Tokyo -> Lipe and Everywhere in Between

Any good honeymoon has a period of relaxation built in. Actually, normal honeymoons are almost exclusively relaxation-based. We are obviously psychopaths and need to keep ourselves extremely busy the whole time, exploring, eating, seeing, and experiencing. Well, our time in Koh Lipe fit the bill of being both relaxing and adventurous/exciting.

In our search for island relaxation while planning our honeymoon, we searched for a less-touristy place than the islands we had been to previously. We wanted small, quaint, local feeling (that's a stretch in Thailand), different, comfortable, and of course beautiful - but that was a given for any island in the region. After much searching we landed on Koh Lipe - an extremely tiny island on the west side of Thailand that has no history of local life but has been revived exclusively for beachgoers and immigrants willing to serve them. Doesn't sound that authentic, and it kinda wasn't, but it had its own original charm. The locals and foreigners alike stay on the island to help run its many beachfront resorts. These beaches were obviously beautiful but also had properties that went right up to the water, creating incredibly picturesque settings.

This all sounds well and good, but Lipe is NOT easily accessible - hence the adventure. We did not make this easy on ourselves. The trek took an entire day, literally. Primarily because we were coming from Tokyo, but no matter which way you slice it this place is out of the way. The journey began in Tokyo with:

A TRAIN

Two and a half hour train ride from Tokyo to Osaka. It's a long story as to why we didn't actually stay in Osaka/Kyoto at all, which was the original plan. Let's just say it comes down to ryokans being booked and Chinese people. I still got my Shinkansen train ride, though. 

Happy as a clam.

TO ANOTHER TRAIN

In Osaka we had to switch to a regional train bound for Kansai airport (KIX).

We bought "green car class" tickets, which is basically their first class. It was apparently unnecessary on our train from Osaka to KIX. Plenty of leg room. And all other kind of room you can imagine.


We tried taking wide angle selfies, but it wasn't working for some reason.

Jordan got fed up.

Osaka has an impressive metro rail in its own right. I had just long enough in the station to snap a picture.

TO AN AIRPLANE

My favorite bird in the sky - the 747. This on is OLD and you rarely find airlines flying them like this anymore. The galley in business class was actually entirely to the right side (starboard?) of the plane. As in, the left side had seats, and there was a wall separating it from the galley (kitchen) on the right. No windows on the right hand side. Have you ever? None of this mattered, though, because we were in coach for this redeye. Ugh.

It's still the most beautiful thing in the air. 

TO ANOTHER AIRPLANE

The next leg was BKK to HDY (Hat Yai), which I didn't know existed until we planned this trip. It's a remote city in the far south of Thailand that is often used as a transit point for islands, but mostly for locals who live in the area. This flight was obviously short - about 1 hour.

I have to caveat this by saying we went into Bangkok for two hours on our 6 hour layover. Those of you who have been know that it is a long journey from BKK to the city, but we are, of course, nuts. We went to eat at our favorite street, took a motorcycle taxi, a boat ride, and another train back to the airport. A productive day. The only regret I have is the death of my new and adored Samsung phone, which brought you many of the pictures in this blogging run to-date. The silver lining for you is that from this point on I almost exclusively used my Canon DSLR. Prettier pictures! Here's one of them now. Useless to most, but my favorite subject matter. 

BKK is still one of my favorite airports. 

Look how pretty it is! 

I <3 Thailand

Hat Yai is apparently an "international airport." I think there's a flight from Singapore every day or something, but that's about it. BUT, if you have the label, you need the facilities, such as a separate baggage carousel for inbound international luggage. Our flight from BKK was technically international for us because our bags were transiting from Osaka Kansai. We were apparently the only ones - look at our lonely bags on the international belt!

So at Hat Yai we realized our travels were really just beginning...

TO A CAR 

The transit from Hat Yai to the Pak Bara ferry terminal looks unsuspecting on the map. As my mom and dad would say on our cross-country US road trip when I was 12 - "look, it's just one thumb and one pinky away on the map!" (this was obviously before goole maps and directions, so we relied on my all-time favorite printed books - atlases). So yes, Hat Yai is "close" to Pak Bara on the map, but it's just not. Our transfer took about 2 hours, but only thanks to the maniacal speed demon behind the wheel. I wasn't sure we would make it. 

To borrow from Russian Google:

To make matters more dangerous, the taxi drove ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD THE WHOLE TIME. 

TO A BOAT

Koh Lipe is an island, so naturally a boat would be involved in this transit. At Pak Bara we waited an hour or so for the "speedboat" to Koh Lipe. A hodgepodge operation if I ever saw one, but it got us there. Pak Bara is a one-horse town that only exists thanks to the local pier, which we had to pay a fee of 50 baht each to use. The pier was lined with vendors trying to sell what can only be described as these odd selfie-plates. It's basically a picture of you or your face on a board with a map of Koh Lipe in the background and Thai writing all around. Must be a Thai thing. They didn't even try to sell these things to us. 

These are the boards. There are thousands of them already made. It makes me wonder who they were for, because these things are not prepared instantly on the spot. My guess is they take your picture when you pass through, then have it ready for when you come back from the island. Who knows. 

The staff at the ferry terminal dealt with our bags, thank god. That's the speedboat on the right hand side. And those are our bags going down the stairs. 

After a few hours we were finally speedboat-boarded and Lipe-bound! The boat was empty, which I'm told is a rarity during high season. 

The boat was FAST. Check out the three turbo-Hondas and their wake. We bumped and tossed the whole way there - not an easy trip for the weak of stomach, unless you're one of the Thai that frequent the island and drink beer the whole way. 

Thanks to those Thai people, we got some good pictures of ourselves!

The scenery on this boat was something special. Beached boat at Pak Bara port:

Distant islands and perfect water. 

Large islands that remind me of Lantau. But what doesn't remind me of Hong Kong??

After about an hour and a half I was done with the scenery. I was ready to get off. The outline of Lipe could not have come at a better time!

So here is the car/boat journey in a nutshell... with one omission...

TO YET ANOTHER BOAT

So Koh Lipe doesn't have a pier. It doesn't have anything, really. You have to board a long-tail boat to get from the speedboat to land, with a little knee-deep wading in the middle. It only cost an extran 50 baht! (each)

After some sardine-ing, we were all aboard, bags included. 

The boat ride was short. You can see the distance here. 

Jordan and our luggage posing while I precariously took a picture with my extremely expensive camera.

Thanks, longtail! The driver took our luggage off and plopped it in the sand on the beach. Thanks driver! 

TO A..."TAXI?"

The longtail transfer was actually kinda fun because we were prepared for it, but I don't think the others were. What we weren't prepared for was being dropped off at a completely different side of the island than we were scheduled to be at. Apparently "high winds" kept us from Pattaya beach and forced us onto Sunrise beach. We had to call our hotel and figure it out. They quickly dispatched their "taxi." The taxi is a dirt bike with a sidecar. It was cute and got the job done. 

 

We made friends with our driver, who we used probably 50 more times throughout the week. He was so adorable! So was the little sign with my name on it - they even spelled it right! 

So let's recap, with departure times:

Tokyo (5PM) - Osaka (7PM) - Kansai (11:30PM) - Bangkok (11AM +1day) - Hat Yai (1PM) - Pak Bara (3:30PM) - Middle of the Bay (5:30PM) - Hotel Arrival (6PM)

That's a whole day of travel. But it was worth it. This is what we arrived to:

Welcome drink

A gorgeous room:

Honeymoon Swans!

With gorgeous views. No, jaw-dropping, epic, honeymoon-worthy views. 

Panoramic from the room:



Other room views:

Balcony views - that's sunset beach in the distance. 

Crystal clear shallow snorkeling waters at our feet. 

And finally, epic sunsets. I will do another post about the island and the various scenes, but here is one to whet your whistle. 

Thailand is awesome. Koh Lipe is no exception. Well worth the day it took to get here. Let the relaxation begin!