Koh Lipe, Thailand
From Langkawi, I could reach Thailand by ferry within 1.5 hours. So I did that and ended up on another island called Koh Lipe. It’s very touristy. There, I spent a long weekend. I spent some time at the beach, went for food (I missed Thai food), and saw a fire show at the beach. It was wonderful and relaxed.
Koh Lanta, Thailand
After that quick stopover, I boarded another speedboat to Koh Lanta. My favourite island in Thailand. I’ve already been there before. The ride there from Koh Lipe, I would suggest to anyone. I also had to learn it and would never do it again. Taking small speed boats in Thailand is just dangerous. Sadly from Koh Lipe to Koh Lanta there’s no other connections. They’re driving like crazy and most probably drugged. On the 3 hours ride our engine was overheating around 10x until we run out of gasoline in front of the coast of our destination. Another boat had to deliver us gasoline so we could continue the journey. I think I was never happier to be on land again. As a side note, all the operators for this line had at least a boat sinking in the last couple of years. No wonder to me why.
I’m already familiar with the island, and when I arrived, it gave me a certain feeling of familiarity, like home. It’s strange. This time, I found a very nice accommodation up the hill overlooking the island. There’s a small resort run by a Swedish family. The buildings are built very well for Thai standards, and the interior style is very on point. Their facilities, especially the infinite swimming, are amazing. Sitting in the water to watch the sunset is perfect and relaxing.
I arrived, checked in, and went out directly to meet with Piotrek, my nomad friend, whom I had already met in Kuala Lumpur. We planned to stay on the island for a month and visit the famous co-working space there. We try to meet once a year somewhere on the planet, do some co-working and talk together.
Piotrek is a very experienced digital nomad like me. We have crossed paths in many different countries so far. He’s doing a podcast and writing and posting a lot of content about digital nomads. He asked me if I would record a podcast episode with him. I was up for this new experience since I’ve never been a podcast guest. It went very well and we had nice discussions.
Sometimes, the world is small. I have a Swiss friend who sometimes takes time off work and travels. She told me she’d be somewhere South of Bangkok around April to volunteer at a dog shelter. After asking for more details, we concluded that her workplace will be just a few hundred meters from my Airbnb, and our stay will overlap for around 2 weeks. How incredible. So, on her arrival, I had to show her around for a little while, and we went up to my favourite sunset view restaurant, which a Swiss guy owned. Two Swiss people are reuniting in Thailand. I love such coincidences, especially with like-minded travellers with whom great discussions are granted.
One weekend, there was this famous water festival in Thailand. It’s called Songkran and is beloved by locals, tourists, and especially kids (or all the adults who will become kids for that weekend). The celebration is for the Thai New Year and involves water battles on the street. Sounds funny, right? People stand with water guns by the street, and everyone who crosses by car or motorbike is a target. Nobody will stay dry. We had to attend this for sure with a group from the co-working. Piotrek bought a big water gun, so he was prepared for the fun on the street.
My favourite co-working space in the world is in Koh Lanta. It’s run by a British guy with his Thai girlfriend. They do an amazing job by setting the base for a great community and providing all the infrastructure needed to work productively. Multiple events occur in and outside the co-working during the week. The co-working space is only open during the high season, because the island gets very empty in the low season. We stayed until the season closed, and as a last dinner, we went out to a fancy resort to enjoy the previous night out with the friends from the co-working. We could also watch a beautiful sunset. A great end of this month in Koh Lanta.
Phuket, Thailand
Phuket, with an international airport, is just a 2-hour boat ride away. But before hopping on a flight, I’ll stay for a few more days in Phuket since I also know some people there and like the vibes there.
One weekend, a friend from Bangkok came to Phuket to visit me. We explored the island for a bit. We went hiking, visited Big Buda, went to an adventurous park, and had a nice meal. We did a hiking trail along the coast to a sunset spot, which isn’t reachable by bike. This means it’s less crowded compared to other very overcrowded places, which are easily accessible. I like places with fewer people, so I went there one evening and enjoyed it a lot.
I worked during the week and tried to leave sometimes in the evening with my scooter to visit some nearby places. Things are easily reachable in Phuket, especially with a scooter. I went to sunset spots or went out to work in a coffee shop with a nice view. Sometimes in the evening, I met locals to play pool, something almost everybody plays at bars.
Phuket was the last stop of my 4.5-month Asia adventure, skipping Europe’s grey and cold weather. From Phuket, I have a direct flight back home to Zurich operated by Edelweiss Air, Switzerland’s holiday airline. I took this change to reduce travel time and fly straight back to my home country without a stopover. The flight was very smooth and we got a lot of food on the way. It felt like we were eating almost the whole flight.