On the ferry back to Phuket ... I regret Koh Lipe behind me.

I'm showing off in Phuket

Corinne Bourbeillon·
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  Thailand: Islands - February 2009

Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation made from a post originally written in French. My apologies for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have been generated during the process. If you are reading French, click on the French flag below to access the original and correct text: 


fr_FR Français

fr_FR Français


Here I am back in Brittany, after these three weeks Thai. Sunday night, I finally pushed the door from home, and I collapsed directly. Fourteen hours of dodo in a row, to recover from this long journey from Phuket ...

I did not manage to close my eyes on planes (Air Asia + Emirates) nor in the TGV.

At the Air Asia counter at Phuket Airport.
At the Air Asia counter at Phuket Airport.

It may surprise you: for my last night in Phuket, I chose to land in Patong Beach.

Patong is ugly, with plastic loungers and noisy jet skis, Mac Do's and Burger King's, souvenir shops, and girls' bars. And then the place is stuffed with a kind of tourists who does not inspire sympathy.

In short, not at all the style of beach or atmosphere that I love in Thailand ...

Gray sky fitting with my mood this Saturday on Patong Beach.
Gray sky fitting with my mood this Saturday on Patong Beach.
Patong Beach, Thailand. The bar stools girls, without girls ...
Patong Beach, Thailand. The bar stools girls, without girls ...
Souvenir shop in Patong.
Souvenir shop in Patong.

But here, I opted for the easy way out: minibus connections, airport taxis, shops for shopping, wifi connections everywhere, choice of accommodation and restaurants...

I've found an address that changes my rustic backpacker's plans: the hotel. Baipho-Baithong. Recommended by both the Lonely Planet and by Mark, an Australian who was with me on the Eden Divers boat for the Similan dive cruise.

Very good choice. Close to everything, refined decor, impeccable cleanliness, warm welcome and cheerful. The cheapest rooms are from 1800 baht (about 40 €), including breakfast. An excellent deal. For 2600 baht (less than 60 €), I got the luxury of a quasi-suite with mega king-size bed wider than long and jacuzzi ... Argh.

My king-size bed at Baipho-Baithong Hotel (Patong Beach, Thailand).
My king-size bed at Baipho-Baithong Hotel (Patong Beach, Thailand).

Needless to say, I have savored this supreme comfort as it should, after my long recovery from Koh Lipe.

Two and a half hours ferry crossing to Hat Yao Pier, Trang pier, then five hours by minibus ... I got slammed.

Finally, and above all, this stop in Phuket allowed me to meet, in truth, Valerie and Olivier, with whom I had previously exchanged only e-mails and phone calls. It's thanks to their site Asiaqua.com and their advice that I opted for the boat of Eden Divers, one of the few to offer cabins single for the Similans. That was the main criterion for me, but everything else was up to standard: comfort, crew, management, atmosphere, food. And the nitrox was free... Again, a very good choice.

I was right to trust Valérie and Olivier on this one. Both divers, they have been on site for a long time, know each of the cruise ships they offer on their site and effectively play the intermediaries when it comes to adjusting various practical details.

We stayed in touch after the cruise, and they came to see me Saturday at the hotel, before my departure, to chat and drink.

With Valérie and Olivier from Asiaqua.com.
With Valérie and Olivier from Asiaqua.com.

It is always a great pleasure, when travelling, to concretize virtual exchanges by a real meeting. Nice epilogue to my Thai stay!

😎

  Thailand: Islands - February 2009

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Women and children chao-ley. Koh Lipe. Thailand. March 2009.
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Corinne Bourbeillon
Journalist, diver and underwater photographer, Corinne loves to blow bubbles underwater with fish! The beauty of the world and the ocean inspired her to create this diving and travel blog.

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19 Comments

  2. Good return, good rest, good sort of photos, good recovery of taf, and all and everything!

    Ditto for me, Patong did not leave me an imperishable memory 🙂

    Thib.

    Reply

  3. How small the world is 😳
    I also know Olivier who was tour-leader on a boat during a cruise in the South in 2007. At the time he was setting up his website. I chat with him from time to time on Plongeur.com 😀.

    Reply

  4. Damn, I forgot the main 🙂
    For the title you also had:
    - In the wind at Similan
    - I'm freaking out on Koh Lipe
    - In tong in Patong
    and then of course the famous:
    - I ban .. in Thailand
    but of course…
    8)
    Ok I ➡

    Reply

  5. @ Marie-net: Oh yes, yes. And then, after how I drooled for the Rescue, I deserved this little luxury ...
    😉

    @Thib: Thanks Thib! The recovery is a little rough, back to the gray reality of my little Rennes daily ...
    This is the second time I sleep in Patong. The first time was six months after the tsunami. Hanging out in the area does not have much interest, indeed.
    😕

    @Alimata: Olivier is still a tour leader and also an underwater videographer. It is indeed on Plongeur.com that I made contact with him ... The world of diving, and diving in Asia in particular is actually very small! Otherwise, I vote for "Patong in tong". Missing more than a hairy troll pollute my posts with salacious rhymes !!!
    😆

    @ Wet & Sea Yes, that's for sure, I should write "Lipé" and also "Poukète" and "Kopipi" as long as we are there ... But I was not freaked at all in Lipé, so I dismiss this title.
    Yes, Olivier is Martinoo ... I'll have to open a post on Plongeur.com entitled: "Discover the real thrill of Martinoo" ... Then you will come here to discuss instead.
    😀

    Reply

  6. Alimata: the internet, we don't have sound so we're never sure, they say it's multimedia but macache, it's mute this bug! 😕

    So I'm revising your title which should be "freaked out by Koh Lipe"... which is also spelled Ko Leepae... 😉

    Reply

  7. Olivier, it's martinoo???? 😀 Ha ba, I wouldn't have recognized him like that, not the same face as on his avatar... I've never seen him but on p.com we often discuss (-ait) too.

    Reply

  8. We need to make cuts, right? And clean sheets, that feel clean have an incredible flavor! And also after a long trip, when we could not stretch his legs, stretch, get up without disturbing the neighbors-travelers, we love to lie down , do not count the time, sleep all his drunk! Before being caught again by the job and all the rest.

    Reply

  10. @Nono: Yes, it's good to play it a little more "luxury" at the end of your stay.
    Where I was before it was clean too (it's the minimum I need, even in very simple places), but a real huge bed, with real white sheets, and a real mini-quilt very fresh , and a real decor a little neat, and a minibar, and a jacuzzi, and a powerful shower and hot, it's very pleasant when we spent three weeks at the backpacker ...
    The return trip is always a nightmare, you only dream of one thing: to lie down ... For the rest, the job has already caught me.
    😡

    @ Marie-Julie: As I explained, there was another diver, Regis, who owned an A95. But his screen was dead, with a huge patch of black pixels in the middle. It was removed and replaced by the screen of my own device. The transplant worked perfectly! With two devices failing, we have thus reconstituted one that works, and we have lent it from one day to the next! Finally, I bought her case, for a small fee (the equivalent of a repair for mine here, I guess) ... I managed well, on this one!
    🙄

    Reply

  13. When you say that you paid for your repair the equivalent of a repair "here", where is it? It's there or in France?

    Reply

  16. Wow!

    you look like you've been enjoying your Thai getaway 😀

    Welcome back to you in the French greyness, at least you have a head full of memories... 😡

    Reply

  17. @Akway: Eh yes! At each escapade, I come back with the desire to leave. All these memories of travel constantly feed my desire to escape, other horizons. Leave, come back. It's an endless cycle, a pendulum movement that seems unalterable to me. For me, the return is also synonymous with a new beginning. I'm already thinking about it ...
    🙄

    Reply

  18. hello corinne
    like you I've been back since yesterday, 10 days on site it's short for the Philippines, but it was nice, nice dives on the wrecks despite a visit limited to 10-12m.
    Plus I saw some new slugs, enough to complete my special slug album! 😀

    Reply

  19. @Laurence: Hello Laurence, I wish you a good return so ... It's true that 10 days, it goes at full speed! Well, well I'll go take a look at your album nudibranch, I love these little beasts, as you know. And in the Philippines, it's a real festival. I, too, had discovered a bunch of new species there that I had never seen before.
    😉

    Reply
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