What A Great Year, Indeed!

The year 2010 had been a tremendous blessing to me. I sailed through the year with conviction that I did pretty okay in my career, my social life and my home and family life. I felt this way after a brief moment in self-reflection mode. I am very happy with my accomplishment in these areas, at least, by my own definition and, by no means, I meant arrogance.

I could have done more in terms of learning more new things, read a couple more books and write a few more entries to my blog. Nonetheless, I feel quite contented and blessed throughout the year. May the year 2011 be another great year to continue this great blessing, not only to me, but to everyone. Let's stay positive! Happy New Year!

Koh Lipe : The Real Island Paradise

Koh Lipe, dubbed as the Maldives of Thailand is indeed an island paradise. Far from being qualified as unspoiled, I would considered Lipe as quite commercialised already. By that definition, I mean, the standard of accommodations, the number of hotels and resorts, eateries, the standard of the tour operators, the massage services etc..

Well,to make Lipe sound more remote and exotic, I would say, it still hasn't had any ATM machines or banks in sight. The walking street still remain untarred for most of its pathways and you can still see plenty of long-tail boats used for fishing and for more economic reasons, as taxi boats. I personally think that the motor behind these boats kills off the very charm of the boats.

To start our journey, we took a flight from KL to Langkawi. Air Asia seemed to be the answer to our travel destinations these days. Starting off in the wee hours of the morning, our senses were woken by the deliciously hot and spicy nasi lemak, arguably, Malaysians' favourite for breakfast. In less than an hour flight time, we began descending into Langkawi International Airport. Instantly, we dashed to the duty-free shop to purchase some wines. We bought a bottle of Sancerre and a bottle of Coonowarra Merlot.

With about half and hour before our ferry to Lipe scheduled to depart, we quickly get hold of a taxi and we had to constantly remind him of our press on time. Like any island folks, people tend to take things a little too easy here. Telaga Harbour is fortunately, only about 15 minutes away from the airport. I must give credit to our driver.

We boarded the ferry with only nine of us onboard, six passengers and three crewmembers. From afar, we should see Koh Lipe and Koh Adang ahead of us and Koh Tarutao slightly on our right. We were very impressed by the ferry ride, mainly due to the easiness of not having to worry about our luggages. The entire ride was blessed with calm water.

In less than an hour ferry ride, we then transfered to a long-tail boat to go to the shore. We were greeted by a local who spoke to us in Malay. We were then directed to the immigration booth to collect our passports, which were required to be surrendered at Telaga Harbour. We thought, it's so cool to be the immigration officers here, as the beach is just right in front of the office. The officers were not clad in uniform to our amazement!

We quickly took notice of the map directory and began finding our way to Castaway, a boutique bungalow by the beach. Like any first-timers, we would most likely make the mistakes in finding the best route. Yes, we actually went through puddles of water from Pattaya Beach to Sunrise Beach. Along our way, we saw the ugly side of the island which seriously lacks proper waste management. We saw how locals living with stagnant water and rubbish around the courtyard. We began to doubt the beauty of Lipe, which is what it's known for.

Finally, we checked in to our wooden bungalow and were quite pleased with the amenities and ambience. It reminded us of kampung living, which I lack the experience due to where I come from. I regard myself very much of a city gal. Hence, I would not fail to bring with me, my extensive range of toileteries and comfort snacks, whenever I could. If I could get comfortable here, means, it has to have a sitting toilet and a comfortable bed. We had both in Castaway.

We strolled along Sunrise Beach and tried getting ourselves acquainted with the walking street. We particularly enjoyed the Thai Pancake and Blended Thai Iced Milk Tea. The free wi-fi service by Castaway was a real bonus and we sat at the verandah together with Castaway's signature prawn crackers and great tasting chili paste. We washed it all down with Singha and a perfectly chilled Sauvignon Blanc. To top it up, we had a fantastic view of the beach and the soothing sound of the waves. This is officially declared as paradise!

The next day, we ventured to Pattaya Beach and Sunset Beach. To start our day, we dined at what seemingly the most popular breakfast joint alond the walking street. We had all our breakfast at this joint throughout our 4-day stay here. The crowd was an interesting bunch, mostly Caucasians couples and families. We also did some shopping and snorkelling. It felt good to snorkel with our own gear where everything fits well.

We also did some trekking uphill to find a very secluded beach called Billa. We made it there but had to beware of the mosquitoes. Billa beach was indeed tiny and guarded by a friendly dog. We only spotted two persons here.

As food played a significant part of our travel this time, we stuffed ourselves with different varieties of Thai-style curries. Our staples were mostly phad thai and tom yum. I was more into the place to dine as most restaurants offered identical menu. We were very delighted with mango sticky rice for dessert.

Another notable discovery is the Mountain Resort. It offers the best beach around, in our opinion. As Lipe is a small island, I think we would have walked the entire walk-able parts of the island. We were still stunned by the lack of popularity among Asians to this island as the Caucasians made the majority of the visitors here.

We made a pledge to come back to Lipe whenever we could spare some time off at work. Well, we made that pledge with conviction while sitting at Mountain Resort's restaurant overlooking Koh Adang. Well, as there are still so many places to venture, we felt that Koh Lipe is the most relaxing beach holiday we have ever had...