Day 11 Arrival on Ko Lipe

I was looking forward to this island the most. It is also known as the Maldives of Thailand. I wanted to really unwind here and just lie on the beach for a few days and let my mind wander.

But first I had to get there.

My speedboat left Ko Phi Phi for Ko Lipe in the late morning. The nice young man who picked me up by “cab” at the harbor a few days ago took me back to the harbor this morning. He unloaded my luggage directly at the meeting point. I checked in, got a sticker back on my T-shirt and more stickers for my rucksacks. This way, the staff know immediately whether you are on the right boat and the luggage is loaded correctly. I still had a bit of time, so I went to the 7Eleven around the corner and bought my breakfast. A toasted sandwich, of course, a super tasty banana milk, water and another sandwich for the road.

The staff carry your luggage to the boat, so you don't really have to worry about anything. Then we set off. A total of four long hours on the speedboat. The weather was a bit changeable, the sea a bit choppy and there were also a few raindrops. The engines are incredibly loud and the constant vibrations caused by the breaking waves were quite exhausting. Without ear pods to suppress the noise, I wouldn't have been able to stand it so well. The weather became even more unsettled and then it started to rain briefly. The boats are not completely closed, so the rain and spray came in. Many of us were soaked. Fortunately, at well over 30 degrees it didn't matter, but it was still unpleasant.

There is no direct connection to Ko Lipe. So we made a stopover in Ko Lanta. The luggage was reloaded by the staff and we only had a few minutes before we had to leave again. Similar boat, similar situation.

And now I'll tell you what I haven't told anyone yet.

Shortly before I left Germany, there was an incident at sea on this very route with this speedboat company. It sank. I had seen this video on Tiktok and just thought, you can't tell anyone about this! Many people were already worried that I was traveling to Thailand alone with my backpack and if I told them about the speedboat that sank, they wouldn't let me go or thought I was completely crazy.

But I can reassure you all. I can swim well... hahaaaa

No, seriously. We actually all had to wear life jackets. However, it was not required on every route and every speedboat. A few days later back to Ko Lanta, for example, no one instructed us to wear the life jackets. It was up to you to decide what to do.

After a wild ride over the waves, we docked in much better weather, our luggage was unloaded and we took it ashore via this blue, floating plastic jetty that looks like the one in this video here. You can see these jetties everywhere here. They rock a little ;)

Here again, friendly hotel staff were waiting for their guests with their signs. I was slowly becoming a pro. I kept an eye out early on and found my guide.

There are no cars on Ko Lipe, just like on Ko Phi Phi. But there were small mopeds and scooters with sidecars. However, they are not available for tourists to hire.

It was exciting!

When I arrived at the hotel, I checked in and my luggage was already in my room when I was shown to it. I had treated myself to a great room, my birthday present to myself!

OMG! What a view from my room! I was thrilled. A huge bed, a huge bathroom and a great balcony with a view of the turquoise blue sea. It was a good decision and I was simply thrilled!

I settled in a little and then went to the hotel restaurant-bar-breakfast-café. It was just a covered terrace with an incredible view of the sea and was used for everything.

I had arrived.

My paradise.

This was what I had imagined and it made me really happy!

I enjoyed this moment. The moment when you realize you've done everything right. What a great decision to take this trip, this island and everything I've experienced so far.

I sat here for quite a while, just looking at the horizon and with lots of thoughts running through my head.

What beautiful places there are in this world!

I changed my clothes and made my way along the beach in one direction.

You might need to know that this island is only 3.5 km² in size. You can walk from one end to the other in just under half an hour. So you can't get lost here! You can either walk here or take a cab boat. You can find them everywhere.

My hotel was right on Sunrise Beach and I wanted to go to the famous Pattaya Beach.

So I strolled along this paradisiacal beach and took a completely relaxed sunbath on Pattaya Beach.

Dreamlike!

I felt like I had arrived at my destination. I can't really describe it. Maybe I can go into it more in the next posts.

I enjoyed the pleasant sea, the warm sand that looked like powdered sugar, listened to my music in my ear and just let my mind wander.

On the way back, I passed a huge tree on the beach. It was a real invitation to sit in the shade and look out to sea. This is where I created and uploaded my Tiktok for today. I had uploaded almost the entire trip as “Thailand Diaries” on Tiktok.

The hunger was coming on. I walked the last few meters back to my room, showered and got ready to explore the other side of the island. It was dark by now and I headed towards “Walking Street”. There are lots of restaurants, bars, cafés and small stores here. At the end you arrive on the other side of the island, Pattaya Beach. Unfortunately, I missed the sunset today, but I bought some delicious fried skewers with spicy marinated seafood and strolled along here. I'm happy to repeat myself, it tasted soooo delicious! I knew straight away how much I would miss this food in Germany!

There are some nice bars along the beach and one immediately appealed to me. There was already a fire show and great music playing. I looked for a nice spot and ordered a cocktail. You don't treat yourself to anything else...

Streetfood

Streetfood

Cocktail

It was very entertaining in this bar, I could have sat here forever.

I made a few video calls with my loved ones and then it was really late. The day was a bit exhausting due to the journey and so I made my way back.

That should be enough for today. I felt very relaxed, as I had planned several days here. Almost a week. A week without much to see and without much sightseeing. These were the days of absolute relaxation.

Conclusion of the day:

When I saw the pictures of this island and booked my hotel, I just hoped that it would look at least a little like all the photos I had seen on the internet. We all know that the pictures often look more dreamlike than it really is in reality. So I didn't come here with any great or precise expectations. I generally like to let everything come to me a little and try to approach everything as openly as possible. And that was exactly the right attitude.