Koh Lipe Island by Carla Muguiro

We're very pleased to post our very first 'special report' by Carla Muguiro who recently spent her holidays in Thailand. This is the story she brought us back... (well, we got dried guava with chilli as a bonus, loved it!) Thank you Carla! 

Koh Lipe Island in Thailand is a tiny piece of heaven on earth - it is so small you can walk around it in less than an hour. Without the buzz of cars or roads, the calmness is pure and life is lived strictly around nature’s curfews. 25% of the worlds tropical fish species can be found around the island. We were spoilt rotten when it came to choosing our meals, it was fish paradise.

Mellowmango bar and restaurant provided us with all of our best meals. We waited for the fisherman every night at 6pm to return from his expeditions.  He saved us the best pieces while we went to shower after a hectic day of sunbathing, drinking mango daiquiris and dipping into the sea. Around 9pm we were seated at our favourite table, some nights we were literally dining and the waves would reach our toes underneath the table. Pictured below was our leaving lunch and we made it a big one: the most amazing Prawn Red Curry with rice and Prawn Pad Thai with some prawn fritters for starters (we worried we might never eat prawns again!). To top everything off, I managed to wash the meal down with a choco/banana shake, a really bad habit I picked up on the island - their bananas are small and taste like no other banana I have ever eaten - the shakes were made with crushed ice and since the bananas were already very creamy, no milk was added. 



Pictured above: Prawn Red Curry - Prawn Fritters - Prawn Pad Thai
Banana & Chocolate Shake at Mellowmango's

The island's speciality is Chao-Le Style (Sea Gypsy) and as the saying goes: "an image is worth more than a hundred words", I leave you with these: 

Chao Le Style and prawn obsession at Mellowmango's

The merlin is a typical fish from the area and also a national symbol. The catch must have been amazing that day because it was the only time we saw those two enormous fishes in the trophy-dish pictured below. However, the dish that most impressed us was the shark, the meat was incredibly tender and juicy.The sauce had secret ingredients which included lime but there was another intriguing, intense flavour we couldn't identify. We were told it was all top secret! I guess we'll never find out...



The Merlin and the succulent shark meat, pictured above.