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Published: February 15th 2010
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from the main beach on phi phiLadies and Gents,
Happy (belated) Valentines Day & Chinese New Year! I am writing to you from Northern Thailand in a town called Chiang Mai. The internet cafe I am sitting in is open air, the temperature is about 85 degrees with bright blue skies, and a fresh banana smoothie is dripping with condensation on the desk. My friends, Geoff & Jake, joined me for this trip and we are on our 3rd day of a 9-day trip to see Pai, Bangkok, and of course, Chiang Mai. We went downhill mountain biking yesterday and were talked into doing an advanced run by the owner, who is a burly 49-year old American guy. This translated into multiple crashes all day. All three of us went over the handle bars a few times, but they outfitted us with big shin guards, elbow and arm pads, a chest protector, and helmet, so we only have a few scrapes and bruises. It was challenging terrain to say the least; steep drops, trees and stumps, and deep ruts from rain erosion. Never the less, it was a great ride! Tomorrow we are going to Pai; a small hippy town where you can ride elephants on
overnight treks.
Thailand has been amazing thus far, but I'll tell you more about this trip once it's over . . .
2 weeks ago I took a long weekend trip to an island known as Phi Phi, which is pronounced the same way a 3-year old child would describe urine; pee pee. Koh translates to island, so you hear a variety of names in reference to the same place; Phi Phi Island, Koh Phi Phi, and just plain Phi Phi. It is a beautiful island equidistant from the ports of Phuket and Krabi. I flew into Krabi and caught the ferry. I can describe Phi Phi Island with the following run on sentence; backpacker fueled, fist pumping, super commercialized, meat market, blast of a raging party with fire jump roping on the side, just in case you get bored.
Since this trip was just a long beach weekend from Friday to Monday, there isn't too much to write about. This entry is more about the photos, and videos, so check them out and let me know what you think. Here is a quick run down of the weekend:
Arrived in Krabi on Friday, caught the
last ferry to Phi Phi, tramped around to find the best hostel possible (our rating system uses the 3 C's; clean, cool, cheap) which turned out to be Oasis. At 500 Baht per night, $15, it did the trick. The big price difference in individual rooms is based on whether you have a fan or A/C. We opted for the fan.
Day 1 - Boat trip to Monkey Beach, the outer islands, Maya Bay where 'the beach' was filmed, and a view of the sunset between 2 islands.
Day 2 - Scuba diving! We went on 2 dives that each lasted almost an hour. We saw lion fish, leopard sharks, puffer fish, moray eels, sea slugs, and a sea snake. Diving gets better every time I do it. It is an addictive sport and I am already planning where my next dive trip will be, either Sipadan in East Malaysia - Borneo, or the Similan Islands in Thailand. Both are supposed to have spectacular visibility up to 40 meters. I've never had better than 15 or 20 meters, which is still quite good.
It's a party island, so yes, we partied. Like I said, not much to
write about, but have a look at the photos and videos and you'll get a good idea of how Phi Phi likes to get down. I am off to catch a mini bus to Pai and will continue to take plenty of photos and videos to share with you next time.
Cheers,
Adam
Here is a running total of the countries I have visited thus far since moving abroad.
Here is a running total of all the countries I have ever visited. 10%!i(MISSING)s a good start, but 25%!h(MISSING)as a better ring to it and that is my goal.
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Kimbo
non-member comment
Of course the picture I am most excited about is to see Dairy Queen exists on the other side of the world :) Right now in STL it's 20 degrees and snowing.