Calling at Ko Lipe

In the present lockdown there are times when thought filter down the valley and out over a thousand hinterlands to remember somewhere hot and please - and thin s Sun day afternoon I’ve been remember a lovely little island called Ko Lipe off the west coast of Thailand, just north of the Malay border.

If you think tropical islands should have white sand beaches, forests of palm trees, no roads and villages inhabited by indigenous roving sea-gypsies, then you’d love Ko Lipe. It's part of Tarutao National Marine Park, which is made up of small islands and known for its coral-rich waters.

The island has sandy beaches, including Pattaya and Hat Chao Le. Dive sites in the area include the 8 Mile Rock pinnacle and the Yong Hua Shipwreck, which I didn’t get to see.

But I once spent a morning swimming in its warm seas and lolling on the beach before repairing to Pooh’s restaurant situated 20 minute’s walk into the jungle for lunch.

I think it cost about two quid each – and it was one of the best meals ever to have passed my lips. The salad was a sensation, and Pooh himself was a rather elegant young man who seemed to be a sort of oriental Arthur Daly figure. He had fingers in just about every pie on the island, from scuba diving businesses to beach hut rentals and internet cafes.

Emailing home from a grass sided hut in the middle of a boiling hot jungle was one of the weirdest things I have ever done.

Ko Lipe is home to many aboriginal Malay people, known as the Urak Lawoi. Some of the men were building beautiful wooden boats in the woodlands.

I visited just after the dreadful 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which killed so many people. And you could see the damage it had done on Ko Lipe. I saw all sorts of heavy detritus hanging about 20 up in trees by the beach. But a local person told me that no one on the island had been hurt or killed by the giant waves. He said they knew it was coming and went off to sea in their boats.

This interesting bloke - who I spent an hour or two speaking with - verified this - and told me I ought to stay for a few months like he had done… I was tempted…