We got the ferry from Langkawi to Ko Lipe, which can also be spelled Koh Lippy.

The ferry from Malaysia to Thailand is pretty short but also quite expensive for the distance. It cost us about £60 for the both of us. This is probably because it is popular for VISA runs. The ferry departs from near the gondola but there is another one that departs from where we arrived (Kuah). Our Starling card worked this time but the ticket claimed it needed printing. Our accommodation (Aneeda Inn) were not helpful like the previous place, claiming they didn’t have a printer despite it clearly being on the desk and it was even used to print our receipt. The hotel was hard for our Grab driver to find and also had bad WiFi. Luckily we had full LTE signal so could use that as a portable hotspot.

We didn’t need to print the ticket in the end and the ferry staff just took a picture of my phone screen. We were told that there is a fee for the long-tail boat shuttle from the ferry to shore but this was actually included in the ferry ticket and we didn’t need to pay any extra. The ferry can’t land at the beach due to the shallow water.

There is a 200 THB per person entrance fee to the national park that Lippy is in, or you can pay 30 MYR (a bad rate). Thai cash machines also charge a 220 THB (~5.50 GBP) fee per transaction! It’s best to get the maximum out that you can (~10,000 THB) or even better to get MYR in Malaysia for free and change at one of the many FX shops. The Malaysian ones had a rate of ~13 and Thai FX shops ~7.5. Otherwise the 3% Thai card payment surcharge may work out cheaper, depending on what you’re buying.

Lippy is pretty touristy and small so prices are high. It’s best to bring supplies with you or wait until somewhere bigger.

Isle of Dogs, and Cats

There are a lot of dogs and cats on the island. One of the cats at our accommodation (Bloom Cafe and Hostel) was pretty aggressive and was usually to be found sleeping on the counter in the breakfast preparation area, between the big drinking water bottle, kettle and toaster. If you were unfortunate enough to rouse it then it would try and get at your food or drink.

There was also a noisy bar (Maya) over the road that played loud music late into the night. This wasn’t a big problem as we had earplugs and were on the other side of the building. The coffee in the cafe was however excellent, if a little on the expensive side (similar to what you may pay at home in a chain).

Cat Nip

One evening when I was filling our water bottles before bed the cat bit me. It didn’t break the skin but it still meant that I had to get a course of snout fever rabies shots. This is a course of four rounds of an injection in each arm costing about £70 a hit. Travel insurance should cover it after excess but it’s still a pain.

The doctor seemed pretty competent but the basic bootstrap registration website that had other people’s private details in the form autocomplete dropdowns did not inspire confidence. Remember to disable auto-saving if you fill something in on a public computer, or use private browsing.