Readme before you journey
https://www.facebook.com/IWouldGoAnywhereForYou/
For this trip, I initially planned to find a long weekend of 4-5 days, take a free train to Hat Yai District, Songkhla Province, to travel to Koh Lipe, Satun Province. On the way back, I also intended to take the free train back (according to the schedule, it takes no less than 18 hours for each trip, and the free train is notorious for not being on time. I myself was caught in this trip on the way back from Hat Yai to Bangkok). However, there was a reason for me to travel to the lower south for work for 5 days. Then on the day the work was finished, I would be in Hat Yai District and it happened to be a Friday, so I planned to continue my trip to Koh Lipe.
A review of other attractions that I have done.
- End of leg muscles at Phu Kradueng (Take a trip to Phu Kradueng for 2 days 1 night)
http://pantip.com/topic/34784230
- Backpack to Koh Tao by train for free with a budget of 2800 baht
http://pantip.com/topic/34871539Day 1 (March 31, 2016)
Day 1 (March 31, 2016)
Let's start from Hat Yai district. After finishing work in Sadao district, Songkhla province, the office van drove back to Hat Yai district to find lunch to eat together. After that, around 3:00 PM, we stopped by Kim Yong Market to buy souvenirs. So I asked to separate from the office van and then walked to the hostel that I had found information about being located near Kim Yong Market.
The reason why I had to stay in Hat Yai for one night before was because the last speedboat leaving Pak Bara Pier for Koh Lipe was at 3:30 PM. If I started my journey from Hat Yai, I would have to take a van from the agricultural market to Pak Bara Pier, which takes about 1.5 hours. Therefore, in my case, I would definitely not be able to catch the last boat.
I would like to review the hostel here as a guide for those who want to visit Hat Yai or nearby areas and are looking for budget accommodation.
Our accommodation for today is The Hive Hostel HatYai. The reason we chose this place is because it is close to Kim Yong Market, which is considered the center of Hat Yai district and convenient for traveling to Hat Yai Bus Terminal (Kaset Market). Because in front of Hat Yai Market, there will be 2 rows of cars passing by to pick up people to send to various points.
For the Mix Dorm, the rooms are air-conditioned and have free Wi-Fi. They also offer a good amount of privacy, as each bed has a curtain for separation (some people say it feels like sleeping in a love hotel). There is one power outlet per bed, which is standard for hostels. So, if you're bringing a lot of gadgets, you should bring a power strip. For breakfast, they offer toast with butter and Ovaltine or coffee.
The bathroom is located on the opposite side.
For Mix Dorm, it will cost 350 baht per night (but I see it's only 300 baht on the website now). For female backpackers, there is also a Female mix Dorm or a mixed dormitory for women to choose from.
The Hive Hostel HatYai website. In case anyone is interested.
http://www.thehivehatyai.com/home-home.page
After checking in and leaving my belongings on the bed, I took a nap. At 6:00 PM, I went out to find dinner. Tonight, I chose chicken biryani from a street vendor for 50 baht. It was located near the Kim Yong Market. Afterwards, I bought some beers from 7-Eleven and sat down to enjoy them in the hostel's common room. I also did some research on how to get to Koh Lipe. Around 10:00 PM, I went to bed.
The Hive Hostel HatYai website, in case anyone is interested.
http://www.thehivehatyai.com/home-home.page
Journey to Koh Lipe
Today I woke up at 6:30 AM to the sound of my alarm clock. I quickly took care of my personal business, went downstairs to eat breakfast, and then checked out of the hotel. I then walked back to the front of the Kim Yong Market to catch a shared taxi to the Kaset Market van terminal. If you're not sure which van to take, just ask the driver. Most of them will be waiting in front of the market.
After getting on the bus, it took about 10 minutes to reach the agricultural market at 8:30 AM. The bus will stop on the opposite side of the road, so you will need to cross the street. Once you enter the agricultural market, go straight to the ticket counter number 9, which says "Pak Bara". The price is 110 baht. After purchasing the ticket, go to bus number 9 again. You can put your belongings on the van and reserve your seat. The bus will leave once it is full. I waited for about half an hour before the bus left.
At 10:30 am, I arrived at Pak Bara Pier in Satun Province. As soon as I got off the van, agents from various tour companies approached me offering to sell me round-trip boat tickets, diving trips, and van rides to various locations. Those who had already booked could proceed directly. As for me, I hadn't booked anything, so an agent offered to sell me a round-trip speedboat ticket. I offered him 900 baht, which he accepted after I showed him some research. So I bought a ticket for the 11:30 am departure and the return trip 3 days later.
After booking the boat ticket, I asked to use the bathroom and leave my luggage. Then I went to stock up on supplies from the 7-Eleven next door. This is very important for those who want to save money, because on Koh Lipe and Koh Adang, prices are twice as expensive. For example, a can of instant noodles that costs 15 baht on the mainland costs 30 baht on the island.
After stocking up on supplies, I returned to the shop where I had purchased my round-trip boat tickets. While chatting with the owner, I mentioned that I planned to stay overnight on Adang Island but was worried about finding people to join a diving trip. Chartering a boat on my own would have been too expensive (most charters cost between 2,000-2,500 baht). The owner then offered to sell me a diving trip, where the boat would first pick up people from Koh Lipe before picking me up at Adang Island. I decided to purchase both an inner and outer reef diving trip for 1,100 baht.
The scheduled departure time for the boat is 11:30 AM, but in reality, it usually departs around 12:00 PM. This is because they need to wait for all the passengers' luggage to be loaded into the hull of the boat. Therefore, it is recommended that you keep any valuables or fragile items with you.
After a half-hour boat ride, you will arrive at Tarutao National Park. The boat will stop to drop off those who are staying at Tarutao. For those who are going to Lipe, there will be time to stop and take pictures for about 15 minutes. Everyone's goal will be at the Tarutao National Park sign.
Continuing for another half hour as before, we will arrive at Koh Kai, where the "Eternal Love Gate" stands prominently. Legend has it that if lovers pass through this gate together, they will love each other forever until the end of time. If you are here with your partner, you can take them to walk through the gate. As for me, I came alone, so I'll just stand here and take some photos from afar. Haha! (But I heard that many couples broke up after passing through the gate….)
Crystal clear water around Koh Kai.
And then we arrived at the pier in front of Koh Lipe. All speedboats must stop here to drop off tourists to take a long-tail boat from the Lipe Long-tail Boat Club to various islands. (To Lipe 50 baht, to Koh Adang 100 baht) For those who are going to Koh Adang, you have to pay an entrance fee of 40 baht to the National Park. But if you already paid when you stopped at Tarutao, show your ticket and you won't have to pay again.
The beach in the picture is Koh Lipe.
There were few people going to Adang Island. I waited for the boat to Lipe to leave for a long time until the officer called me to board the boat. It turned out that there were 5 Thai families who went with me, who had booked accommodation with the park. There were also 2 groups who stopped at Zanom and Castaway.
We will be camping in the pine forest that is in the picture.
And then we arrived at Adang Island. We contacted the officials to request a tent for 30 baht per night. I pitched 3 nights, so it was 90 baht. Then I hurried to the pine forest, which is not far from the tourist service center, so that I could quickly pitch my tent and put away my belongings. Because today we still have a mission to conquer Pha Chado.
Starting point of the Pha Cho path
Translation:
Viewpoint 1
Viewpoint 3
Pha Chado has a total of 3 viewpoints. If you ask me which one is the most beautiful, in my opinion it is number 3. However, viewpoints 2 and 3 offer quite similar angles. From the viewpoints, you can see the entire island of Koh Lipe. Some people say that you can even see Langkawi Island in Malaysia, but I didn't see it when I went there. It takes about 1 hour to walk up and down from the starting point. For those who are interested in walking up, I recommend bringing sandals with a lot of tread, as there is some climbing involved. It can be quite a sweat-inducing experience.
After taking a shower and lying down for a while, around 6:30 pm, I went to the convenience store to get something to eat. The convenience store is open from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. There are menus for both single dishes and side dishes, snacks, instant noodles, and even beer. However, the prices are double the usual price. For example, for this meal, I ordered a simple chicken basil rice and it cost 90 baht. For those who have stocked up on beer or water from the other side and want to drink it cold, you can ask the staff to keep it in the refrigerator. However, it is advisable to keep it in the refrigerator for a reasonable amount of time for each day's drinking, leaving space for others to keep their drinks cold as well.
After finishing my meal, I still had a lot of beer left for the night, so I went to sit and sip my beer at the wooden table behind the commissary. After a while, some officers came to sit and chat with me. They were even kind enough to bring me fresh seafood to eat (the Oishi in the picture is a new recipe, 40 degrees...).
We sat and talked until about 4-5 pm, then we all went our separate ways to sleep. I must say that the weather was quite hot, so I was sweating as I slept. If it's like this next time, I'll probably bring a tent to store my things and sleep in a hammock. That should be a lot cooler. If you don't have a hammock, you can rent one at the office. I think it's 50 baht a day, if I remember correctly.
Day 3 (April 2, 2016)
Today I had a full-day diving trip. I arranged for a long-tail boat to pick me up at 9:30 am. The boat picked up people from Koh Lipe first, then came to pick me up at Koh Adang. Today, there were a total of 7 people on the boat: a Chinese family of 5, a couple from an unknown country, and me. Today's program included diving at Koh Adang Beach (which is on the opposite side of the island from where I pitched my tent), Koh Yang, lunch break on the beach at Koh Rawi, Koh Hin Ngam, and Jabang Channel, the highlight of the day.
For now, let's take a look at some pictures from the inner dive. (Honestly, I can't remember where I took them from lol)
Note: The photos aren't that great because the Xiaomi Yi camera I'm using doesn't have a screen to view photos while shooting, making it a bit difficult. (This is only my second real trip using it.)
Let's stop for lunch at Koh Ravi.
Translation:
On the beautiful rock island, if you want to walk down, wear shoes. Because these rocks retain heat very well. My feet were almost burnt. I went down to take 2-3 pictures and then sat down to soak in the water while waiting for the boat to leave. I would like to add that you should not go diving in the area of the beautiful rock island. Because there are no buoys for diving and there will be boats bringing tourists to park at the beautiful rock island all the time. There may be danger from the boat propellers.
Black water spot near Hin Ngam Island.
The final highlight of the day was diving at Jabang Channel, a spot in Lipe with strong currents and deeper waters than other areas. If you're not a strong swimmer, there's a rope you can hold onto to reach the point where you can see the 7-color coral most clearly. Luckily, the water wasn't too strong on the day I went, and the visibility was good. I had a blast diving and swimming around the beautiful coral! Hahahaha!
- 7-color coral reef diving video
After leaving the Jabang Canal, the boat dropped me off at Adang Island and then continued on to Lipe to drop off other passengers.
The cheapest menu on Adang Island is 2 fried eggs for 30 baht and 20 baht for separate plain rice.
This evening, there wasn't much to do. I took a shower, ate dinner, and went to sleep while watching TV at the park office, where I also charged my electronic devices. Around 11 pm, I went back to sleep in my tent. I have to say that tonight was even hotter than the first night....
Day 4 (April 3, 2016)
Today is still the same as yesterday, with a full day of diving trips as usual. But we will change to dive outside instead. The tour I bought from Pak Bara Pier called to inform me to find a boat to Lipe to board the boat for diving at 9 am in exchange for free fins. The price of the boat to Lipe and the fin rental is the same. That is 100 baht. I'm an easygoing person, so I agreed. So today in the morning, we have to hurry up a bit.
At 8:30 am, I walked to the beach near Laem Son to find a taxi boat to Lipe. As for the boat to Lipe, it's not a big concern because the boat drivers on Koh Adang usually set up tents and sleep there. However, it's advisable to make arrangements a day in advance because if you ask for a boat in the morning, the boat drivers might be busy with other things and there might not be any boats available.
Today, there are 3 Thai people on our boat (including me) and 2 Singaporeans. Actually, there were supposed to be two more Thai people, but one of them got sick and had to cancel the trip.
After all the members were on board, we started our journey to the outer dive sites. The first stop was Hin Sorn Island, where we didn't dive but only stopped to take pictures of the stacked rocks.
Our first dive site is at Koh Pai.
Next, we will continue to the Dong Islands.
Let's take a break and have lunch at an island I can't remember the name of. Haha! But it must be one of the islands in the Dong Archipelago. There were monkeys here. We stopped for lunch and relaxed for about 30 minutes before heading to our next destination.
The next stop is Koh Rok Loi (pronounced Ro - Kloy). We didn't go diving, but the boat driver took us to various viewpoints on the island. I must say that the boat driver today was very good service. He was friendly and took pictures for the members on the boat both on land and underwater. For those who couldn't dive down to see the coral reefs up close, he would dive down and take pictures for them.
Let's continue to Koh Pung. The water current here is quite strong, but there are ropes to hold on to. A Singaporean girl, one of our fellow travelers, was swept away by the water quite far. The boat driver had to swim after her and drag her back to the boat.
Jabang Island
For the other two places, they will be the same as yesterday, which are Hin Ngam Island and Jabang Channel. Let's skip them. But for Jabang Channel, I still went down there and was the last group to leave the area. Because it's really beautiful. My explanation is not enough... You should see it with your own eyes. It's the best.
16.00 The boat dropped me off at Adang Island. I took some pictures of the beach on Adang Island. It would be strange to stay here without a picture of the mountain, lol. The rest of the day was the same as usual. I took a shower, ate dinner, sipped beer, did some things, and then went to sleep around 4-5 pm.
Day 5 (April 4, 2016)
Today, I had to reach the pier in front of Koh Lipe before 9 am because I had booked a speedboat ticket for that time. Before breakfast, I asked the boatman if anyone was available to take me. One of them agreed to take me, but when I finished breakfast, the boatman had disappeared. Luckily, there was a French couple who were also going to the pier to board the same speedboat as me. I asked to join them on their boat, and the fare to the pier remained the same, 100 baht. After arriving at the pier, the boat we were going to board docked (if you book your ticket in advance, be sure to ask the boatman the name of the boat you need to board).
The return trip took only about 1 hour to reach Pak Bara Pier. I then bought a van ticket to Hat Yai city from the same tour company that I booked my round-trip ferry ticket to Lipe and the 2-day diving trip. The good thing about this type of van is that you can tell them where you want to be dropped off in Hat Yai. The van ticket cost 150 baht. I waited for more people to get on, and then the van left the pier. It took about 1 hour again. I asked the van to drop me off at Hat Yai Railway Station because I was going back to Bangkok by the free train, train number 172, from Sungai Kolok to Bangkok.
Translation:
At Hat Yai Railway Station, airport-like scanning machines have been introduced.
Translation:
According to the schedule, the train was supposed to arrive in Hat Yai at 3:30 PM and reach Bangkok at 9:00 AM the next morning. However, as it is a free train, it is notorious for being late. "There's no such thing as not late... only very late or slightly late," as the saying goes. But that day, it was either my unlucky day or something else, because the train was extremely late! It didn't arrive in Hat Yai until 6:30 PM!
There was a bit of excitement on the way back to Bangkok. The uncle sitting next to me started having a seizure, which caused everyone in the carriage to stare at me. I had to rush to give him first aid, and after a while, the uncle's condition returned to normal.
Finally, the train arrived at my destination station, Thaling Chan Junction, at around 1:00 PM the next day. I then hailed a motorcycle taxi back home as usual. This concludes my trip. I may have spent a lot of energy (on the free train ride), but it was well worth it for the full day of diving. I think the shallow water coral reefs at Lipe are the most beautiful in the Andaman Sea.
**Expense Summary**
March 31, 2016
1.5L bottled water = 13 baht
Chicken Biryani (Dinner) = 50 Baht
Canned Chang beer = 38 baht
April 1, 2016
The cost of staying at The Hive hostel Hatyai is 350.
The fare for a songthaew from Kim Yong Market to Kaset Market is 10 baht.
The fare for a van from Kaset Market to Pak Bara Pier is 110 baht.
Roundtrip speedboat fare = 900
Pure Life Purified Water 1.5 liters 4 bottles Promotion = 67 baht
The cost of 3 bottles and 4 cans of Chang beer is 342 baht.
Entrance fee to Pak Bara Pier = 20
Long-tail boat fare from the pier to Koh Adang = 100
Entrance fee to Tarutao National Park = 40 baht
Long-tail boat fare from the pier to Koh Adang = 100 baht
Tent rental for 3 nights = 90 baht
The cost of chicken basil rice with rice (dinner) = 80 baht
April 2, 2016
Translation:
Fried egg 2 pieces + plain rice (breakfast) = 50 baht
Rental fee for flippers = 100 baht
Fried egg 2 pieces + plain rice (dinner) = 50 baht
April 3, 2016
Translation:
Fried egg 2 pieces + plain rice (breakfast) = 50 baht
Long-tail boat fare to Lipe = 100 baht
The cost of 2 fried eggs (dinner) = 30 baht
April 4, 2016
Fried egg 2 pieces + Plain rice (breakfast) = 50 baht
Long-tail boat fare from Adang to Lipe Pier = 100 baht
The fare for a van from Pak Bara Pier to Hat Yai is 150 baht.
The cost of sticky rice with fried chicken and fried meatballs (lunch) = 95 baht
April 5, 2016
Chicken basil with fried egg (breakfast) = 20 baht
Instant coffee = 10 baht
Total 4215 Baht
Tips & Tricks
1. To save money, you can bring food such as canned fish or instant noodles, as well as bottled water, from the mainland. This will help you save a lot of money.
2. If you are camping on Adang Island, it is a good idea to bring a lock to secure your tent. It is also advisable to keep your valuables with you at all times.
3. To climb Pha Cho, you should wear closed-toe shoes.
4. If you plan to camp on Adang Island (bring your own tent, rent a park tent, or stay in a bungalow) and want to join a diving trip, it's best to book it at Pak Bara Pier. Otherwise, you might not find a diving trip on Adang Island. However, if you charter a diving boat, there's no problem. On Adang Island, there are boatmen who camp there. You can also charter them.
5. You've got your Tarutao National Park ticket, keep it handy. Otherwise, you'll have to pay an entrance fee again when you stay, eat, or go diving on the islands, as some of them are within the Tarutao National Park boundaries.
6. On Adang Island, if you are sleeping in a tent, you can charge your phone at the welfare shop and the park office (you can charge it until morning, but you have to sit and watch it yourself).
7. At Adang Island, where the tents are pitched, it will be very dark at night. You should bring a flashlight with you.
- Thank you -
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Anywhere For You
Friday, September 27, 2024 10:05 AM
