While looking for possible destinations, Okinawa was the only choice at that time of the year in Japan. I wanted to avoid the main island and settled for Ishigaki, little known outside of Japan. The island is actually much closer to Taiwan than the main Japanese islands and hence also enjoys a different climate. Flying there took a good four hours but it was worth it the moment we stepped off the plane and were able to breathe the fresh ocean air.

We opted to rent a car in order to be more flexible and discover the island ourselves. While you probably would not need a car if you stayed in the town, we enjoyed the convenience of driving at our own pace.

From our cute 2-room accomodation Cafe & Stay Moana it was about a 10mins drive to the airport and 20mins to the city centre. The village of Shiraho was about a 2mins drive, great for yoga at Le Lotus Bleu.

The first day we toured the island at a casual pace. Lots of beautiful nature to see and plenty of cafes to stop at.

The restaurant above / below is Garden Pana.

Worthwhile mentioning was our dinner where we tried the famous Ishigaki beef:

The second day we took the short ferry over to Taketomi Island which was very unique due its houses as well as being car free. While we thoroughly enjoyed our visit, we just happened to be there the same day as one of the large AIDA cruise ships which spilled several hundred (if not more) tourists onto Ishigaki, many of which joined a tour to Taketomi.

Way to see it was already time to say goodbye and head back to the airport for our flight to Hong Kong and then back to Europe. While Ishigaki might not quite have as beautiful beaches or the beach vibe other destinations in Southeast Asia have, it is a very good location to unwind for a couple of days. And if you know where to go, it is also very easy to escape the masses.

Approaching Hat Yai

We had not read too many raving reviews or reports on Hat Yai, so our expectations were fairly low. All in all, I would say the low expectations were met. It is a tourist hotspot for mainly Malaysian (weekend) tourists with tons of massage places (I’ve never seen such a density of massage places in my life). What did positively surprise me was the lively scene of hipster coffee shops and restaurants as well as our hotel (La Pause).

The next morning we left early for Koh Lipe. Getting there is a bit of a hassle but supposedly you’ll be rewarded with the Maldives of Thailand. Works for me. You have to catch a ferry from Pak Bara which is about 1.5 hours from Hat Yai. We were going to take a minivan but when our Uber driver from the airport (Uber had just started a week prior) offered to take us for THB1’000 (EUR26), we went for the extra convenience.

There are a few ferry operators and we ended up choosing Satun Pakbara as they allowed online bookings.

Boarding at Pak Bara Pier

Just over half way, we stopped at Koh Khai Nok for some photos. Some of the fellow passengers went all in on photos. Admittedly, it is a pretty island.

On the speedboat ferry

Approaching Koh Khai Nok

Koh Khai Nok

From there it was a short hop to our destination, Koh Lipe. We stayed for two nights at Mali Sunrise Resort which meant another transfer to the other side of the (small) island. Shortly before noon we had finally made it but it was definitely quite a journey to get here.

Considering the difficulty of reaching the island, it did not feel that remote. The beach is covered with hotels, although not large resorts. Pretty much everyone on the island seems to directly or at least indirectly live off tourism judging by the amount of (almost exclusively) Western tourists.

We spent the next two days just lazing by the beach, walking along the beach and swimming in the Andaman Sea. Comparing it to the Maldives might be accurate when looking at the water color but on Koh Lipe you can be sure that you’re never alone (which at times comes at the expense of the romantic factor of the island).

Sunset on Koh Lipe

Sunset on Koh Lipe

Koh Lipe

Stocking up on Instagram posts on Koh Lipe

Lots of chilled out bars along the beach

Happy Hour on Koh Lipe

The Good Life

Mali Sunrise Resort

All in all we weren’t blown away by Koh Lipe. Sure, it’s a stunning island. But we thought the premium you pay for the remoteness wasn’t worth it; mainly due to the sheer amount of tourists. Also, there are construction sites everyone, so it is unlikely to get better anytime soon.

On our departure day, we again had to everything in reverse. Starting with the ferry to Pak Bara.

Koh Lipe Immigration Office – taking a ferry to Malaysia (Langkawi) is actually faster than Pak Bara

Speed Boats waiting for the morning run to Pak Bara

Everything worked out well and we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare to catch our flight to Singapore.

Koh Samui has been a tricky one. Bangkok Airways has a monopoly on the route. Actually, they have pretty much a monopoly on every route out of Koh Samui Airport (USM), which makes the flights obscenely expensive. Fares for the 90mins flight start at ~SGD500. Crazy if you can consider that you could instead fly to places like Langkawi or Phuket for under SGD200.

SGD492 for a Fri-Sun evening flight to Koh Samui

Fortunately, a while ago I stumbled upon a Japan Airlines Mileage Bank promotion whereby you could get discounted Bangkok Airways tickets using their miles. The cost depends on the total distance of your ticket, with Singapore-Koh Samui-Singapore falling into the middle bracket (2*624 miles):

Award chart for Japan Airlines Mileage Bank on Bangkok Airways

I had booked the trip last year in October to get away from the haze. Well, it was so bad that on my day of travel, the haze went all the way across Thailand and covered Koh Samui so that the flight ended up being cancelled. At the time, the trip was 8’000 miles which were then refunded. When I booked again this year, everything went smooth until someone from Japan Airlines called four days after booking to inform me that the price had risen to 10’000 miles effective April 1, 2016. Well, great. They could have mentioned that when booking the ticket. In the end they just let it through with the lower price as it was obviously their fault. On top of that, I still had to pay government and airport taxes (fair enough) as well as fuel surchage (SGD108 – what a joke) for a total of SGD172… despite using miles, you still pay around as much as a regular ticket to another beach destination can cost you.

I was excited to try Bangkok Airways to see what service is like on-board such an expensive short-haul flight. They fly twice daily on the Singapore-Koh Samui sector. Our flight was right on time with a very light load (<50%).

On-board PG’s A319 SIN-USM

We left Singapore Changi Airport’s Terminal 1 and taxied past all the European carriers who had just arrived.

View of Changi Terminal 1.

On-board service was quite extensive for such a short flight and after so many legs on low-cost carriers, I wasn’t really used to getting a full meal anymore.

Bangkok Airways meal Singapore-Koh Samui

We landed on-time at Koh Samui and were ferried to the terminal in the unique trolleys that I’ve only seen at this airport:

Disembarking Bangkok Airways

Koh Samui Airport trolley busses

Unfortunately immigration was bad. Apparently we had just landed after Bangkok Airways’ Hong Kong and Chengdu flights which seemed to have way better load factors than our flight. It took us over half an hour to get through. Once in Thailand, we were greeted by the local taxi mafia. So we just walked a few meters passed the airport gates and found a friendly family that drove us the 5km to our accomodation, Imperial Boat House in Cheong Mon.

I chose Cheong Mon because I read it is a bit more laid back but still close to the airport. The hotel was a typical four star resort and was well maintained. Guests are mostly from the PRC and Germany.

Imperial Boat House room

Imperial Boat House swimming pool

Breakfast at Imperial Boat House

Cheong Mon is a relatively short beach (maybe 1km), yet still full of hotels. However it doesn’t feel super crowded and it’s very clean (both water and beach).

Cheong Mon

Cheong Mon

Cheong Mon

It was interesting to see the difference in prices between an non-touristy beach in Thailand (Rayong Province) and Koh Samui. A coconut for example was more than double the price (50 vs. 120 Baht).

There are a number of watersport activities on offer as well dozens of massage places on the beach.

Saturday evening we went to Chaweng, the main beach. What a disappointment, at least at night. The main street is fully of tailors, massage parlors and not very appetizing restaurants (nothing authentic Thai really). In between are the typical Thai bars with some Thai ladies and lots of elderly farangs. Needless to day, I was not impressed at all. To the extent that it’s not worth showing any photos here.

On a run in the morning, I ran passed Wat Plai Laem and Big Buddha.

Wat Plai Laem

Big Buddha

Since it was really just a short weekend away, I spent most of the time at the beach and didn’t really explore the island. Maybe it would be worth hiring a scooter next time.

Flying out of Koh Samui was interesting, as the airport is a bit of a unique concept, with everything being open-air.

View towards the runway at Koh Samui airport

After check-in, you walk through what reminded me of a US open-air shopping mall.

Shops at Koh Samui airport

After immigration and security, Bangkok Airways has set-up some courtesy snacks and drinks for its passengers.

Courtesy snacks

It was pretty funny that the snack shop next to it had to put up big signs that this is “not free”.

Not a courtesy corner

Traffic at the airport is very boring with almost all flights being operated by Bangkok Airways. I saw one interesting exception though:

Tibet Airlines operating Koh Samui – Chengdu?

Bangkok Airways Koh Samui – Singapore

The flight back was uneventful and right on time.

View after take-off

Where would I rank Koh Samui? Well, to be honest I was a bit disappointed (#firstworldproblem). But judging by the price Bangkok Airways charges, I was somehow expecting a bit more of a pristine island maybe? But instead, Koh Samui is full of resorts with nothing left untouched really. It really caters for mass tourism and hence it wasn’t easy to find good authentic local food and you can tell that the locals are very much used to large numbers of foreigners coming to the island. If you are paying full fare, I think there are better beach destinations to fly to our of Singapore.

It took us about 30 minutes by boat from Labuan Bajo until we reached the 20 room resort. We spent the next two days relaxing at the beach, going snorkeling at the reef just off the coast and watching the beautiful sunrise and sunsets. There is a small village on the other side of the island that provides the hotel with fresh fish every day.

While not cheap, we really enjoyed our stay and it was a great way to end and otherwise also fantastic trip. Highly recommended.

Seraya Hotel

Seraya Hotel

Our room at Seraya Hotel

I guess these folks paid even more per night than us

Kids at the local village on the island

Sunset on Seraya Kecil

Sunset on Seraya Kecil

Sunrise on Seraya Kecil

Sunrise on Seraya Kecil

U-Tapao Airport. Probably doesn’t ring a bell for most of you. In terms of passenger volumes it is tiny with 2-3 daily domestic flights to Phuket, Koh Samui and Chiang Mai. In addition Air Asia has been flying to two destinations in China. Recently they expanded to Kuala Lumpur, and as of last weekend, also Singapore. The fares were too good to give it a pass and the flight schedule perfect for a weekend getaway (departing Singapore 9pm on Friday and arriving again Sunday at 8pm).

The airport has been branded Pattaya / U-Tapao International Airport due to its proximity to the famous beach town. Somehow Pattaya is associated with elderly Westerners coming for some younger loving and has a reputation of being a sleazy place. Whether true or not, I wasn’t too keen to find out and decided to look for alternatives. Going east from the airport, Rayong province has a range of supposedly nice beaches. The most obvious choice would be Koh Samet, an island known for being quieter yet not less beautiful than some of its raucous Thai counterparts elsewhere in the country. One would have to catch a taxi to the pier in Ban Phe (approx. 1 hour), followed by a 30mins speedboat transfer (24 hour service). While doable, I decided against it due to the late evening arrival at 10.30pm.

Looking for alternatives, I settled for Mae Ram Phueng, a beach close to Ban Phe on the mainland. Researching for accommodation, it didn’t seem very developed with only few decent accommodation options and ended up booking the Ohana Resort.

The flight was uneventful until the arrival. The fact that Air Asia has two aircraft based at U-Tapao that both arrive around the same time for their night stop meant that the immigration officers were slightly overwhelmed with over two hundred passengers arriving within a short period of time. After a nearly 45mins wait and a 1 hour taxi ride, I was finally in Mae Ram Phueng shortly after midnight.

Mae Ram Phueng

The one and a half days were spent lazing by the beach. I can only say good things about it. It is clean and beautiful. There are no palm trees but pine trees instead. The beach is lined up with deck chairs and umbrellas. Every few meters there’s a seafood restaurant and I’ll have a separate post on that.

Coconut for about €0.80 and an ice-cold Singha for a little over €2

The local dog day-care center?

Long stretches of beautiful beaches

And very clean when we were there

Rooms at Ohana Resort

Mae Ramphueng is perfect for a weekend if you just want to have your quiet and relax. There isn’t much to do there however. You could go check out the nearby cities of Ban Phe (which has an aquarium) or Rayong. Best would be the rent a scooter as public transportation is difficult to come by. I wanted to go to a nearby restaurant on Saturday and was unable to find a taxi even with the hotel’s help. The tourist infrastructure is almost non-existent, barely any massage places. And the nightlife didn’t seem very inviting either.

Tempting but we skipped this party

If I do return, I’d probably check out Pattaya and see for myself whether it lives up to its reputation.