This is Koh Lipe
A tiny Thai island adrift in the Andaman sea, Koh Lipe is licentiously beautiful. Any muppet with a Nikon – such as I – can take a fabulous shot of the tropical island. Honestly, it’s a piece of piss! Switch on your camera, point in any direction, and shoot. The envy of your friends is assured.
A typical longtail boat on Koh Lipe
In the evenings the Adaman pulls the tide back miles from shore, leaving the longtail armada stranded flaccidly in the sand. The island’s locals, tourists, and stray beach-dogs wade out into the shallows to peer down at the sea life below. Sunset is a blaze of reds and oranges giving the place an ethereal feel.
Some young lads fishing for crabs…
Nemo!
(The following expert was taken from “Island Hopping the Andaman Sea” featured on 10mag.com, and printed in their July 2014 issue)
“…I’ve never arrived in a country quite like the way we arrived in Thailand. Our ferry blasted us across from Malaysia’s Langkawi to Thailand’s most southern island, Koh Lipe in two hours. We docked on what turned out to be a floating platform way out from the shore. After we were piled off the ferry, a couple of shirtless Thai lads managed to cram all 50 passengers onto two much smaller longtail boats (which are – for anybody unfamiliar with Thailand – 15 foot wooden vessels with elongated pole-like engines sticking out the back).
We sped towards Koh Lipe’s south beach, but the boat came to a stop before reaching the sand and a small ladder was slung over the side. Our skipper gestured at us to jump overboard into the sea and to walk through the surf up to the beach. After our bags were thrown onto the sand, the skipper’s eight-year-old son led us all to a small shack where an official (in a t-shirt and shorts!) stamped us into Thailand. More accustomed with the Orwellian immigration procedures of Korea and the U.K., I was both shocked and deeply moved by the lack of officialdom and relaxed attitude of it all. This is how everyone should be greeted into a country: not with bleak queues to surly officials, but with sunglasses, sand between your toes, and wide toothy smiles….”
Anyways, enough words…
Our bungalow; Beautiful but the cockroaches were rather curious
Here’s google to show you where Koh Lipe is! Get yourself there
Love these pictures, man! It might’ve been a piece of piss, but you’ve got some quality shots. The dog in the water with the boats in the background is my favorite (also love that title btw). The portrait-shot of the moored boat and the shot of the Buddha’s head are great as well.
Thanks a lot, Nathan! It was ridiculously beautiful there