Koh Lipe

Day 252 (March 7, 2019) – Koh Lipe, Thailand

Travel is sort of a funny thing sometimes. You spend all this time getting somewhere far away so you can see new things, learn about how others live their lives, have new experiences, or whatever else you want to get out of your efforts. Even though many people might agree on the reasons why they travel, it is an extremely personal experience. Everyone has their own preferences for things to see and do. Travis and I don’t always agree on what our favorite places, activities, or experiences were, but more often than not we find ourselves on the same page. That’s why the things we either liked or didn’t like about our trip aren’t necessarily what other people might like or not like.

Koh Lipe... I wanted to like it, but I just didn't enjoy it all that much. It's kind of sad because it's so beautiful and had so much potential.

A week ago, we were leaving Koh Lanta and a couple sharing our ride to the ferry pier was telling us how they really didn’t have that great of a time on the island and that they were happy to move on. They said it was kind of boring and left a little disappointed. But for me, Koh Lanta was my favorite out of all the Thai islands we had visited. Go figure.

This is not Koh Lipe, but a photo from New Zealand. Sometimes the weather is just not on your side. It had just started raining after we finished dinner while camping. It seemed we were never able to escape the rain there.

Back when we were in New Zealand, we spent 5 days on our canoe trip getting to know a German couple as we paddled down the river. One of our New Zealand highlights was our hike up to Mueller Hut for the jaw dropping scenery at the top of the mountain. We told them how great this experience was and that it was worth the effort to go. They listened to our advice and a few weeks later sent us a photo from their trip to Mueller Hut, where they saw nothing but fog. They never saw the amazing scenery that made the strenuous hike worthwhile. I’m guessing that Mueller Hut was not the highlight of their New Zealand adventures. Sorry for the bad advice!

This isn't Koh Lipe either. This is Cachora, Peru. It should have been a great town but we couldn't wait to get out of there. It seemed like everyone was trying to make things difficult for us.

It can also be very small events that affect your whole perception of a place. When we were on our Machu Picchu hike in Peru, we started in the small town of Cachora. Objectively, Cachora should have been an interesting starting point for the hike. It was a quaint, rural Peruvian town with unbelievable views of the Andes and provided a glimpse at everyday Peruvian life. Instead, through a series of unfortunate events, we grew to loathe the place and couldn’t wait to get out of there. It all started before we even arrived when we weren’t getting the help we needed from our hotel, and got worse after our cab driver to Cachora tried to screw us out of more money, and ended with a cascade of small, but cumulative, negative incidents with our hotel. These few events left a sour taste in our mouth and tainted our entire view of Cachora. We will not be returning.

On the speedboat from Koh Mook to Koh Lipe.

So what does all of this have to do with Koh Lipe? Koh Lipe is at the extreme southern end of the Thai islands in the Andaman sea, but still firmly on the tourist trail. Ko Lipe is gorgeous. It’s a tiny tropical island surrounded by teal waters and coral reefs. But I wasn’t a fan. There was too much activity going on for such a small place. We were there for four days and I was glad to be leaving at the end of our stay. There wasn’t a single bad incident that happened, but I just didn’t like the vibe of the place.

Koh Lipe really is beautiful. The water is such an incredible shade of teal. The darker spots just off shore are coral. You can walk right out to them and go snorkeling.

We took a speed boat from Koh Mook, which dropped us off at Pattaya Beach on Koh Lipe. Our accommodation was on the other side of the island at Sunrise Beach, but it was only a 20-minute walk from the pier. We walked along the one major street that connects the two sides of the island, creatively called Walking Street. This street was lined with shops, convenience stores, restaurants, bars, massage parlors, and everything else you might need. We eventually checked into our bungalow, which was actually pretty nice and only steps from the beach.

Relaxing on Sunrise Beach after our arrival.

The problem with Koh Lipe seemed to be that there were just too many people there, yet not enough happening to justify all the people. The beaches were beautiful, but in the late afternoon they essentially became giant parking lots for longtail boats. These boats are used to take people on snorkeling or island-hopping trips during the day and in the afternoon they all come back to the beach to anchor overnight. There were hundreds of them lining the shore, all around the island. They are also loud, so you start to hear their engines long before they’ve reached their parking spots. It’s hard to appreciate the beauty of the ocean landscape when you have to try and look past all these boats floating in the water.

Pattaya Beach, where speedboats drop off and pick up passengers. This is during the day when most of the boats are out and about.

The worst part was that there is a coral reef right off shore. We rented snorkeling masks one afternoon and waded out into the water to get closer to the coral. The snorkeling was surprisingly good. There were tons of fish and enormous sea urchins to keep us entertained as we swam around. It was fun, but the whole time we had to keep paying attention to the boats whizzing past us. It was like a highway for the long tail boats. The last thing we wanted was to get clobbered in the head by a boat coming into shore to anchor. It just felt like the thing that made Koh Lipe so unique, the beautiful scenery and active underwater life, was being totally ignored.

Walking Street in the evening.

At dinner time Walking Street could get quite crowded. We usually sought out places to eat that were off the main road, hoping to find more authentic and cheaper eats. We did have some good meals on Koh Lipe. The strangest thing was that after dinner everyone seemed to disperse. It got strangely quiet. There were a few bars with live music, but they were dead. Maybe one or two tables of people at them. Perhaps that’s what some people like about Koh Lipe is this low-key evening atmosphere, but I was hoping for some more activity at night. I mean, if I had to put up with all these people everywhere the least that they caould do is go out at night and provide me with some evening people watching entertainment.

So many boats...

I felt like Koh Lipe was overcrowded in the worst possible ways. To contrast it with a different experience, I also felt like Koh Phi Phi was overcrowded, but at least they put on a good show in the evening. There was an energy about the place after the sun went down and with so many people around there was always a huge crowd out having a good time. Like Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lipe also had too many people, but there didn’t seem to be a benefit to it. There was no energy in the evening. There wasn’t even a good place to sit on the sand, listen to some music, and enjoy a beer. It was just dead. Yet all the boats used to transport everyone around the island were blocking the view of the beautiful ocean waters.

Waiting for our ferry to leave the island.

Koh Lipe was gorgeous, but the amount of people and activity detracted from the beauty. It felt like a former paradise that had been ruined by overtourism. I’m sure in the past Koh Lipe was an amazing escape, but it’s just too popular now. It wasn’t that we had a bad time there. We did enjoy our time on the island, but when our four days were up, I was looking forward to being somewhere else. Koh Lipe is sadly on our list of places we’ll skip if we’re ever back in Thailand again.