And I think I’m pretty good a traveller to have with too.. heh. Been thinking about the laid back beaches and the getaway..

@jill yes of course! i do believe all of thailand (and southeast asia) is more than safe for a lone female traveller :) you’ll definitely meet a lot of people along there way, some lone female travellers too.

@russell koh chang is beautiful (it was my first thai island, and i still love it to bits), but that’s way too far north near cambodia already :)

this one is across the sea from langkawi, in koh lipe, part of the tarutao group of islands (where survivor: thailand was filmed). there’s a direct boat from langkawi (easiest way to get there, but costlier than the alternatives), and also boats from pakbara pier in satun (easily accessible from hat yai).

hypothetical way to get there for S$60, which i’ll test out soon enough (i got there in slightly more.. luxury this time): cross border by public transport from singapore-johor bahru, $1. get on a bus to kl from larkin terminal in JB, RM 30. hop onto the daily langkawi express at sentral kuala lumpur, RM 55, all the way to hat yai. once at hat yai either pay a travel agent outside the train station for an all-inclusive bus/boat ticket to koh lipe, OR get on the minibus to pakbara yourself (150 baht), and buy a ticket at the pier for 650 baht. i usually do my ‘hi i’m a nice thai-looking girl who speaks some thai’ thing, and score half price off my boat tickets ;) there’s a chance you might not catch the boat from pak bara in time as the last boat to lipe is at 1330h, but hey this was always a journey meant for people who love the road and have plenty of time.

alternate routes involve flying to krabi from singapore/kuala lumpur, and bus-sing down southwards for about 3-4 hours or so (not entirely sure); OR. coming from bangkok, taking the overnight train/bus from hualampong train station/southern bus terminal towards trang. from trang it’s just another 2 hours to pakbara pier. there are domestic thai budget airlines that do bangkok-trang or bangkok-hat yai in under an hour, too, for pretty cheap. trang would be a better bet, if you’re coming from the north.

coming from singapore getting yourself to langkawi or hat yai, in whatever way at all, is the key to getting to this little slice of paradise. or do it the long winded way and have an extended island hopping holiday: fly in to phuket, boat phuket-koh lanta, spend a few days on koh lanta (which i love as well), then boat koh lanta-koh lipe. :) the possibilities are endless, but i prefer my S$60 overland train journey best.