Last one from Lipe

2 weeks in Koh Lipe, we were not sure if that would work well. Would we get bored? It turned out to be no problem at all! Beautiful beaches, great food, busy but usually not too bad (although the island has really filled up the last couple of days), a really nice place to stay at Lipe Beach Resort, the boat trips with Tonio and Veckie, diving, and Koh Adang just next door for some more active side trips.

Lipe Beach Resort had only 1 room left for us the last 2 nights, but they kindly allowed us to pitch our tent in front of our bungalow. So with this, we have (finally?) slept the first nights in our tent. It went ok, only it was a bit warm and yes, we need to get used to it again a little bit...

We went back to Koh Adang once more, for the hike to the Pirates "waterfall"; not much waterfall, more a little stream with some boulders, but the easy hike through very nice nature and the dip in the cool freshwater after all the salty swims was more then worth it...

Time for a break with cookies at the "waterfall"

So we had some wonderful time with the 4 of us here, but today we had to say bye to Sander and Vere. They left with this morning's ferry to Langkawi, and will soon take a plane back to KL from there. This was/is a very big moment, because they have now both left "the nest" and are on their way to Australia. Sander to continue his studies in Melbourne, Vere to start hers in Launceston, Tasmania - although they will first enjoy their holidays still for a while.

Fun in the boat 😂

So it was a very mixed-feeling moment. Excited, sad to see them go (leaving the beach with a small boat to the ferry increased the "drama" of course), enthusiasm and pride because they are so independent, mature, decisive to do this.

Getting ready to leave

So now, we're back to where things were paused about 2,5 weeks ago: we are getting ready to prepare our bicycles again, repacking our panniers, preparing the route for tomorrrow, filtering water, ... ready for another 6,5 months or so of cycling!