One remaining place on bucket list – Koh Lipe , Southern Thailand
01-Aug-2025
Category: News Stories
As many of you will know I am most certainly a travel veteran. I first started travelling to South East Asia in the mid 70’s (that is 1970, not 1870 but I do get confused occasionally). I have visited all of the countries on a regular basis, indeed Bali, Singapore and Thailand all well into three figures.
And I still have great affection for the region, and occasionally find something new to experience beyond a hotel opening. For example couple of years ago I was invited to the Sarawak Rainforest Music festival. Incredible – artists from around the world plus local musicians playing rock & jazz on tribal instruments. Three stages with a dense forest back-drop. Always wanted to attend and it was great and exceed all expectations. Only downside was travelling with Sam Collins from Best at travel. Now Sam is on the tall side of tall, and even more so in this area, so back of the crowd close to the bar is no problem for him, bit more for me!
Such experiences are unique. And for me seeing the musical fusion of cultures & influences just added to it. Way back in time Singapore had a couple of bands who played rock on traditional Malay & Chinese instruments, amazing stuff.
Exploring the incredible temples of Angkor, Cambodia, as a Vespa pillion passenger. I had visited several times but this took excitement to a different level. Country pathways rather than roads, ducking to avoid low hanging branches and going into the temples in reverse order to the majority of tourists. Plus whilst on this I have done the Vespa tours around the backstreets of Saigon numerous times, amazing.
There are a couple of things I would like to try again. Zip wiring across the forests in Chiang Mai, or river rafting in Ubud Bali. Exhilarating to an extreme. I was not convinced either was covered on my insurance at the time, but I am now, disadvantage of old age and maybe even more unkindly weight!
I am fortunate that occasionally I get to travel with my much younger family and things I take for granted or seen it / done it are instant wow to others. Just a few examples based on travel few months back – exploring Phi Phi Islands, Lake Camp at Elephant Hills, Wat Arun Temple Bangkok along with river travel point to point, and me being introduced to yet another newly opened roof top bar. Sometimes I almost forget how privileged I have been, and still are. Seen so much but always good to see the first time thrill of others.
So lets go back to the opening. Koh Lipe, located in the extreme south of Thailand. It is being developed but slowly – at the moment, hope it stays that way. Currently just accessed by ferry from Hat Yai, or Langkawi in Malaysia which is even closer, just 90 minutes. The best time to visit is November to May – June to October usually has high seas and ferries cancelled – as I have found from experience in trying to reach Lipe on several occasions. Maybe next time I will be successful. One of my colleagues at Chic has visited before me, unusually, so see our feature https://chiclocations.com/chic-hotel/the-irene-luxury-beach-pool-villa-resort-koh-lipe-thailand/ on our suggested resort
