Current music: Glitter by No Age
Thailand, Chapter 2
Phi Phi island is wonderful. Although it's very touristy, that was where we first were able to see the beaches that look like desktop wallpaper.
Our resort was called Phi Phi Hill, named for the horrifying hill that it stood upon. Even the fantastic view from the top of said hill cannot justify those stairs. We stayed in a wee little bungalow that was always filled with sand and completely devoid of hot water, which wasn't that big of a deal, considering how wonderfully hot is was.
Long Beach was lined with resorts, ours was the farthest down the beach. The resort restaurant was quite nice, and employed the only ladyboy that we encountered outside Patong Beach. Which is interesting, because I had always thought that there were ladyboys everywhere, but since we weren't in the cities, we didn't see as many.
The first full day there we spent lazing around the beach and exploring the area. Which is when I got a wicked bad sunburn that would eventually fade to a nice tan. We soon set up camp at the bar of a resort a few down from ours. Jane would come to name the place "Monkey Bar" for no reason at all, as there were no monkeys involved. But Monkey Bar it was nonetheless. Good times at that place, the bartenders were very happy people, and they were very skilled at fire limbo, and fire jump rope. They tried to get us to participate, but fire and I don't get along.
Current music: Holiday by Vampire Weekend
The next day, we decided to hire a longtail tax boat for the day to island-hop and go snorkeling. We found a very friendly taxi boat driver that agreed to be our guide for the day. He first took us to part of Phi Phi called monkey island, which was unsurprisingly filled with monkeys. The monkeys were very cute, and they let people come up right next to them, although one monkey was really fat and made me feel sad. All he does is eat bananas and sit there.
The longtail guy then took us to the most beautiful lagoon, which had to be the most scenic place that we went to. There were no other boats there, which was remarkable in itself, and we swam around for the longest time. After more boats got there, we decided to hop back in and find another place to snorkel. The water was clear enough to see all kinds of wacky fish and some really pretty coral reefs.
We next went to Phi Phi Lay island, which is about a half hour boat ride from Ko Phi Phi. This island is where they filmed the movie The Beach, sometime in the mid-90s. There was some controversy surrounding the movie, as it was claimed that the production damaged some of the natural landscape of the island, which I totally believe. But first things first, getting on to the island was a chore in itself, as we could not drive right up. We had to hop out of the boat, and grab on to a rope which was tied to a series of ropes, which were attached to the island. We had to navigate these ropes, while trying not to fall on the seaweed covered big rocks in the water and constantly losing our flip flops. And the rocks were covered in crabs. Maureen cut her foot open while trying to accomplish this, and even when we got to stable footing, it was in a big rock cave that we had to climb through.
Current music: Easy by Deer Tick
Once we made it to the beach, it was worth it just to say that we made it. It was as touristy as was expected, even though there is nothing on the island. There were locals that live on the island in tents, but no buildings. It was very pretty there, just like all of Thailand's beaches. After chilling there for a little bit, we trekked back to the boat and headed back to Long Beach and got a much needed dinner of spring rolls and pad thai. We went into the town for dinner and partying and much fun was had.
Preview of the next chapter: heading to Ko Lanta, elephant trekking, more snorkeling and Christmas Day!
Thing I miss of the day: Regular access to concerts that I can understand. There is a music festival here in April...but that's far.
It's starting to warm up again in Tainan. Happy.
Maureen is leaving forever this weekend. Sad.
Going for sushi tonight. Happy happy.
Everyone seems to be going to the Philippines but me. Sad.
Elyssa is getting married in 10 days. Happy.
Chinese New Year VACATION ON FRIDAY!! The most happy ever.
Night night.
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