Dave and his Bike

Days 95, 96, 97 & 98.

Day 95.

Ferry to Koh Lipe.

Part of the ‘grand plan’ for Thailand has always been to visit the west coast – partly to avoid any adverse monsoon weather (that part failed), but also to visit the stunning islands and beaches. That morphed into getting a boat or two and island-hopping. So, we are off the bikes for a few days. It feels a bit like cheating, but I don’t really care.

Breakfast was at a local café, then a bit of waiting around for our first speedboat ferry of the day to Koh Lanta. The sun was out, and it seemed like a while since we had seen it. Finally drying some of our kit out was all of a sudden a lot easier.

Getting the bikes on board was interesting – they were lifted over the engines and wedged in at the back, held in place with a bungee cord. But at least they were on.

The proposed hour or so to Koh Lanta took half an hour longer, and linked with a late departure meant we arrived at the time our onward ferry was supposed to depart. However (fortunately) that was put back for us, allowing time to stretch our legs and grab some food. We didn’t leave the jetty – no time to, but also so that Steve has it all to explore with Ange when they come back in January.

The second leg, to Koh Lipe, was over three hours long. The boats are not very big, holding around 30 passengers (and two bikes). They are powered by very loud outboard motors, meaning that conversation or sleep is definitely not an option. I tried listening to some music at one point, but my earphones couldn’t drown out the noise. They cruise at about 60kph (speedometer app), and the views we had of the islands we were flitting between were incredible. A large part of this leg was ‘bumpy’ to say the least. Both of us, and some other passengers we spoke with were concentrating on hanging on to our lunch for a good proportion of the trip, especially when in open water. Aside from that, I loved it. What a phenomenal way to travel. More lifetime memories.

The boat dropped off at several other islands – Koh Muk and Koh Kradan being two of them. They looked like places I would definitely like to visit in the future, with long sweeping beaches and hotel huts on the water’s edge.

At just after 1700hrs we arrived at Koh Lipe. It is stunning. There’s no proper jetty here, so we transferred to a smaller boat which could then pull alongside a floating pontoon to disembark. The bikes and luggage followed on behind. Pushing a fully laden touring bike across the white sandy beach felt a bit out of place, and we got some smiles and a couple of comments from people making the most of the beach at sunset.

We had no accommodation booked. A quick google search identified a place on the beach which was almost in our price bracket. We could have gone cheaper, but the temptation to be on the beach was too much. It was also about 100m away. A quick cheeky beer and our cabins were ready. No twin rooms here.

We had a walk down, er, Walking Street, to find a suitable meal in one of the many (very many) eateries. It’s very touristy, but a great atmosphere and good food. Christmas decorations seem out of place here, especially when there’s a ‘fire display’ a few metres away on the beach, but Christmas is only a week away.

Day 96.

Koh Lipe.

I was awake in the middle of the night, having been savaged by mosquitoes. At least that’s what it felt like. A generous application of Jungle Formula and a change of bedding (my own sheet for temperature control!) and I slept until my usual time of 0600hrs. After reading for a while I went to the beach and had a pre-breakfast swim in the warm Andaman Sea. Lovely.

Breakfast was provided at the hotel, and we then headed back into ‘town’, where we booked a snorkelling trip for the afternoon. Steve had said before he got to Thailand that it was on his list of things to do. The rest of the morning was spent relaxing in the shade by the beach, then an early lunch of murtabak (stuffed roti) before meeting at the dive / snorkel shop to be handed some fins.

The long tail boat ride took us to the first snorkelling site. It wasn’t far, but was in the channel between islands and the current was dreadful, in addition to the water not being clear. There were ropes set up to hang on to whilst in the water. Steve had never tried this before and was given absolutely no instruction. He therefore proceeded to take in a lungful of water and lost a fin. Not a great start. The visibility was also rubbish, and I don’t think that there was actually much to see. I don’t know why they bothered with this site at all. We all (9 of us) clambered back on board and moved on.

The second site was much, much better. Shallow, clear, still water, with lots of coral and plenty of fish of all shapes and sizes. Steve was obviously reluctant to get back in after seriously thinking he was going to drown. It took a long time for him to get his pulse back down.

In contrast , I was really enjoying the experience. I’ve snorkelled (a tiny bit) in the Mediterranean before, but never dived and never seen anything like this before. Steve did get back in again briefly, and sensibly stayed near the boat. Site three was even better. More coral and more fish – angelfish, wrasse, parrot fish, butterfly fish, surgeon fish, groupers, and snappers. Along with massive sea urchins and some sea cucumber. The coral was quite brown, but had patches of vibrant colours. Amazing. Between sites, the boat crew served us fresh pineapple and watermelon – tasty and refreshing, and provided the necessary bottles of cold water. The last site was off a beach (Ko Ra Wi) which I thought wouldn’t be as good. I was wrong. The coral was just as spectacular, and there were blue sea stars and comet star fish. Plus a beach to chill out on, with hundreds of hermit crabs scurrying about. Steve should have started here – it would have been perfect.

By the time we returned to Pattaya Beach (Koh Lipe) I was shattered. I haven’t swum that much for years. After a quick refresh, we sat on the beach with a beer and watched the sunset (along with everyone else), then headed off for an early dinner (green curry). Mixed emotions between us today. I had a fantastic day, Steve not so much. I’m not sure he’ll want to repeat the experience.

Day 97.

Ferry from Koh Lipe to Langkawi.

Breakfast at the hotel followed by a casual stroll down the beach to the ferry check in and immigration. Only to find that there’s more than one, and we are clearly at the wrong one. Typical. A further 100m or so of less casually pushing our bikes along the sand and we found the right place. The lady checking in started off being negative. Along the lines of ‘I don’t think they will let you take your bike on the ferry’. Not wholly unexpected, but frustrating all the same. After a quick phone call, she handed us our boarding cards without a word. We waited in the shade, then took a long tail boat out to the ferry, where our bikes were waiting for us.

It was a bigger boat than the others we had taken, and not as full which made everything a bit more comfortable. After a short snooze, we were in Malaysian waters, pulling in to the bay. Disembarking was easy. Border control and customs was even easier. Everyone was really helpful and friendly – a great first impression of Malaysia. The ferry terminal was also really clean, smart and organised, which enhanced the feel-good factor.

Our first stop was to buy tickets to the mainland. They wanted cash, so money changing took priority. On return to the kiosk, a chap from a tourism company gave us more detail, in that the speedboat ferry wants bikes boxed up, whereas the roll-on-roll-off ferry doesn’t. But it’s a different port a few kilometres away. The net result being we didn’t buy tickets, but researched them later and bought tickets on-line. A printing shop in town obliged us with hard copies of the tickets. Result. We hope…

We found a little motel on Google, and registered a 1.46km ride on Strava. Every bit counts! It’s cheap and clean, but a 1km walk into the town centre, which we did later in the afternoon (and found the printers), in order to find some food for an early dinner as we hadn’t had any lunch.

We found a stall on the way back to the motel and had nasi goreng and an iced fruit drink. A quick stop in a supermarket (not 7Eleven for a change) for an ice cream followed. Route planning as far as Kuala Lumpur, and calls to family filled our evening. We’ve made it into Malaysia – more quickly than we anticipated. I’m actually a little bit sad to leave Thailand so soon. It’s been a fantastic couple of weeks, and the time seems to have gone so fast. I look forward to coming back soon.

Day 98.

Langkawi.

No breakfast at the motel, but they sold coffee sachets and cans of orange juice. It’s a start. It was actually a leisurely start, and we wandered into town for about 0930hrs, where we picked up some breakfast buns from a bakery. Reservations for a Grab taxi (SE Asian version of Uber) weren’t straightforward for once, and it took several attempts and about 20 minutes until we got something allocated. Apparently, so we were told, 80% of Grab drivers on Langkawi are boycotting the company today in dispute over pay rates. Just our luck. Once in one, however, it was a pleasant journey up to the cable-car car park where we joined the queue for tickets to the cable-car and Sky Bridge. We then queued again in order to join the first of several queues to get in a gondola.

The views from the cable car itself were stunning. Once at the halfway point we disembarked and spent a bit more money in order to go out on the glass-floored viewing platform. Steve doesn’t like heights. Sadly there was a disappointing lack of panic from him, and overall I think he actually enjoyed the experience. It was quite incredible to be able to see the drop below, as well as the beautiful views all around.

The next cable car took us up to the Sky Bridge. It is an excellent feat of engineering, as it has one support and is curved, and holds several records from an engineering perspective apparently. The hills around the bridge are reputed to be the oldest in South East Asia, dating back 550 million years.

The views from it were brilliant. Not only of Langkawi, but the surrounding islands and back across to Koh Lipe. We were lucky that the weather was so good and the views so clear. The next (higher) stage was another viewing platform with a view down onto the bridge. There was also a café where we grabbed some surprisingly affordable lunch.

Once we were back down, we took the option of walking up the road to the Seven Wells waterfalls. The climb up to them wouldn’t have been too long or steep ordinarily, but in the heat and humidity and after our previous exploits this morning it was quite hard going. We were braced for disappointment as the view of the falls from the cable car looked like they were rather dry. They were, but were still impressive and not disappointing in the least. Unfortunately we had no swimwear with us, so we sat in the shade and cooled down.

Once back (again) in the car park, we didn’t resist the temptation of an ice cream, and messaged our driver from this morning, who drove over to pick us up.

After another accidental snooze back at the motel, we ventured out to the nearest restaurant for dinner. What was described as fried noodles with a bit of sauce was delivered looking more like noodle soup. I got over my initial disappointment as it was very tasty, and a new dish for me.

Early night tonight I think. A long day on my feet, and another ferry day tomorrow, hopefully with some cycling in the afternoon. I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike now. It seems ages since we had a decent ride.