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Published: August 7th 2006
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I just got back from a boat trip over to the Koh Phi Phi Islands. I signed up for a snorkeling/lunch/boat tour of the islands and then stayed the night on Phi Phi Don which is the largest of the group. The tour van picked me up from my hotel at 7am (lucky me-I was the first pick-up), over to pick up a British couple, and finally one last stop for the last of the group. The last stop was by far the most interesting since as we pulled up to the lobby, we could hear a lot of commotion and the three of us in the van were trying to figure out which ones exactly of the 3 guys and 3 Thai girls playfully wrestling with several backpacks were going with us on the tour. Finally we saw the guys kiss the girls "bye bye!" and stumble into the van. Once seated, I couldn't resist commenting that it looked like they had had a good night. The the couple and I were forced to listen to the 3 of them rehash to each other the drunken details of their first forrary into prostitution with Thai girls who couldn't string together
Phi Phi Don
The big island a complete sentence in English (nor these American boys who looked to be about 20) between the 3 of them. I ran into those guys 3 or 4 more times on the islands and then in the Phuket airport flying up to Bangkok afterwards.
Snorkeling was cool. The ferry took us close to the shore and then we hopped onto a speedboat to get closer to the edge of a coral reef. It felt like I was in the middle of a really big fish tank, with mostly blue and yellow fish swimming all around me and right in front of my eyes.
Back on Phi Phi Don, I walked over to a beach on another side of the island and I was looking at the kayaks for rent. This Irish guy walked up to me who had been having a beer and asked if I was interested in kayaking. I said I was thinking about it...maybe for tomorrow. Next thing I knew he had placed my bag in a dry sack on a kayak, told me the price and that I could pay later, stuck a snorkel gear set on the kayak as well saying it was
Lady Boy Cabaret
Traditional Thai dancing with a twist only a dollar more and helped me push the kayak into the water. It totally took me by surprise because I hadn't realized he was working there since everyone else had been Thai. As I got in the kayak, a bit dazed, I asked "Do you work here?" He laughed and said "yeah." He told me to go around the corner of the island where there was good snorkeling. I paddled on out. It felt good to finally get some exercise for my arms. I was a little nervous about hopping out of the kayak to snorkel since my bag wasn't secured down on the boat, but it didn't tumble out. I saw a few fish since there was a little reef there, got back in and paddled on. I went past a beautiful solitary strip of white sand beach.
Walking around Phi Phi Don was similar to Kata Beach in that it was just for tourists, but the nice thing about it was the absence of cars and motorcycles which made it very peaceful. I found a room to rent that was a one-minute walk to the beach. That night I had a nice seafood dinner, and then
Lady Boy Cabaret
Right after the tourist tongued her in front of his girlfriend went to a bar where a lady boy cabaret was advertised. I hung out with a couple of British girls there while we watched the show, which was very entertaining. There was lip-synching to popular Thai and Western songs with elaborate costumes, and I finally got to see some traditional Thai dancing, but by the lady boys of course. After that, I wandered towards my hotel to another bar on the beach where I got to see the end of a fire show. I only caught the grand finale, where a group of about 6 guys and 1 girl were juggling torches in the air. It was pretty cool. Somebody I talked to said it had been going on for an hour and a half. After it ended, the fire dancers cleared off to drink the bottles of whiskey that their fans bought for them at the bar and the whole place turned into a dance party on the beach. I went to the bar to buy a water, and a conservatively dressed lady boy asked me if that was what I was drinking. I said yes, and she invited me to have a drink with she and her friend.
It turned out that she was on vacation from Indonesia with her friend (an actual girl) from Malaysia. This island was their favorite party spot and it was the 4th time they had been there this last year. They were really fun girls and I ended up hanging out with them the rest of the night. Unfortunately I drank too much since they had brought 6 bottles of hard alcohol with them to the island and wouldn't let me buy anything beyond a couple of cans of coke as mixers. That's the way people in Thailand drink at bars-they buy a bottle of liquor as a group from the bar, set up a table, and periodically refill their ice bucket and mixers. It's way cheaper that way but not practical for two people.
The next day, as I sat down on the packed ferry for the hour journey back to Phuket, the attendants handed each person a plastic barf bag. Not a good sign. The seas had been choppy since it was rainy season and it had been rough going over, but luckily it wasn't any worse coming back.
Wendy and I went out in Patong Beach that
Beach party
Can you guess which is the boy? night but it was far from stellar since the dance club was filled with old/ugly men already with Thai prostitutes or on the hunt for them. It was a large club and we were 2 of maybe 5 total foreign women in the place. We called it an early night and decided to eat street food instead which actually improved things several points.
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