Day 34 - Friday, March 18 - Ko Lipe

Had a great night sleep in my bare bones basic bungalow even though the generators were shut down at 3AM and the fan stopped. I woke up a bit sticky but it was a tropical stick so it actually felt good. I knew a little swim would replace the stick with a layer of salt so off to the water I went. The water was completely still and crystal clear. I was able to see everything on the bottom of the ocean floor even at 6 or 7 feet deep and probably even deeper but I turned back. There were fish of all colors and sizes swimming at my feet and I had to pinch myself to see if I was still alive. The water on Ko Lipe blows Lanta away.

Got out, dried off and the stick was now replaced with salt. The only problem with this I've realized is that all the stray dogs like to lick your feet as you walk around - the price you pay for taking a shower in the ocean I guess.

I walked around the island, familiarized myself with the paths that lead from our side at Andaman to the other side of the island called Pattaya Beach. In order to walk from my side to Pattaya, you have to walk through a little local village which was pretty amazing. It's weird to think these people are living in the center of an island surrounded by vacationers and travellers who trample through their world every second of every day to get from one side of the island to another. There are no roads so you just sort of make your way through the dusty dirty paths in front of people's homes and chicken coups. There are chickens, dogs, cats, pigs, and even monkeys on the loose just wandering around. People are bathing on their front porchs, swinging in hammonks suspended from the bottom of their huts (Thais build their houses on stilts and almost all have at least 3-5 feet from the ground to the floor boards of their homes). I suddenly realized that my basic beach bungalow at Andaman for 400 baht was actually a 5 star resort with the finest amenities around. After all, my bungalow had a toilet bowl in lieu of a squat toilet. Granted, there was no flush on the toilet, but the Thai way of flushing a toilet has grown on me and I'm now an expert. In order to "flush" a Thai toilet, you take the small bucket that sits beside the toilet under a little spiget, fill the bucket with water and pour it in the toilet. After 3 pail fulls of water, the toilet is clean and ready to go for the next brave soul.

Pattaya was a bit more populated and there are more restaurants and bars along the beach. It had more of a Lanta feel than the side we are staying on. The water is clearer on our side but the sand at Pattaya was INCREDIBLE. It was literally like walking on flour unlike the course sand on our beach. I wasn't crazy about the sand at Andaman as although classified as sand and not rock, if the pieces of shell and coral were any bigger, it would be painful to walk on.

This island is great. I love not seeing cars, taxi's, and tuk tuks. If you want to get from point A to B, there are 2 choices - foot or a water taxi but foot was easier. It was certainly possible to walk around the entire island in less than an hour.

As I left Pattaya, and walked another path over to our side, I ran into a young Swiss couple I met in Pai. It still amazes me that I'm running into the same people even 4 weeks later in a completely different part of the country. I sat with them, talked about our travels and after an hour, got on my way back to Andaman.

Back at Andaman, I found empty beaches. Where was everyone? It was noon. Was it possible they all melted from the heat? I then realized they were all sitting on their porches, hanging around in their hammocks, and sleeping. It's way too hot to sit on the beach all day long like I'm accustomed to doing on other island vacations.

I hung my own hammock that I bought while waiting for the boat to Tarutao and found a whole new paradise. How have I lived without my own hammock this whole time? Needless to say, I fell asleep for an hour or so and woke up for a swim. I found the Easau's (Marlow, Les, and Logan) at Mountain Resort having lunch and I joined them.

They called this place Paradise but I knew I had my own Paradise back on Lanta so I secretly named this place Eden. After they ate, we went for a swim, and I took them to Pattaya to see the other side of the island. We had lunch at Varin and swam again. On the way back to Andaman we found Banana Tree restaurant. They have a great gimmick here. You sit on mats on the floor at low tables, eat dinner and watch the movie of the night on a small television set up in the bamboo thatched wall. The movie of the night was National Treasure. We made a "plan" to come back later.

On the way back to Andaman we found a soccer (football) game in progress at the school in the village. We hung around, took some photos, and headed back. I think this was the big event of the Friday evening as it seemed that all the locals were here watching and cheering on their respective team.

After a nice sunset on the beach with some rum and coke, we got out of our wet bathing suits and headed to Banana Tree. The food was great. I had chicken with vegetables and cashews served inside a carved out pineapple. They served the fruit of the pineapple on the side. The presentation as well as the food was pretty great. The movie, on the other hand, wasn't as good but certainly entertaining at best.

Back on our side of the island, we went to Jeff's bar for a drink and went to bed. Today was pretty amazing. Can it be that Lipe is even better than Lanta? I'll have to ponder that thought as I sleep off the day.