Paradise in the Andaman Sea

I’m on a different island, but still in Thailand in the South Andaman Sea. The island I’m on is Ko Lipe, a very small island 4.5 hours from the mainland by boat. Arrived here yesterday…left Ko Lanta the day before yesterday, first taking the 2-hour boat from Lanta to Krabi on the mainland, then taking a 2.5-hour minivan south to the pier for Ko Tarutao and Ko Lipe. Since I arrived late in the afternoon I was able to get the last boat to Tarutao but had to over-night there and then get the boat to Lipe yesterday. That was fine with me because I wanted to see Tarutao anyway. All of the islands around here are part of Ko Tarutao National Park, the island of Tarutao being the largest of them all. You can’t get much more south in Thailand than Tarutao – it’s only 5 km from the island of Langkawi in Malaysia. It’s a beautiful island and apparently the location of the next SURVIVOR which is supposed to be filming here this summer.

It’s a 1.5-hour boat ride from Tarutao to the mainland. The only lodging available is at the park headquarters and they also rent tents so you can camp on the beach. I chose the tenting option. Very pretty beach – really big with white sand. I had just set up my tent and was watching the sunset with my tent neighbor Augustino (from Italy), when a big storm started brewing from behind the mountain. It was a fierce one! We got up to the park restaurant in time but the wind was so strong and the rain, lightening and thunder came out of nowhere! So much for a peaceful night’s rest in the tent on the beach. My sleeping bag was wet and so was everything else. Oh well.

I did have a good time passing the evening with Matt and Jim, 2 guys from the UK who have spent the past 6 weeks (partying) on Ko Samui and are now heading to Ko Lipe in search of some peace, quiet , and rehabilitation. They are characters.

So yesterday we all got the 1pm boat from Tarutao to Ko Lipe. It was a beautiful boat ride. The water here is so blue and clear! I mean, it’s that way all over Southern Thailand, but here it’s especially blue and especially clear! Ko Lipe is a paradise – the sea looks like glass it’s just so nice. Augustino, the UK boys, and I all got bungalows at the same place (there are only 6 places on the entire island) and then I spent the evening chatting with a really nice Swedish couple. They’ve been travelling for 8 months and have been to some amazing places. Today I plan to snorkle some, relax a lot, and just lay on the beach and soak it all in….

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Just to let you know, I’ve just finished uploading pictures from the past month, starting on 3.21.02 in Bangkok up until the latest journal entry of today. To view the photos, click on the Journal button above, and then navigate to the last record and go back from there. Hope you enjoy!

Sunset on Ko Tarutao

She SURVIVED!

Sunrise from my bungalow on Ko Lipe

Add comment April 18th, 2002