This was my first time in visiting Ko Lipe Island which is located in the far south of Thailand adjacent to Malaysia. I wanted to visit this island because it had inspired a travel blogger I follow, called Nomadic Matt— https://www.nomadicmatt.com— who spent a month there November 2006, with five other backpackers. It was after this visit that changed the trajectory of his life. He began a travel blog, followed by writing travel books, creating a hostel in Austin, Texas, and offering international tours and traveler meetups around the US. I even met him at a hostel in Crete.
To get there, I took a night train from Bangkok to Hat Yai. After dinner of Penang curry on the train, I settled into my bottom bunk for the night.
At daybreak, I noticed that it began raining outside as we approached the train station.
Hat Yai Junction Train Station
It continued to rain as we made our way by minivan and speedboat to Ko Lipe.
Through hostelworld.com, I had booked the Bloom Hostel at $14 per night, which was in the middle of the blue paved Walking Street area. The place lived up to its reviews. It was wonderful with lockers, electrical outlets by the reading lamps, and privacy curtains. The showers were hot and clean.
That was a good thing because for all four days I was there, it rained all the time, but one afternoon when I walked out to Sunset Beach, and lounged about while I had an expensive mango smoothie. At least the lounge chair was free.
Sunset Beach
I also got wet while visiting the other two beaches, Pattaya and Sunrise, in my swimsuit on other days.
Pattaya Beach
Sunrise Beach
While there for four days, I enjoyed one hour oil massages before dinners found along the blue paved walking street.
With all the rain, I ended up spending a lot of time lounging around the hostel and reading two pocketbooks.
While on Ko Lipe, we began to hear that they had suspended all train and bus travel throughout the Hat Yai area. Also heard that the airport at Hat Yai was open, but to get there, you had to transfer to a military transport vehicle to get through the flooded waters.
News reports indicated that over 1,000 people were stranded at the airport so even if the planes were flying, it didn’t sound like a good place to be. Here’s a number of articles about the floods.
On the day, I left November 24, the rain was constant so I first stopped for a big breakfast since I didn’t know when I was going get my next meal,
When I got my boarding pass for the speedboat, the staff told me that it would be difficult to get to the Hat Yai airport and the return minivan ride back to Hat Yai was canceled because of the flooding. To get a refund, he told me I needed to use WhatsApp to request it. I did but nothing’s happened— it was just about a $10 loss.
First, I thought I was going go to the Hat Yai airport, but I didn’t have an air ticket and the way there was flooded.
It was a bone-jarring speedboat ride in the monsoon rain back to Pak Bara pier.
After we got off the boat, a vendor approached me, and she offered to take me to Trang for ฿300. I thought from there, I might fly back to Bangkok or take a night bus. I waited for a half hour and then she came to me and asked if I wanted go to Krabi for another ฿350 since she had one more seat left on this songthaew— a covered pick up truck with seats. I figured Krabi would be better because there would be more travel options by air or bus. I thought it was well worth the $21 to get out of here
Tourist scrounging rides to dry land
I paid up and even I got the front seat with the driver. We drove about 15 minutes and then hit the flooded streets of Hat Yai. We and others got out and got in this big oversize red truck that took us through the worst flooding parts of the city.
Some of the people climbing on board this oversized truck were on five star resort tours, and others, like me, were backpackers. It didn’t seem to matter, since we all just wanted to get away from the flooded area before we were trapped by the rising waters. Some of us sat on the piled up luggage in the middle of the truck, and others had to stand as we made our way through the flood waters.
They had an unbelievable 14 inches of rain in 24 hours on my travel day—a 300 year record.
After getting past the flooded streets of Hat Yai, we transferred to minivans for the 4-hour drive to Krabi, and I again got the front seat.
During the rainy drive, I use my iPhone to check out Google flights for flights from Krabi to Bangkok and hotels near the Krabi Airport. Most flights on November 24th, cost between $150 and $250, but the following day, flights ranged from $60-$150.
Instead of taking a late night flight into Bangkok at a higher cost for the flight, taxi—metro transportation closes at midnight— and Bangkok hotel, I stayed the night in Krabi, and took a $90 morning flight on AirAsia, which got me to Bangkok about the same time as had I taken the suspended night train.
It rained all the way to the airport where I bought my ticket from a helpful agent with instructions to get my boarding pass the following morning.
Krabi Airport
I then used agoda.com to find the Baan Sup Mongkol Hotel near the Krabi Airport. I caught a taxi at a whopping cost of ฿300 to the hotel that cost $21 for the night which was very clean and comfortable with a pleasant staff.
There were no restaurants in the area, so I had some good shrimp pad Thai along with orange juice and Thai iced tea at this street food stall for ฿150. Hey, thanks for watching. Don’t forget you can catch the today. Show every morning on NBC or just the podcast on Apple podcast Spotify or wherever you listen.It was the first food since the morning breakfast and was tasty and filling.
The following morning on November 25th, the hotel staff offered me coffee and bananas before Sky drove me to the airport for ฿150–$5 USD.
When I got to the airport, the same AirAsia staff member got my boarding pass, and she surprised me with a first class window seat—it helps to be kind to people who you interact with.
As we approached Bangkok, the skies were clearing. Traveling on the two metros, I got my train refund of ฿1,103, and my bus ticket to Ban Phe for the 28th, on my way to the Cozy Stay Hotel for three nights at $35 per night.
This will be an adventure I remember for a long time. I’m so glad I just kept moving, because watching the news, I see there are thousands of tourist that are trapped in Hat Yai because the waters have kept rising, and they even suspended the military operation that transported people to the Hat Yai airport.
It helps to be flexible in these uncertain times.
Travel is so educational! Love your ability to bend and turn as needed!
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