Ph**k Phuket! Phancy Phi Phi?

Phuket Sucks! Japan Rules !


Granted Phuket is beautiful, but it just was not my scene. Bought some tickets the next day and headed off to Ko Phi Phi. One of the many islands claiming stake in the movie "The Beach". The ride over the hill to the dock was quite beautuiful, hills of green against a back drop of turquoise and jade. The boat ride was boring, hot and long although the anticipation of arriving was enough to make it exicitng. We arrived in paradise only to be greeted by swarms of touts, trying to drag us to their spot. We eventually got suckered by a guy who made us walk way to far as people were zooming by on motorbikes with sidecars as we struggled though crowdes and uphill with our guy telling us "just a little more". After what seemed like forever we ended up at a nice place but were to infatuated with the idea of beachfront property to take it. Bad move on our part. We eventually settled on what seemed liek a nice place for more money which i can safely say now was one of the worst places ive stayed in. First things first. We hit the pool and beach. Next was dinner at the Bamboo Cafe for the best Thai food at so far. Tom Kah Soup and Cashewnut, Tofu & Chile with rice. Our staple. After that came drinking. FIrst at the "Reggae Bar" where we watched a fake fight with a guy who pretended to be our friend. He basically tried to sell us weed and then pretty much ignored us the rest of the time. We were just more rich "farang" entering and exiting his life. $$$
The "Muay Thai", if you could even call it that, was funny. Especially when they picked people from the audience to join in. In other words two really drunk white guys attempting to beat each other up in Muay Thai style. Turned out to be a nightly routine for them, not for us. We then headed next door to a happening spot, which was really just a sleazy joint offering free buckets to maintain a crowd. On to the real destination. Hippies.

Hippies was actually right across from our hotel, which turned out to be be a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that we could stumble home if we so decided, the curse being the bass thumping until 6:00 AM. That night we learned more of the Phi Phi doctrine. Buckets, Isrealies, and Fire Shows. All interesting at first, they became very lame or rude in some cases. Fire shows are standard practice everywhere in Thailand i would soon come to find out. Mezmerising if done right, extremely boring and cliche if not. I stood the thumping only until around 3:00AM while Matt may have seen the sunrise.

The next day came the sun and the beach. Quite nice. Lounging all day, Bamboo Cafe for meals and Hippies by night. Standard Phi Phi. Hell we even thought of leaving after 2 or 3 days but kept waking up past our checkout time. They wanted us to pay almost as much as our room to leave so we kept staying. Most of the weekend spent in Phi Phi was a hazey one. Matt even hung out with some Katuay one night. I believe the messed with him pretty good, cause they kept taunting him everytime we saw them on the island. Its pretty small.

With all its madness one musn't forget that Ko Phi Phi was also one of the areas hit pretty bad by the Tsunami. the signs are still quite obvious: buildings in ruins, whole areas of palms trees wiped out, plates still washing ashore, the boats dredging sand form the bay, piles of ruble, piles of trash etc. 1,300 people died due to the waves and im assuming that the island hasnt been the same since. Juding from the pictures and evidence it sure dosent look like it. Even our "friend" told us a story of him saving people as well as dealing with the dead. Strange enough, for a place in semi-mounring they need people to party there. In fact they want them to. Its their only real source of income.

When we finally escaped the vortex on a Monday on the last boat. We spent that day lounging on the beach watching the clouds roll in. We arrived to Krabi town and as usuall were ushered into a hotel for more than we wanted to pay. I remember hearing "railei". It took forever to find food that night, but we actually found a little night market with an english menu, cheap and delicous food. As I went to sleep that night, words lingered in my ear. Railee. Or was it Rai Lei? Turns out it was Rai Lay, it just sounds like the former.


NOTE - As for the current status of my whereabouts: Kyoto, Japan. Busy and Beautiful. Im sitting in a Ryokan style room with paper doors that have locks on them. My mothers sleeping, and Naomi is practicing her Kanji. Of course more on that later.

-Z