Koh Lipe and Another Adventure in Thailand

   From Bangkok we took the overnight train down to the big industrial city of the south, Hat Yai. From there we  took a mini-bus to Pakbarra on the west coast and from there a ferry to the small island of Lipe, one of the far south islands (koh means island in Thai). Kog Lipe, in the Koh Taratao park area, is a tiny boomerang shaped island crossed with semi-paved little roads. There are no cars on Koh Lipe but it is very touristy.

   There was no pier on Lipe, so the ferry docked at an offshore dock, and from there we took a longtail boat in the rest of the way to shore, where we disembarked directly on to the pure white sand of the beach. It did mean hauling our heavy suitcases up the beach though. I went to wait at a restaurant while my mom went to look for a guesthouse.
   True to the guidebook, everything on the island was much more expensive than anywhere else we had been, owing to its remote location and size. The bungalow we picked (the cheapest we could find) was quite rustic, with the bare minimum of everything, and stinky water. It rained that afternoon so we didn't do much else for the rest of the day.
   The next day we went over to sunrise beach, which was much less crowded than the main boat polluted beach and very nice. I built a sandcastle, played in the water and chased crabs on the rocks. Though it was cloudy and even sprinkled for a few minutes, it also was overall a lot better weather wise. That night I had a delicious grilled cheese sandwich and played the game Life with a kid from Sweden.
   The next day, our last day, we went over to sunset beach, which a bit of a hike, but it was very pretty and secluded, but the sand wasn't as good for sandcastles. Still it was nice and we I met a Spanish kid and we played together with the kittens at the place he was staying. That night I had another grilled cheese and the next morning we left Koh Lipe. Overall Koh Lipe wasn't the greatest place in Thailand but I did enjoy the beaches.
   When we came back to Thailand from Laos, we received a 15 day visa, but it was more than 15 days till we flew out, so we needed to go over the border and come right back in and get another visa (process known as visa run). Because of our location, we decided to go to Malaysia, but instead of doing the conventional taxi booking from a travel agency, we decided to hoof it there with local transport (the cheap way). First we took two song taos, converted pick-up trucks with there backs covered and with two rows of seats. That took us to some cruddy little town in the middle of nowhere. From there we tried to get another vehicle the rest of the way to the border, but we were told the only way to get there was to take a motorbike.
   We were already apprehensive about doing that, but as we rounded a corner on our way to eat, we saw a motorbike wreck with someone on the ground hurt. We had no desire to go any closer and I could hardly eat my lunch. In the end we got a taxi from some other town (for actually the same price as the motorbike would have been) and the visa run went smoothly, and my mom used the restroom in Malaysia. Just as well we took the taxi too, as it ended up raining. When we got back up to cruddy-little-nowhere town (I really did forget the name) we caught a cramped local bus to Trang, a jumping off point to Koh Lanta, our next destination. We were the only farang (foreigner) on board the whole way and it continued raining, with the ceiling dripping sometimes. We got there, which is what matters, and by that time it was to late to go on so we stayed  the night in a fairly nice guesthouse there, to set off the next day to Koh Lanta.
    That's all for now!