05 to 06 Dec Island hopping

After the wonderful beach day the day before, another one followed on Wednesday, because once you've started, you can't just stop on such a dream island like Koh Lipe. Nevertheless, we had planned a slightly more active day and wanted to walk from our hostel at the east end of the island to a viewpoint at the west end of the island, which is a maximum of 2.5 kilometers long. The path was even very hilly and not easy to walk under the heat. It led us further and further into a thicket and later simply stopped in the middle of the undergrowth - yes, thanks for this great view at that point.

So we went back to the flatter part of the island, where the beaches promising cooling down were located. Originally, we also planned to rent a kayak, but Andra got burnt pretty badly on Tuesday and such a tour alone wouldn't have been much fun. Besides, it would have been much more exhausting and really, one shouldn't overdo it in such a beautiful place... That's enough for our "active" part of the day.

It was already advanced noon and we went back to our calmer bay and enjoyed the sea and the sun. However, when we went to this bay, the tide was still coming in, so we had to scramble over a few sharp rocks of a cliff without shoes, where we could still wade through shallow water yesterday.

In the afternoon, Andra sought refuge from her sunburn in the coolness of the hostel, while I continued to enjoy the coziness of the beach. However, it didn't last long, because suddenly it was completely dark and foggy and a rainstorm poured down on the island. Luckily, there was a small nearby and open restaurant, where I waited out the rain with a German girl from our hostel. Watching the rapidly rising and falling fog and rain from the dryness was cozy, but it was also quickly over, so the sun dared to come out again.

...follows the sun

Andra soon came back and joined us. It quickly became dark and we couldn't see much of our way on the beach on the way back. But we saw a natural phenomenon that we had already seen on Koh Rong in Cambodia: bioluminescent plankton. This time, however, we were not in the water, but on the beach and had to walk around on the strip wetted by the sea to see the small blue glowing dots.

So the last day on this wonderful island came to an end and the next day we had to pack our things and say goodbye to this beautiful place on earth. We will miss the clear and turquoise water, but we will still be by the sea for the next few days and can continue to enjoy it there.

So we took the speedboat back to the mainland and from there continued to the island of Koh Lanta by van and ferry. Once again, the weather was incredibly bad when we arrived, so an evening exploration was canceled. But funny enough, we met two American girls again, whom we met on Cat Ba Island in Vietnam and who are now staying in the same hostel as us in the far south of Thailand. It's sometimes really funny how many people you meet again on this journey - ultimately, the world is smaller than you think. With the two from San Francisco, we first played a game together and then went out to eat together. I enjoyed my most delicious meal of this trip: grilled Thai chicken with papaya salad and baked potato. It was so good and so delicious - perfect for St. Nicholas Day. I hope in Germany it was also a beautiful day with clean and well-filled boots.