Over the past days we have spent a lot of time on board of a sailing boat, and I could not write about that because it was to be kept... secret! Not to all of you, but to our visitor from Belgium: de Veckie. Here's the story.
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| The happy Michiels family on the boat |
Weeks ago I got in touch with another "old friend": den Tonio. We studied together many years ago, and had lots and lots of fun in the student association together. We had seen each other from time to time afterwards but the last time must have been about 5 years ago. It so happened that Tonio would be on a holiday in this region, with a sailing boat, exactly during the period that we were cycling here. And so, the possibility came up to meet up and spend some time together!
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| On our way from Langkawi to Koh Lipe |
Next, the other friend, Veckie, who is also a good old friend of Tonio's, was coming for a business trip to Malaysia and planned to spend a long weekend with us in Koh Lipe! So we connected the one to the other, without telling Veckie anything about this. We would all meet up in Koh Lipe and sail out together!
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| The most typical view in Koh Lipe. You don't get tired of this! |
We actually met Tonio already a few times the previous weeks, in Lumut, Penang and Langkawi. All this by pure coincidence, our itineraries just happened to align well. The Koh Lipe meeting was planned however. So we actually sailed from Langkawi to Koh Lipe, and also spend a few days on the boat here before Veckie arrived, near an island called Koh Rawi.
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| We have a new captain on board, Captain Veckie |
Then, once he was here, we went diving for a day, and then we all embarked on the boat for a fantastic trip to a nearby island, Koh Adang, where we anchored close to a deserted beach in a paradise bay. We had fantastic conditions, a memorable sunset, went swimming in the dark with bioluminescent plankton, got a starry sky and then full moon, did some great swimming and snorkelling with a stopover on the deserted beach (admittedly, with a slight hangover, because such a reunion did go hand in hand with a few drinks on the deck). It doesn't get any better than this, we all enjoyed it tremendously. Thanks a lot for this, Tonio!
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| What a sunset! (Vrij naar: ik heb de zon zien zakken in de zee) |
Today, Tonio and Veckie sailed back to Langkawi, after a long and difficult immigration process to check out from Koh Lipe. To be honest, Thai friendliness and helpfulness have totally disappeared at the Koh Lipe immigration post. What a nightmare! But ok, it got done, they left and I'm sure they'll have a great day on their way back. It was fantastic to see each other back in such a way, at such a location.
Now, back to island life on Koh Lipe, ready for another week of good family time.