight landed at 9.30pm and by the time we got out of the airport and into the taxi we should have been there with 15 minutes to spare, if it hadn’t been for crawling traffic through roadworks. We contemplated ditching the taxi at several points, but in the end made it with exactly 2 minutes to spare.

We spent our 2 days lounging on the beach, refusing to be fleeced by the £10 fee per day quoted for 2 sun beds (we weren’t in Vietnam anymore!) – so we just took our micro fibre towels each and improvised; Ged actually dug me out a bed to sit in which was surprisingly comfy.

Plus Langkawi had some pretty awesome sunsets to watch from the sandy beach. Not bad!

Food & drink

The food and drink is still reasonably good value in Langkawi, though it certainly feels a step up in price compared with the last 3 countries on our travels. For the price though we did have one of the most fantastic meals of the trip at Melayu Malay restaurant which we would highly recommend. Ged had his first ever(!) Beef Rendang – a signature Malay dish of rich and tender beef stewed with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, turmeric and coconut milk, served on a bed of steamed rice. He was suitably impressed. Rach plumped for the Masak Lemak, an authentic dish also made from coconut milk but with a texture more like a lightly-spiced creamy soup, which she had with prawns and steamed rice. Absolutely divine.

Some top tips

Tip 1: One big lesson we learned quickly is that the monsoon season’s clouds do not block out the sun in any way, and neither, unbelievably, does lying under a parasol – yes you heard, I got sunburnt lying under a parasol in the shade. Literally never happened to me before. Take care out there people!

Tip 2: Langkawi is littered with duty free shops. More than just a handy and pretty beach destination to make a quick entry into Thailand, it’s also a great place to stock up on booze before you leave. We saved on future bar spend by buying 2 x 1 litre bottles of rum for about £8 here. You can also expect to pay less for other essentials like sun cream, if you look in the right places.

Tip 3: A lot of restaurants don’t have a licence to sell alcohol, but they are happy for you to bring your own. On your way out for dinner, stop by a mini market and grab a couple of beers!

Tip 4: Cash is king here and ATMs all charge withdrawal fees. Invest in a good card so you don’t get charged by your bank as well as the cash machine (we used Revolut) and withdraw cash in as big sums as you can to get the most for your ATM fee. We didn’t at all feel unsafe or threatened in Langkawi, but a money belt for your cash is always a good idea.

Travelling onto Thailand

Spending 3 nights in Langkawi gave us 2 full days to enjoy the beach and then we made for the pier to our booked ferry to Koh Lipe, one of the most southerly Thai islands. The journey was pretty straight forward, picking up our tickets at the port around 1hr before (strictly recommended by the operator) and then handing over your passports (don’t worry) and boarding a boat for the relatively calm crossing to Koh Lipe, which only took a few hours despite the rain storm which came in!

Koh Lipe

First up in our 3 or so weeks in the Thai islands was the tiny but popular island of Koh Lipe, where the water glistens a crystal clear bright blue and everywhere is walkable.

There are 3 stretches of beach, each occupying its own side of the island; Pattaya beach on the SW side (the longest and most developed, and where the speedboats are supposed to arrive), sunset beach on the NW coast the smallest and quietest), and sunrise beach to the east – probably equally quiet but very picturesque with views out to some of the other islands and in our opinion the best spot for swimming.

The three beaches are connected up with the middle of the island by ‘walking street’, where all the restaurants, shops, pharmacies and tour operators reside, which is certainly the busiest place on the island but in monsoon season again nothing ridiculous.

Getting here

The boat from Langkawi brought us within swimming distance of Koh Lipe before we transferred into a long boat (a motor-powered traditionally-shaped wooden boat with bench seating, and the iconic coloured ribbon adorning the front ridge).

It was certainly paradise-like on approach, the waters glinting a beautiful aquamarine and the gentle sea lapping the sandy white beaches where shore gave way to jungle.

The long boat would allow us to get through the shallower water but unexpectedly, instead of depositing us on Pattaya beach, we were taken to Sunset beach! Paradise doesn’t always mean convenience, and so with no pier we had to climb over the side of the boat, backpacks and bags on and boots off, straight into the sea and wade knee-deep to shore.

From the beach we then heaved our laden backs up to road to meet a van which, once we stood up in the back of it, got us to Pattaya beach and the immigration desk. We then sat around on plastic chairs waiting to be called up to collect our passports (same deal as Langkawi in that we surrendered them upon boarding) and then got them stamped and paid 200 BAHT each (£5) for the national park entry fee – essential if you want to snorkel or visit any other of the surrounding islands.

Then we searched for a taxi to sunrise beach to check into our hotel – already we had seen most of the island without even unpacking a towel! The ‘taxi’ was just another version of the many forms of ‘tuk-tuk’ we had been discovering in SE Asia. From the attached cars pulled from the back of motorbikes in Cambodia, to the wagon-vans of Laos and the rarely-seen push-pedal ones in Vietnam, this was a new one for us – a side car attached to a motorbike! Just big enough for 2 people, one front on and one side on, with our bags around our feet and on our laps, we scooted over the uneven dirt track roads, in between trees and down weird makeshift alleyways, with our driver imitating the noise of a horn with his voice – yes, you read right!

Our impressions

We had booked to stay at Lipe Beach Resort, a lovely sunrise beachfront place in a cute little chalet, which had everything you needed apart from one major thing – air conditioning. Accommodation is quite pricey on the island and most come with only a fan. We thought we’d be ok, but we thought wrong. Over the next 5 nights we got very little sleep, despite cold showers to try to cool us down, as it was just so muggy in there.

Despite the uncomfortable nights (mosquitoes are also pretty rampant here – this was the place I got bitten the most in Thailand), the hotel was in a superb location, with the breakfast area right on the beach and with day beds and floor mats and hammocks to chill out in the shade in. The beach was picture-postcard Thailand, with ribbon-adorned long tail boats moored up on the shore, right in the line of sight of the spectacular sunrises, making it a great place to base yourself if you like snapping photos like Rach does!

What’s more, sunrise beach is a shortish walk to walking street, where we could pick up a lunchtime beer and a pizza for about £6 when we got hungry in the afternoon. Not the cheapest, but not disastrous!

We spent our 5 days largely on the day beds and hammocks, shaded from the intense sun and going for a dip in the sea or a walk along the shore.

On our last day we took a boat trip from sunset beach (there are loads of tour operators doing different options) Here we:

1. Climbed to the top of neighbouring Koh Adang island for a cracking birds eye view of Koh Lipe (take plenty of water and insect repellant and wear boots or trainers – it’s a bit steep!)

2. Went snorkelling at Jabang and then Adang

3. Walked on the perfectly smooth polished black stones of Hin Ngam and got caught in a thunderstorm along the way!

The snorkelling here is really good, and highly recommended. We saw all sorts of beautiful bright corals, sea cucumbers and clown fish.

All in all, an ‘insta-beautiful’ island with great snorkelling, which is quieter in monsoon season but still has a bit of life in the evenings. Pretty idyllic.

Food and drink

Our favourite place by far to eat on the island was sunrise beach restaurant, just a little way down the beach from our hotel. They did the best tasting and best value curries on the island, and we went twice out of our 5 days. The restaurants on walking street we found to be much more ‘touristic’ and therefore pricier despite being less good.

Some top tips:

1. Book accommodation in advance, especially in high season. It’s a small island and places book up pretty quickly and the prices rise in tandem.

2. Decide which beach you want to be on and do your research. And try to get a room with air con and a fridge – you’ll be forever grateful for it!

3. We expected that card wouldn’t be commonly accepted and we were right, so withdraw as much cash at a time as you can from an ATM or exchange money before you go (helpful to pay your 200 BAHT national park free on arrival). This is also handy for getting to your hotel – a taxi anywhere on the island is 50 BAHT per person and you just flag them down.

4. Book a snorkelling trip (around 500-900 baht, or £12-22, depending on how long you go for and whether you go to the outer or inner islands), or hire a long tail boat privately from sunrise beach to take you and bring you back.

5. Make sure you have enough sun cream and medicine with you when you arrive, and maybe a little bottle of your favourite tipple for the evenings – it’s quite expensive on the island compared with other SE Asia destinations!

6. Do what the beach names suggest and watch the sunrise and sunsets from the various beaches – glorious!

Perfect place to sup a beer!

Next stops Koh Lanta & Railay Beach!