Lipe, Pt 2

So continuing with toilet problems, Mat had his own. Apparently he was unable to flush his business; it just wouldn't go away. He went outside and encountered one of the gardeners. "Excuse me: problems toilet," he said. "Ah," the gardener said and apparently made a digging motion. Mat told me, "I thought, 'Good, he understands.' " Mat invited him to take a look, but after that he understood nothing whatsoever. "Water?" the gardener asked. "No, water is okay." "Ploop?" the gardener asked. At that point Matt asked for the boss, but the gardener made a sleeping motion. Pat had laid in bed and listened to the exchange and said it sounded like a comedy routine. Eventually Matt gave up and came inside. He tried various methods, and eventually got rid of it. Such is travel in South East Asia: toilet mishaps are an integral part.

That day we hired a longtail and driver for a snorkel trip to some islands nearly an hour away. The day was quite overcast, so we wondered how good it would be. As we neared the islands (all uninhabited), the boat slowed so we could take pictures of an odd rock formation. It was really quite puzzling – I mean, how does one gigantic rock like this end up on another? There weren't many other big rocks about.

We reached the first snorkel area and dropped over the side. The site was mesmerising. There were so many fish it was staggering. The corals were excellent too. I had been for two previous snorkel trips round Lipe, but they had been to nearby islands and hadn't overly impressed me. This was truly unforgettable. Mat and Pat had snorkelled in the Similan Islands, which is world famous for diving, and they preferred this. Really it was a highlight of the trip.

We snorkelled another area afterwards which was almost as good. The corals were better in the second place but the fish were fewer. It was still stunning. After this we headed for a deserted beach for lunch. This had been at my request. Normally you take a package snorkel trip and eat where the other boats anchor. My pathological hatred of being one of the herd demanded we find our own place. Unfortunately it was raining, and the sea was getting rough, so we couldn't go where we'd originally hoped. We had to settle for a deserted beach on Koh Adang, the island we'd visited the day before. Left unsaid was the fact I'd persuaded the others to pay a third extra for the privilege of having lunch in the rain on a beach with no nearby snorkelling. We did manage to find some shelter under trees, though, and the beach was truly lovely. There are so many islands in that National Park, I had always dreamt of finding my own private beach. It stopped raining eventually, and the water was so warm, we lounged about in the water as soon as lunch was over.

We snorkelled a couple more places, the first of which wasn't so good, but the second of which was again truly excellent. It was a great snorkel trip.

Either that night or the previous night – I forget which – we went and had a nice massage. Originally they'd intended on massaging us all in the same space, until Pat pointed out we weren't actually together (do threesomes often visit Thailand?). So they enclosed us with curtains. My back had been sore since I put it out in New Zealand, but it was actually really good the next few days after the massage.

Up what is known as Walking Street (it's the one street on the island) we saw a new shop being put in (with bamboo and wood it doesn't take long). It was a fish foot massage place – where you let little fish nibble at your feet. I understand it's pretty  popular elsewhere in Asia. They said it would be open the next night, but sadly it wasn't. They had all the fish ready to go. I might try it in KL if I can find one.

That night we went back to Varin Resort for a fried fish with sweet chilli sauce.

After dinner we played Perudo, which we'd also played the previous night. This is more popularly known as Liar's Dice and can be seen in Pirates of the Caribbean (Jill and Sonia, this is the game I've suggested we should try sometime). I had put off trying to understand the rules in the hope Pat or Mat would be good with technical instructions, but both of them said they were terrible at that sort of thing, so together we muddled through. It's quite a clever game – the better bluffer you are, the more you'll win. Mat's a lawyer, so of course he was great at it. Pat ended up not liking the game so much; she insisted on losing almost every round so it wasn't so much fun for her. But all in all a fun game.

Then it was off to bed. One thing that amused me about my bungalow was that I had to chain it from the inside. When I left for the day, I wrapped a small chain round two door handles. On the inside there was supposed to be a bamboo spike you could put across both doors, only I couldn't get it to work. I had to chain it using the inside door handles, which is about as big a fire risk as you could get. The bamboo walls not being so strong, I figured I could just kick one down if need be.

The next morning it was time to say goodbye. Pat and Mat were returning to the snows back home. We agreed to meet up again for a snorkel trip sometime in the next few years.

I spent the day generally lazing about. It was my last full day on Lipe. I went and had a snorkel at the end of Pattaya beach, which was supposed to be the best snorkelling on the island. It wasn't like the day before, but it was still worthwhile.

For my last dinner I went and had a fish barbecue at Daya Resort. I had always thought this was Pattaya Song resort, and had even been telling people on forums to go to that resort. But that was next door, and this was Daya. (At least I had now worked out that Pat wasn't Filipino.)

I spotted what looked like a nice small fish, and when I asked the price the man said 100 baht (a little over NZ$4). Oh good, I thought, if it's cheap it must be good. As elsewhere around the world, often the cheaper things taste better. Sure enough, the fish was superb – the best I'd had on my trip so far. It was moist and tender, with a lovely charcoal flavour. It came with a wedge of lime and a nice chilli salsa. I had a very good mango salad with it.

The next morning I got up and early and packed. In the bathroom I encountered a frog who looked like he'd swallowed a golf ball. I'm not sure how he got there, but I scooped him into a container and placed him outside.

I had breakfast and then caught the speed boat back to the coast. I never understand the prices in Thailand. I paid 650 baht for a trip just over an hour long, while Pat and Mat had paid 750 baht for a trip further north, about two and a half hours long. My trip was pleasantly rough – I've always enjoyed the sensation of a speed boat bouncing on the sea. It's like an amusement park ride.

On the coast I had a massaman curry, which means Muslim curry. This is a specialty of southern Thailand, which is the Muslim part of the country (it uses Indian spices like cumin). This one was made with chicken, potato and peanuts and it was excellent.

Next I had to catch a minivan to Hat Yai, which was a two-hour ride, and then another minivan to Penang, the island off the Malaysian coast I was headed to for a few days, which was a five-hour journey. It shouldn't have taken that long, but passing through the border takes a while. The Thai part was quick, but the Malaysian part seemed endless. Once again it struck me that Malaysians spend their life in queues. Around nine at night I finally arrived in Penang.