#11 Koh Lipe— checked!

Hey ssup? Assalamualaikum yall. So post kali ni, I'm going to share a lil bit abt our short notice kinda vacation— of Koh Lipe since ramai dm tanya abt itinerary and budget so here it is, kita share mana kita tahu, hope it helps! So basically this trip is trip aci redah, sebenarnya dh lama umi habaq, of nak p somewhere masa cuti aidiladha, we often go for vacations during raya haji since dh takde kampung nak balik, so yas, tapi semorang cam chill je lek lek sebab ingat tak jadi. Haha lol plan sebenarnya nak p Lombok pastu divert p Koh Samui, kita ni gigih lah research pasal budget semua, as always, since trip South Korea pun kita prepare itinerary and all, then all of sudden, a day before p, abah kata divert lagi, kita p Koh Lipe. Maka, berciciranlah anak anak mu p survey how to go there, hotel, transportation, budgets and all. It was so random, sehari before baru cari SEMUA. Like literally semua. A day before tu jugaklah berpuluh tab dibuka, and malam before p baru booking hotel hahaha lmao

Oh, btw Koh is Thailand bermaksud Island. So basically its Lipe Island. It can be reached by air, naik flight smpai Hatyai, ambik transit van, or boat from Pak Bara pier or Langkawi (tp low season ferry from langkawi takde tau) and by car. Kitorang p by car. We love to travel by car, and we're blessed by having a parents who loves travelling yang aci redah, takkisah by any kind of transportation, we've been to Thailand by train before, 12 jam dorg still lek, so alhamdulillah for that. Kira boleh gang ah. Trip aci redah paling best. Ingat nak redah walk in hotel dkt island tp bila fikir balik and suddenly jmpe a proper place to stay, teruih booking. Lg satu best by car is boleh sesuka hati extend and p tempat yang takde pun dlm itinerary, again, randomly. Hewhew.,

Wang Kelian border

So kitorang gerak at 5 am on 30th august, we arrived at Wang Kelian border by 11 am kut, lepas settle custom and immigration, settle kereta semua, maka masuklah kitorang dalam Thailand. Oh, better masuk from here, one, sebab tak apcked so u dont have to literally buang masa beratur sbb tak ramai mcm border lain, second, sebab from border to Pak Bara is less than an hour, dekat ja, third, sebab the scenery, its so beautiful— if you're a nature lover as I am, suka tgk gunung, hijau and all, u shud lalu here. Dkt kaki bukit, perlis tu masya allah lawa sangat. Dont forget to singgah its lookout point, lawa sangat! 

Lookout point of Kaki Bukit, Perlis

Okay kalau korang masuk from Wang Kelian, route korang cani— Wang Kelian - Satun - Pak Bara (pier) - Koh Lipe. From border Satun is like 30 mins je, boleh singgah makan there. Senang nak cari muslim food, sana majoriti muslims. Pak Bara is like less than an hour from there, and makan dekat Pak Bara is sooooooo nice. Kitorang pernah p Pak Bara last year in Dec, by car too, semata nak makan. Trust me, its all worth it. Murah and fresh gila. Thts why we dont mind to repeat and come again just to eat. Dia ada banyak gila kedai, u just need to try SEMUA. Haha lol no, but if u got extra budget, pls do so. U won't regret it.

Okay this is our fav kedai, if korang p, cari kedai ni, nama dia Nawa seafood. Worth every cents. U won't regret it, boleh makan sambil bersila dkt bamboo hut dia, facing the beach smbil tengok sunset. Gitu. Range harga dia? Murah. Crab fried rice dia 60 bath ja, kitorg biasa buang 0 dekat belakang, so kalau 60 bath kitorg kira lumpsum rm6 je. Bersepah ketam. Andddd one thing that you always need to try bila p Thailand is its Cha - yen, dap terok! Murah gila omg I can die if duk lelama dkt sini, teh ais besor ni just cost you 35 baht, RM3.50 mana nak dpt dkt Malaysia?

Cha - yen yums!

Kay since kitorg smpai Pak Bara tengahari gitu, we decided to lepak one night, p survey ferry apa semua, esok baru gerak Lipe. Maka, kami walk in lah p cari hotel, luckily got one, maybe sbb low season, so boleh redah. Aku sembang rate backpack la eh? Sbb major member nak p backpack, if korg nak stay sini (Pak Bara), rege dia affordable allahu— kalau budget traveller, nak backpacking style, sorang dlm RM30/night pun dh dapat, and cozy gila. Tu apa yang aku survey lah rege dia. Kalau nak mewah, berlambak je, mcm aku, aku tkkisah ngat, asal toilet dia okay, and selesa, and aku boleh spend more nights being there, aku on je. Kata backpack, ye idok?

Okay nak ke Koh Lipe, kita akan naik ferry from Pak Bara pier, from guesthouse aku, dekat sangat that boleh jalan kaki je. From apa aku survey, better korg walk in beli tiket ferry/speedboat sebab boleh dpt cheaper. So far before p kitorg survey mmg 650 baht/one way. Luckily kitorg tak beli online, kitorg walk in tp risky sikit la if korg p masa high season, takut takde ticket. Ha high season starts on Nov sampai May, so p la bulan lain kay. And aku rasa masa high season rate mmg 650 baht/way and 1200 baht/return, fixed. Aku p haritu kitorg dpt 900 baht/return per person, which is way more cheaper. Kitorg beli from Prasan World Tour (www.prasanworldtour.com), dia punya building belah kanan, kalau korg dtg dr kl/satun. But advisable if nak walkin usha rate, better p pagi, sbb kitorg haritu sebbaek sempat, 4 pm semua dh tutup haha lol 

So long story short, kitorg ambik speedboat plg awal, which is 9.30 am, journey from Pak Bara pier to Koh Lipe dlm 1.5 hrs so be ready, if jenis mabuk laut, tabah jelah. Tp kitorg mmg kaki laut, so mmg fun for us. There's something we didn't know— that we gonna land on a floating jetty hahah lmao pandai deme buat business kan, so bila dh smpai Lipe, u have to ride on the long tail boat to reach the island, tak jauh pun, its 50 baht/person. P balik dh 100 baht, kitorg berenam, bila aci redah benda ceni ah kena prepare, emergency money kena always ada k?

Floating jetty

For this trip, we're staying at Salisa Resort, its located at the Sunrise beach of Lipe, korang boleh survey dkt booking.com or trivago. Its soooooo good, rasa nak pindah duk sana haha erm for accomodation dkt Lipe, banyak sebenarnya, and ada jugak jenis dorm, jenis capsule, kita nak survey pun lenguh kaki berjalan sbb banyak sangat haha so again, sila lah p masa low season, kalian boleh dgn senang hatinya jalan mencari hotel mengikut hati and budget. For Salisa Resort, bilik haritu around RM350/night, tp ni p dgn family, so kitorang ambik 2 bilik, kalau p dgn member cari yg RM50/night pun dh okay, cari yang capsule, dorm pun dah okay, meh, korg bukan p sana nak tidoq manjang kan?

What's infront of your eyes

For foods, muslim foods, as for me limited sikit, idk maybe sbb kitorg p masa raya haji so banyak tutup, ada one night tu mmg takde langsung kedai, ada pun satu and ramaaaaai sangat so kitprg fedup and balik makan maggi haha lol tp foods dia rege mahal sikit la, biasa lah pulau kan. Kalau ala carte, cam nasi goreng ke apa, range dlm RM10 - 15 sepinggan. Cha-yen (teh ais) takyah habaq, RM5. Mahai. Beli dkt mainland ja. Jangan pulau. But what's good abt Thailand is barang dkt 7e dia MURAH GILA, pernah masuk 7e single receipt RM100 beli benda tahpape? We did that. Hahaha cius, takleh tahan nafsu nak beli semua benda. Murah sangat. Spicy korean ramen tu, RM4 ja sebungkus dkt sana. Sini RM7, meh.

Okay selesai bab makan, bab snorkeling pulak, ha ni pun kau boleh je walk in, takyah serabut pikir, sbb bersepah dkt sana. Pilih ja, harga starts from 400baht/person sampai 900 baht, korang letak jelah bajet 1000 baht (RM100) for snorkle. Pilih sendiri package apa korang nak. Tp haritu, again, sbb low season, kitorg dpt 400 baht/person includes lunch, mineral water and gears. Muraaaah. Again, p lah masa low season, org pun tak ramai. Lipe ni ada 3 beaches, Sunrise beach, Sunset beach and Pattaya beach. Boleh jalan kaki je, no worries. Banyak je benda boleh buat here, try lah massage, p snorkle, makan, main dengan dogs (dogs bersepah here but don't worry, dorg jinak bak hang). Lipe got walking streets, p lah jenjalan memalam. Best.

Kitorg p Lipe for 3d2n, at first plan nak p 4 days but divert last minute sbb nak lepak Pak Bara bcs we kinda miss the food. What's funnier is balik from Lipe, kitorg extend lg sehari, it was random, tak plan, so officially kitorg 5 hari dkt Thailand. It was a good experience, sambung raya dkt negara org, where Muslims are minority, dengaq khutbah in Siam + Arab. Best! Oh btw the currency might be differ tau, sbb kitorg selalu convert gitu je, tp haritu dh naik, 100 baht is RM12.80, so agak agak je tau. Roughly budget kitorang for Lipe, tapi ni for low season tau, is on—

transportation from KL - Pak Bara                     minyak kereta + tol - RM500 kut
speedboat from Pak Bara to Koh Lipe                900 baht/return - RM90/person
long tail boat                                                            100 baht/return - RM10/person
accomodation                                                           13000 baht w breakfast for 2 nights 
snorkeling trip                                                         400 baht/trip - RM40/person

Kalau nak kira per person, and for backpacking trip, korang kena prepare roughly RM100 (paling murah) for boats to Koh Lipe, return, RM100 for snorkeling (boleh pilih package), accomodation around RM60 (600 baht)/night, and this exclude foods (pepandai sendiri) and transport nak ke Pak Bara.  Lagi satu, abt wifi, korg boleh beli simcard, RM30, unlimited wifi kut, and don't worry, Thailand nowadays bersepah wifi. laju nokharom pula tu. Weh penat bebel, so basically that's it. Apa lagi nak tau boleh comment or email kita at nawalshuhada@gmail.com or dm je dkt ig/twitter. Kut nak p ke, nak tau pape ke. Ciao.

With love, from Koh Lipe.