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Friday, January 28, 2011

Kho phi phi

Docking at Kho Phi Phi
Email access here is expensive, but I'm at a bar on Kho Phi Phi (Pronounced Pee Pee) that has free wi fi. Phi Phi i is beautiful with the typical pitfalls of travelling to any exotic country. You have to count your change here. There are always little mistakes of 10 baht here or there. There are mysterious surcharges for everything (apparently they're learning from the banks and airlines, evil bastards. The scenery is breathtaking. Check out "the Beach" featuring DiCaprio and you can see some of it. Amazing. We stopped at the beach where they filmed it.
Pat's Girlfriend Anna, her sister and 2 friends as we arrive to KPP

2 days ago 6 of us did a day long boat tour. We went to monkey island and saw a monkey. To be fair it wasn't called monkEES island, so one monkey was all we are entitled to. A very calm old man sat in a tree there and switched his tail as tourists took photos and offered pieces of fruit, which he took politely. Especially for a monkey.


Next we were ferried to a small rock formation in the water near out hotel. Some of our group had snorkelled there the day before without trouble. This day however, the current was heavy and a few of us made the mistake of getting too close to the coral. We ended up pushed against the rock which is covered in razor sharp fragments. People often say things are razor sharp when describing something. Let me assure you, there is no mistake that you could shave with the ancient pieces cemented to the rock. Each of us is covered with tiny cuts on our hand and legs. I cut my finger and knee quite badly. Fortunately I had band aides and polysporin in my pack (thanks mom, most intuitive and fortuitous Christmas stocking stuffers ever!!) everyone is fine and lesson learned. My underwater camera leaked and is destroyed, but I think i've managed to save the pics....we'll see. The water here is amazing and the underwater life is incredible to see in person.


We patched our wounds on the way to the next island where we lunched and chatted. An hour later we were off to another snorkelling spot. Each one is better than the next here. Fish, coral, and unidentified sea creatures of unimaginable colours grace the waters here. Its stunning. On the way home was passed billion year old rock formations standing hundreds of feet high above the water. the waves have worn away their bases to the point they look like they'll collapse under their own weight in a few millenium.  They cut the engine as we passed the last cliff buoyed in the middle of the sea to watch a perfect sunset. Not a bad day. We were home by 7, everyone was out by 9.






A few nights ago we drank at a bar that had a fire show. Mostly flaming sticks twirled at an impressive speed. We drank buckets of the smoothest whisky ive ever tasted for 9$ a bucket. I've never been so happy. The evening ended with a flaming hoop set up a the high water line. I was the first to jump through while the flames were still raging. I flung myself through into the ocean through a ring of fire. Pretty cool stuff.

One of the many "bus stations" you stop at when taking an
overnight bus anywere. There's a lizard
over the sign
Now, its a boat to Krabi and a bus to bangkok that will take 14 hours. Then I fly to Chiang Mai to meet the rest of our group tomorrow afternoon. They had previously made plans to fly there from Phuket, but I couldn't get a fly, so I'll fly from Bangkok, which is fine with me. Plus I don't have to pay for a hotel tonight because I'll be on a bus. Busses are airconditioned, rooms aren't always. I haven't had one here that is.

Anyway, we are all well, the weathers nice and we're having a great time.
Luke

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