Couple’s dream Thailand trip turned into a nightmare filled with rubbish and half-finished buildings

THESE holiday snaps from hell show how a couple's dream island getaway turned into a nightmare - filled with rubbish and half-finished buildings.

The couple spent £3,000 on the trip to Koh Lipe in the Andaman Sea - dubbed the 'Maldives of Thailand' - after falling in love with pictures of turquoise seas and golden beaches.

But the pair, who wish to remain anonymous, were stunned to find mountains of rubbish, building sites, a digger on the beach and dozens of half-finished hotels.

They even had a building site and green swamp at the back of their £80-a-night beachfront resort - and fires raging on the beach just 150 metres away.

And the stunned couple even had to put up with a digger ploughing up the white sands for FOUR days - causing noise until midnight.

The 35-year-old, a computer programmer from Ealing, West London, said: ''We booked the trip to Koh Lipe after seeing all the beautiful pictures online and reading reviews.

''There were some warnings about a rubbish problem but we could never have been prepared for the reality. The litter problem is crazy. Nobody seems to care where they throw their trash and they leave building waste lying around.

''We thought we'd be listening to the gentle lull of the sea, but instead there was a digger ploughing up the beach from sunrise until midnight, for three days straight.

''A building site on the beach front had fires raging, locals smoking and drinking, and hacked-down trees. It was like a scene from the apocalypse.''

The pair paid £600 each for flights to Thai capital Bangkok and a further £400 between them for travel to Koh Lipe.

They arrived at the Bundhaya Villas Resort on June 17 and paid £560 for seven nights in beach-front accommodation.

After paying for extra entertainment and food, the trip cost £3,000.

While the couple were happy with the hotel, they were plagued with problems every time they strolled outside.

Directly behind the resort was a man-made reservoir surrounded by tin huts and a sprawling building site.

Just 150 metres away on the beach front was a large unfinished building site with trees being chopped down and industrial waste burned round the clock.

And for four days from sunrise to midnight, a digger was driving on the beach carrying supplies and rubbish between the building site and huge trawler docked in the sea.

They counted at least a dozen more unfinished construction sites and several huge piles of rubbish including bags of cement and empty plastic bottles.

He added: ''The hotel was great. We can't fault that. But we'd like to warn other people thinking of travelling to Koh Lipe that it's not entirely the tropical island portrayed in the magazines.

''Walk around the outside the hotel and you will be in for a shock.''

Bundhaya Resort said there was a problem with rubbish on the island and construction work behind their hotel.

A spokesman said: ''In the Island there are volunteers to collect the rubbish and we help them with that.

''Every hotel on the island needs to fix the rubbish problem. We don't deny that. We know how important it is and if there's a lot of trash nobody will come and our business will suffer.

''Everybody tries their best to make the island a nice place to visit.

'In low season there is a lot of trash and building. There is a construction site behind us which is not nice for guests but this should be finished soon.

'The guests didn't complain to us."