It's been a whole year since I've updated this blog. Why does time past so fast when you are older?
Anyway, updating all my trips so far this year.
First was Hatyai & Koh Lipe, Thailand.
Took the Sri Maju bus from Singapore at Golden Mile complex, cost was S$45. Bus left at 7:30pm. It was a 13 hour journey. This was my third time going by bus to Hatyai. I did not managed to sleep much even though the bus was very comfortable. It's weird, on normal days in Singapore when I take the public buses, I always doze off and miss my stops but on a luxury coach with reclining seats and close to north pole air conditioning, I Just Can't Sleep!! Geez...
Reached Hatyai around 9:30am the next day. Weather was super hot. Hatyai is well known for it's hot weather. Check in to my usual cheapo retro hotel at S$24 per night.
Did the usual shopping eating and foot massages. Went with a muslim friend this time round and he was grinning ear to ear as almost every food place was halal. Before the trip even started, he was already planning another trip with his family, hahaha!!
Koh Lipe was a 2 hour mini Van ride to the jetty and another 2 hour boat ride to the island.
The ride was quite taxing. Upon reaching the island we did not dock immediately on the island. Instead we docked on a floating platform about a hundred meters away from the shore. We had to queue to pay for National Nature reserve fees and a taxi boat ride to the island. We were not notified of this prior to our trip by the agency. Later on, upon reaching the island, we scouted for a hotel for a nights stay. We managed to get a pretty nicely decorated interior hotel. From the hotel staff, we found out that the nature reserve fees and taxi boat ride only started this year in 2016!! Crap!!
This island was very commercial, lots of Europeans & Americans, lots of hipster cafes, dive centers, basically, Crowded.It's a shame though because the waters are crystal clear!!! The waters are really really clear. The snorkelling was great. I didn't have much time though as we had to depart at around 1:30pm back to the mainland. The boat ride back was on a speed boat and it took only an hour.
We stayed at Hatyai for the remaining few days and another round of eating, shopping and foot massages. Here are the rest of the photos.
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