Countries : 1
Cities : 4
Massages : 2
Time away : 13 days
Books read: 3
Phi phi, what a lovely setting! Arriving by boat, watching the bluey turquoise water split and foam into Colgate white while the searing sun hits the sea happily blinding you and stinging the skin only to be refreshingly washed away with the gentle sea breeze. Contrast this with the cattle farm greeting you receive when you reach the island as thai after thai attempt to gain your interest in their lodging.
Its a complex issue really the westernization of such a beautiful place, it still holds its beauty but if it carries on then phi phi is in danger of losing the greatness nature bestowed upon it.
We found a nice and cheap bungalow to stay in. I say cheap but i mean it only in the context of phi phi as things here cost much more than you would expect in mainland Thailand and especially after coming from the sleepy town of Pai this was a bit of a shock.
This is where I had my second unknown roommate in two weeks, Hassan but luckily for me he was a nice enough guy.
The first night we decided or were kinda forced to go to the beach and party up a bit. I ended up being a bit pleasantly surprised at the drum and bass and dubstep (playing stuff I have in my collection but never heard out like printer jam!) they were blaring out instead of the regulation hip hop and rnb I expected. The night sky started off clear with white beacons lighting the beach as well as a big screen TV showing the liverpool match v birmingham which we won 5 - 0.
Two of my favourite things in the world great music and great football (I use great loosely here as the goals were shocking at times) seemingly fuelled my mood for the night and as lighting flickered in the horizon it held the start of a awesome night. What happened next was a spray of rain, gradually getting heavier until it was monsoonesque. Most clambered to safety under thatched roofing but no, the rain wouldn't stop me and me and the others danced the night away in the rain.
The next morning and thinking maybe the island would have been flooded due to the torrential nature of the rain but nope there was no trace of the storm from the night before, as if it had been imagined.
This day settled for a chill out day and we ended up heading to Long beach, much less heaving with sun tanning bodies and better for swimming, only a short longboat trip away or a 30 minute hike through the mountain foliage. There we sat, swam to cool down and snorkelled. Quality day.
I havent mentioned much of the food in my blog and I fear if I do when I read this back I'll ache to be on the next flight back here. You see the food is amazing, generally pretty cheap but just incredible and for a Foodie like me a bit dangerous to both wallet and stomach. Who knows what shape I'll end up being when I get back, oblong or pot bellied would be my guess. Try everything there is to offer from phad thai, thai green/red/yellow curry, tom yam soup etc and the various combinations of them with pineapple or cashews or shrimp or duck or chicken etc. And now my mouth is salivating just thinking about the choice of dinner tonight.
Anyway that night we went to the beach again to enjoy ourselves again bearing in mind our trip the next day. It started off a sober affair with us watching a fire show which many of the bars have (which the girls claimed where the equivalent of a guy going to a strip club...hmm). After this they brought out a neon skipping rope which is infact coloured lighting tubes that many used to decorate their homes at Christmas. On completion of this participants were given shots.
Once over the limbo started, again rewarding those successful with shots, then buckets of alcohol then bottles. Now this is where we won a few buckets with mine and Halleys amazing limboing skills and it started off another quality night.
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