Well, well being in Beijing at the mo its a bit difficult to remember all the way back to the glorious days of Koh Phangan but let me just say that it was, well, amazing. Jo and I arrived after choosing to take the night ferry route leaving Koh Phi Phi at 2p and arriving Koh Phangan 7 or 6am don't really remember but it was quite an adventure. Ferry out of Phi Phi included Shakira singing over random scenes of Thailand with "whenever, wherever" was spell binding. Also the movie that they decided to play which i dont know what it was but it was good. Some horrible alligator dinosaur in Australia but it was a Thai movie. Makes you respect the entertainment we get in the States. There was a fairly uneventful bus ride across the peninsula with the usual stops at random food places that the bus driver's sister owns or some such nonsense. We ended up being the only ones going to Phangan so by about 8 we head to the pier for the 11p ferry ride which is like 7 hours when the normal ferry is about 2. We get on and check it out and there are some mats on the floor as expected per Estob's email but it was a bit warm so we get off to walk about and check out Surat Thani a bit. Good fruit stands and food stands right there so we get some melon, pina, and banana and go to town on our dinner. Good stuff but too much sweet fruit makes you sick after a bit. Walked around a bit more and came across a German dude sitting there drinking Mekong and waiting for his friend. Hung out with him for a bit learning about his life since kindergarten, time in India (which Jo disagrees with by the way even though she was there 1 month and he 2 years), and all sorts of other random tidbits of knowledge. We invited a French chica over to join the party and she had the hardest name ever: Olepheus, or something along those lines. After a few drinks we boarded the ferry and found our mats and bags as we had left them and settled in for the night. Wasn't too bad. Had a good chat and laugh and slept alright but when they turned the lights on at 5am was a bit early still. Getting into Thong Sala, the port town on Phangan we found a ride to Haad Rin (the party town, oh yeah) and headed down. Upon arrival we headed to a place Jo knew was good bc of last year's travel so we headed but it was about 630 and nobody came out till about 7 or so. Got a room, broke a bottle of Mekong, and passed out. Haad Rin was nice but not as much party as expected. Saw fire shows and a few people but for the most part shopped around and had some meals. Laid on the the beach and watched soccer, read, and took it all in. Decided to Head to Thong Nai Pan Noi bc Jo had old friend there and I had to see Doc's land and the place he calls his 2d home.
Noi, as it came to be known was quite chill and just the place for us. Found a nice bungalow for 250 with the best view on the beach. Could see the whole thing from the porch bc it was at the end. Found good restaurants: Baan Pong's. Good bars: Flip flop. And met some cool people. Found our French friend again, met 2 of Jo's mates from Somerset, some Swiss, and tons of others I'm sure. Loved it. Found a sweet waterfall with good action and a crazy bar below that seemed to cater to those into mushys, took a trip around the island by scooter, against Ash's best advice, and had one hell of a go at the half moon party. The trip around the island was great with more waterfalls, tales of travelers wrecking scooters, a blind man getting coconuts, running out of gas, Jo yelling at me, and Sheesha a sweet all white bar in a crappy fishing village who had kick ass juice. That's all that we could afford there since it was probably the most expensive place in Thailand. Beautiful though with all white furniture that opened up to the beach and was quite elegant. The half moon night there was supposed to be one but we couldn't find a ride after dinner and drinks with some top notch Irish guys. A really wasted German dude stumbles in who is all smiles. Come to find out his name is Juergen and hes a pretty cool dude. About 35 with crazy long hair and just been down there drunk too long. Finally found a ride after searching the beach for 600 which we thought too expensive but seeing as how it was 1am there weren't many choices. We were told it may be canceled but nobody had ever heard of one being canceled so we pressed on. After a 40 minute cab ride of singing Thai reggae ("no war, I can't take anymore") we arrived to find no party. We, as well as the driver were all quite confused and disheartened after all the prep that went into the night. Jojo had the perfect outfit. We turn it around for the long bumpy ride back. Only bar open on Noi at 2am is the Thai karaoke bar with many gay guys and lady boys so what else would we do but pull up a chair. Turned out to be great with the 3 of us singing every half way English song in the book (all of 10 id say). Headed home to get a couple hours sleep because we had to catch a cab to get to the ferry at 10a. Kick ass. Next days after trying to obtain a ticket to Beijing for over a week with frantic emails to the States and to airlines I found a travel agent with the best price but the problem is when I finally saw the ticket it was for the wrong day. They got the people who issued it to fax the schedule and it was correct so i put blind faith in the lady who booked it because she showed us her gun that she used to protect herself from the crooked Thai police. Yeah, cool, good times.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Sunday, June 11, 2006
The REAL Beach
Let me first tell you all that this keyboard is absolute crap and there will be many mistakes. Well actually there will be none bc i like things done right but just know it has taken a lot of deleting to get this post in the current condition. I wrote the previous 2 posts at the Shanghai airport where i chilled most of the morning. Was a rather nice airport but they werent having any of me getting on an earlier flight and if you have a pint of Thai Whisky in your bag they will not be happy and will make you check it. Just some little tidbits for yas.
So back on PeePee or Phi Phi or whatever it is. The main island is Phi Phi Don and thats where the town is and the places to stay, dive shops, restaurants, etc. Then there is Phi Phi Ley and this is where the movie was filmed. Luckily they show The Beach every night so if you havent seen it then you can walk into any of about 10 bars or restaurants that will be simultaneously playing it. With DVDs for 80 baht ($2) they have them on everywhere. We saw MI3, Ice Age 2, and attempted Da Vinci Code a few times but never caught it right. Anyway we set up a sweet long tail tour around the island to see Phi Phi Ley and Bamboo Island and Monkey Beach and some other hotspots around that people like to see (ie Viking Cave). Yeah i know pretty tough to figure out names like those but they are cool places. Maya bay is where the movie was filmed and we went and checked it out for about 50 minutes bc at that point captain wanted to be moving on. Went and did some boat jumping and snorkeling, drove past Viking cave to take a picture and stopped at Monkey Beach. This place was crazy. Captain gave us bananas to feed them and they were nice but wanted the food pretty badly. They even swam out to get it - can you imagine a swimming monkey, ha. There was a german guy (the one who showed us down from the viewpoint) who happened to be on the tour and he was kneeling on the beach becoming one with nature but all of a sudden the food had run out and they were no longer happy. Quite a bad thing for this chap because after driving a scared lady into the sea they went after him and there were about 15 surrounding him and clawing at him and one bit him on the leg. He was, needless to say, freaked out the rest of the day. Quite interesting.
Had a sweet fried rice lunch and more beautiful beaach before bamboo island which has a lot of those beach pine trees that make me think of Jack Johnson. Anyway, walked around it a bit, i found a sweet tool that consisted of a stick a rock and a string. Dont know the purpose but it was certainly cool. Had a really cool snorkel seeing squid, triggers, and a whole lot of brightly colored fish. Really good water and really shows there is no need for diving.
Esto and John took off the next day for Koh Tao for some of that diving stuff and a change of scenery while Jo and I stuck around a few more days. They were rather uneventful but really nice w/ Jo learning new Poi tricks from some local guy who offered to take us climbing cheap too but it rained. Saw the Germans a few more times, lots of breakfasts at Garden Home which had a ton of pics from the Tsunami and how it was rebuilt. Did some shopping and then headed on to Koh Phangan to find Doc's land and a little bit of party.
Dont know how i can buy fake Ray Bans when i aam going to study (or here to study rather) intellectual property and world wide enforcement of things like trademarks. Hmm. Miss you guys.
So back on PeePee or Phi Phi or whatever it is. The main island is Phi Phi Don and thats where the town is and the places to stay, dive shops, restaurants, etc. Then there is Phi Phi Ley and this is where the movie was filmed. Luckily they show The Beach every night so if you havent seen it then you can walk into any of about 10 bars or restaurants that will be simultaneously playing it. With DVDs for 80 baht ($2) they have them on everywhere. We saw MI3, Ice Age 2, and attempted Da Vinci Code a few times but never caught it right. Anyway we set up a sweet long tail tour around the island to see Phi Phi Ley and Bamboo Island and Monkey Beach and some other hotspots around that people like to see (ie Viking Cave). Yeah i know pretty tough to figure out names like those but they are cool places. Maya bay is where the movie was filmed and we went and checked it out for about 50 minutes bc at that point captain wanted to be moving on. Went and did some boat jumping and snorkeling, drove past Viking cave to take a picture and stopped at Monkey Beach. This place was crazy. Captain gave us bananas to feed them and they were nice but wanted the food pretty badly. They even swam out to get it - can you imagine a swimming monkey, ha. There was a german guy (the one who showed us down from the viewpoint) who happened to be on the tour and he was kneeling on the beach becoming one with nature but all of a sudden the food had run out and they were no longer happy. Quite a bad thing for this chap because after driving a scared lady into the sea they went after him and there were about 15 surrounding him and clawing at him and one bit him on the leg. He was, needless to say, freaked out the rest of the day. Quite interesting.
Had a sweet fried rice lunch and more beautiful beaach before bamboo island which has a lot of those beach pine trees that make me think of Jack Johnson. Anyway, walked around it a bit, i found a sweet tool that consisted of a stick a rock and a string. Dont know the purpose but it was certainly cool. Had a really cool snorkel seeing squid, triggers, and a whole lot of brightly colored fish. Really good water and really shows there is no need for diving.
Esto and John took off the next day for Koh Tao for some of that diving stuff and a change of scenery while Jo and I stuck around a few more days. They were rather uneventful but really nice w/ Jo learning new Poi tricks from some local guy who offered to take us climbing cheap too but it rained. Saw the Germans a few more times, lots of breakfasts at Garden Home which had a ton of pics from the Tsunami and how it was rebuilt. Did some shopping and then headed on to Koh Phangan to find Doc's land and a little bit of party.
Dont know how i can buy fake Ray Bans when i aam going to study (or here to study rather) intellectual property and world wide enforcement of things like trademarks. Hmm. Miss you guys.
Koh Phi Phi 1
Where is Leo? Am I in a video game or am i going insane? These are the things running through my head as the crossing is being made out to an intensely mysterious island. Nobody goes there and there is a small community of travellers living there, killing fish, and stealing from the local marijuana farmer. This is my story.
Upon arrival i didn't see the enclosed bay or pot farm or picturesque beauty. Wait, i did see the last one. This place is beautiful. The rocky islands here are beautiful and the beaches not too bad either. Well getting off the boat we were surrounded by would be taxi drivers and bungalow renters but we had our own path to pave so after some discussion and a Roti for me we decided to go to Rantee Bay on the other side of the island away from all the people and noise. We hire a long tail and he takes us to some skanky place that he says is it but all it has are two old women who don't speak English and a mean, barking dog. We ditch out and head for the neighboring beach because we saw signs of life over there. After getting settled into some bungalows (Steve and John's w/o fan, ha) because there was only one choice we head to the beach and it is hot. After some intense Frisbee which would last the whole while on Rantee got some food and learned that the restaurant closes at 430. We plan to make the hike over the hill to town that night. After a long day in the sun and some good snorkeling right off the beach we realize that we really are alone. The other people that were here earlier in the day were just passersby on the tour boats who stop for the snorkeling. We get ready to head up to the viewpoint for sunset and start off not ready for the steep, muddy hike that followed. Jo decided it a good idea to take a malaria tablet on the way up so feeling nauseous she wants to throw up and nobody has any water or food. The sunset ends up being quite beautiful and we head down following some Germans that we end up seeing the rest of the time on the island. Stop off at the 2nd viewpoint and the colors keep getting better as any good sunset should. Head down and find a place called the Rock to eat and its an old boat that has been crashed perhaps by the tsunami. Pizza and beers and happiness for some curry and water for others. Walked around a good bit and found some fire shows which were bad ass and some pancakes. When it was time to go we went to the taxi boats and they wanted 600 when it was 300 earlier. We refuse and start to head back by light of one headlamp. We do end up making it with Steve leading and I in back with the torch. We experienced laughter, fright, and complete darkness on the walk. We tell our friendly Burmese bungalow owner and he is amazed we didn't see/trip over any brown snakes which are quite deadly. Smiling nervously we head to breakfast.
Another day on the beach and a decision to move to the main bit of the island that night. Maybe we aren't cut out for the intensity of being alone on a beach in southern Thailand.
Upon arrival i didn't see the enclosed bay or pot farm or picturesque beauty. Wait, i did see the last one. This place is beautiful. The rocky islands here are beautiful and the beaches not too bad either. Well getting off the boat we were surrounded by would be taxi drivers and bungalow renters but we had our own path to pave so after some discussion and a Roti for me we decided to go to Rantee Bay on the other side of the island away from all the people and noise. We hire a long tail and he takes us to some skanky place that he says is it but all it has are two old women who don't speak English and a mean, barking dog. We ditch out and head for the neighboring beach because we saw signs of life over there. After getting settled into some bungalows (Steve and John's w/o fan, ha) because there was only one choice we head to the beach and it is hot. After some intense Frisbee which would last the whole while on Rantee got some food and learned that the restaurant closes at 430. We plan to make the hike over the hill to town that night. After a long day in the sun and some good snorkeling right off the beach we realize that we really are alone. The other people that were here earlier in the day were just passersby on the tour boats who stop for the snorkeling. We get ready to head up to the viewpoint for sunset and start off not ready for the steep, muddy hike that followed. Jo decided it a good idea to take a malaria tablet on the way up so feeling nauseous she wants to throw up and nobody has any water or food. The sunset ends up being quite beautiful and we head down following some Germans that we end up seeing the rest of the time on the island. Stop off at the 2nd viewpoint and the colors keep getting better as any good sunset should. Head down and find a place called the Rock to eat and its an old boat that has been crashed perhaps by the tsunami. Pizza and beers and happiness for some curry and water for others. Walked around a good bit and found some fire shows which were bad ass and some pancakes. When it was time to go we went to the taxi boats and they wanted 600 when it was 300 earlier. We refuse and start to head back by light of one headlamp. We do end up making it with Steve leading and I in back with the torch. We experienced laughter, fright, and complete darkness on the walk. We tell our friendly Burmese bungalow owner and he is amazed we didn't see/trip over any brown snakes which are quite deadly. Smiling nervously we head to breakfast.
Another day on the beach and a decision to move to the main bit of the island that night. Maybe we aren't cut out for the intensity of being alone on a beach in southern Thailand.
Railey Beach
Upon arrival at this magical beach with sheer cliffs dropping into the blue lagoons far below Jo and I saw Steve-o with his ever popular mesh bball jersey and a book running up to the boat to help us offload. I thought this quite odd since it was only 9am but hey what are brothers for? He took us up to the seaview of viewpoint or some such bungalows in which he and John were staying and showed us the luxury of the rooms. One fan, one non-flush toilet, one hard pillow, and one shower with little to no water pressure. In case you dint know these are the kinds of things to look for when travelling. It really wasn't too bad so after a walk around to the west Railey and to Tranong beach (where the hard core climbers stay w/ no electricity it seems) we decided to stay at the same place. It had a pool for gosh sake!
Went and got some brekky at mom's the eatery that would take most of our business on the stay for the cheap and good eats and boy was it. Checked out the beach for awhile, Pranrong was the nice one with the views of the cliff islands dropping into the sea and caves and all that jazz. On the walk over there was a herd of monkeys that people started feeding so they started going mad and becuase of my fear, rather dislike, of monkeys i stayed a safe distance. In Ecuador a few years back i had a run in where a monkey stole my camera and was showing its teeth and wouldn't give the bag back. He was a real bastard so that is now how i feel about all monkeys.
Jo got her feet scrubbed and we chilled and napped and what not. That night was a sweet fire show being advertised so after a well negotiated dinner of fresh snapper at 35 baht per 100g (we actually didn't get them to change their price at all after 10 minutes of haggling) we headed down. At first there was the usual fire twirling with staff and poi but then came the fun with a muay thai fight (that we could see) and the cobra show. Woo scary. The Thai boxers were goofy little dudes who got drenched in water between each round and then hopped around. The water intensified the hitting sounds but there were a few knock downs. The guy in the red shorts had an interesting style keeping his pants pulled up with his thumbs and looking off into the distance (John says at him since he was sitting VIP) waiting for his moment to strike. I think he won but couldn't be sure because no blood was shed and no knockouts made. Afterward were the snakes and it was amazing what this guy could do with the things. He would stick his face in the snakes face and move it to and fro trying to intimidate the poor guy. To end the show he kissed the top of the its head to pin it to the ground before picking it up. Even more impressive was a boy of about 12 who had 3 snakes going at once and although they tried to escape and his partner had to save him once he was amazing to keep them all riled up and striking. He pinned one with his mouth and one with each hand to end his show.
Next night we found a pretty sweet little beach bar that we jumped in because the rain came out of nowhere. It was a downpour so we got stuck in this quarter moon bar with some Germans and a magic Thai. Yes, after playing a few games of connect four of which we were about 50% winners against him (yes, of course i won) he pulled out the magic show. He put coins through his arms hooked rings together and all sorts of crazy stuff. Loved it.
Went climbing with Nu since that's what people do in Railey. None of us had ever climbed before so we figured since we were all usually pretty good at stuff we were probably advanced beginners. Well after the intro climb in the rain we went ahead and did a 30m climb with a nearly sheer face for the last 7-8m. It was crazy but the view up there was worth it. Falling off didn't really seem to matter but i didn't actually until the last climb (cobra) where i kept falling even after thoroughly chalking myself. The crazy monkey was our fav and we got some good moves on there. This is the climb that John perfected his butt up maneuver that no other climber there had ever seen. It seemed to work for him so he did it on the next climb as well. Quite an intense and tiring day with the 4 climbs for 4 of us and rain and all that. Needless to say we were all quite sore the next day when we caught the ferry to Koh Phi Phi where 'The Beach' with Leo was filmed and the place in Thailand that was most devastated by the tsunami.
Went and got some brekky at mom's the eatery that would take most of our business on the stay for the cheap and good eats and boy was it. Checked out the beach for awhile, Pranrong was the nice one with the views of the cliff islands dropping into the sea and caves and all that jazz. On the walk over there was a herd of monkeys that people started feeding so they started going mad and becuase of my fear, rather dislike, of monkeys i stayed a safe distance. In Ecuador a few years back i had a run in where a monkey stole my camera and was showing its teeth and wouldn't give the bag back. He was a real bastard so that is now how i feel about all monkeys.
Jo got her feet scrubbed and we chilled and napped and what not. That night was a sweet fire show being advertised so after a well negotiated dinner of fresh snapper at 35 baht per 100g (we actually didn't get them to change their price at all after 10 minutes of haggling) we headed down. At first there was the usual fire twirling with staff and poi but then came the fun with a muay thai fight (that we could see) and the cobra show. Woo scary. The Thai boxers were goofy little dudes who got drenched in water between each round and then hopped around. The water intensified the hitting sounds but there were a few knock downs. The guy in the red shorts had an interesting style keeping his pants pulled up with his thumbs and looking off into the distance (John says at him since he was sitting VIP) waiting for his moment to strike. I think he won but couldn't be sure because no blood was shed and no knockouts made. Afterward were the snakes and it was amazing what this guy could do with the things. He would stick his face in the snakes face and move it to and fro trying to intimidate the poor guy. To end the show he kissed the top of the its head to pin it to the ground before picking it up. Even more impressive was a boy of about 12 who had 3 snakes going at once and although they tried to escape and his partner had to save him once he was amazing to keep them all riled up and striking. He pinned one with his mouth and one with each hand to end his show.
Next night we found a pretty sweet little beach bar that we jumped in because the rain came out of nowhere. It was a downpour so we got stuck in this quarter moon bar with some Germans and a magic Thai. Yes, after playing a few games of connect four of which we were about 50% winners against him (yes, of course i won) he pulled out the magic show. He put coins through his arms hooked rings together and all sorts of crazy stuff. Loved it.
Went climbing with Nu since that's what people do in Railey. None of us had ever climbed before so we figured since we were all usually pretty good at stuff we were probably advanced beginners. Well after the intro climb in the rain we went ahead and did a 30m climb with a nearly sheer face for the last 7-8m. It was crazy but the view up there was worth it. Falling off didn't really seem to matter but i didn't actually until the last climb (cobra) where i kept falling even after thoroughly chalking myself. The crazy monkey was our fav and we got some good moves on there. This is the climb that John perfected his butt up maneuver that no other climber there had ever seen. It seemed to work for him so he did it on the next climb as well. Quite an intense and tiring day with the 4 climbs for 4 of us and rain and all that. Needless to say we were all quite sore the next day when we caught the ferry to Koh Phi Phi where 'The Beach' with Leo was filmed and the place in Thailand that was most devastated by the tsunami.
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