Day 55 – 2nd January – Langkawi to Koh Lipe
We checked out of the hotel and got a taxi to the ferry terminal for our boat to Koh Lipe in Thailand. The boat took about 90 minutes and we arrived at about 3pm. We had to go through immigration on the beach at a little hut which was interesting and then pick up our bags. The guesthouse had arranged a free shuttle for us and we hopped onto the sidecar of a motorbike and were taken to our accommodation! First impressions of Koh Lipe were good. It was like the postcard pictures you see of Thai islands and was as close to paradise as we had seen so far. The waters were crystal clear and the sand was white. After checking in we decided to get our bearings and go for a walk around. Another great thing about Koh Lipe is its size, it is small and you can walk around the whole of the island. We set off and immediately found ‘Walking Street’ which was a street which was about 1km long covered with shops, bars and restaurants. We followed this to the end and arrived at Sunrise beach. We walked down the beach and stopped off at a bar for a drink. We were both planning on having a week off the alcohol, however it was all too much for Dan and he ordered a beer! We spent some time just sitting on the beach until the sun went down and then we went back to the guesthouse via walking street for dinner.

Day 56 – 3rd January – Koh Lipe
We got up, had breakfast and then got the free shuttle to Sunset Beach. It was quite cloudy today and we spent the morning lying on the beach snoozing! We had heard that there was a storm approaching Thailand and in the afternoon it started to rain. We went back to the guesthouse and took advantage of the communal area upstairs and while the weather hasn’t great did some planning for Australia and New Zealand. In the evening we went back to walking street. Dan had a few beers and Liz resisted and had Diet Coke! We went to OMG pub for dinner which we would both recommend!

Day 57 – 4th January – Koh Lipe
The weather wasn’t great today as the storm was meant to be arriving today and we spent most of the morning planning and getting things booked while we could. We went to walking street for lunch and checked at the travel agent where we had booked our ferry on the status of our boat for the next day. We discovered that all ferries had been cancelled in Thailand on the 4th/5th Janauary due to storm Pabuk. We were secretly quite happy about this as we didn’t really want to leave the next day! We extended our stay at the guesthouse and carried on planning in the afternoon. In the evening we went to Walking Street for drinks and dinner at Elephant. There was live music on too and a really good atmosphere!

Day 58 – 5th January – Koh Lipe
Storm Pabuk had hit Thailand the night before and the weather forecast was heavy rain all day. To our delight when we woke up, the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! We got the shuttle to Sunset Beach and spent a few hours there. We both took the snorkel and mask into the sea and were amazed at how many fish we could see in the shallow waters.
We got back to the guesthouse late afternoon and got showered and ready for our last night. We went to Pattaya beach which is the main beach for the ferries and had a drink on some beanbags on the sand. Dan was doing well on his no drinking and had a beer! We then went to Walking Street and had another drink and dinner back at OMG pub! If you ever travel to Thailand, we would both highly recommend Koh Lipe as a destination. It has been our favourite place so far on our trip.

Day 59 – 6th January – Koh Lipe to Koh Lanta
We checked out of the guesthouse and got taken to the beach for our 9am ferry to Koh Lanta. We were both sad to be leaving as we both loved Koh Lipe and could have quite happily stayed there for a lot longer. We arrived in Koh Lanta about 3 hours later and got a taxi from the port to our accommodation. We were staying on Long Beach in a bungalow. The accommodation was nice and it also had a pool which was a bonus. We went for a walk to get our bearing and stopped for lunch. Where we were staying there were lots of places to eat and drink nearby which was good! In the evening we went to the bar at the end of our bungalow and watched the sunset. We then walked over some rocks to get to the beach and then along the beach and had a drink at another bar and dinner too. Was a really nice evening!

Day 60 – 7th Jan – Koh Lanta
We had a very chilled day by the pool. In the evening we went to the main street which was away from the beach to get some dinner. All in all a very relaxing day!

Day 61 – 8th Jan – Koh Lanta
After breakfast we walked on and spent some time at the beach. There wasn’t much shade so we didn’t spend too long there as it was really hot! We went back to the pool in the hotel in the afternoon.
In the evening we went back to the beach to watch the sunset and went to Fat Turtle restaurant for a couple of drinks and dinner. Liz had successfully challenged herself to a week without alcohol and so today treated herself to a couple of ciders!