Trip of a Lifetime

Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Leh, and The Toe

Hello everyone! Before I begin what will be a very long post, I'd like to apologize for not having posted sooner... I was, as most of you know, on Koh Phi Phi, a small island between Krabi and Phuket, in the middle of the ocean. Phi Phi got smoked by the tsunami, and when I arrived there, I saw some pretty amazing things... The internet there was very costly, and didn't always work very well, so I chose to simply check my email every few days, and wait until now to post! I could have put up a quick post on Phi Phi, but it would have cost me about a whole day's budget - kinda rough, but they just got the net back up recently. In fact, there were no working bank machines on Phi Phi until one day before I left. On arrival at Phi Phi, travelers are greeted with sights such as these http://www.geocities.com/spiker43924/IMG_1078.jpg http://www.geocities.com/spiker43927/IMG_1301.JPG The other thing you see right away is that there are people cleaning stuff up everywhere - a work force of a few hundred ex-pats (foreigners) manning shovels, wheelbarrows and sledge hammers, doing demolition work, cleanup, and then construction all over the island - and this work is urgently needed, as the Thais come back and try to put their lives back together. Some of the numbers are staggering. About 700 people were pulled from a large reservoir, that basically turned into a mass grave after the wave hit, with exactly one survivor amongst them. The more you hear about it, the higher the numbers seem to get. I volunteered for a few days there, about half the time I was on the island. There is nothing more satisfying than helping the people who need it most. The progress you see is almost immediate, especially since most projects involve more than 5 or 6 people. I worked on a few different things, including some cleanup and some demolition, and it was pretty hard work, especially since Phi Phi hits 35 or so every day - even at nights the island doesn't drop below 20. Speaking of nights... Guess what the volunteers do, every single night of the week, after putting in hours and hours of physical labor? I bet you already guessed it... They play connect four! Oh and they get really drunk as well. Never have I seen a group of people who work or party harder than the volunteers on Phi Phi. I've got the pics to prove it! What began as a normal night for us three travelers, Ray, Cal and Chris... http://www.geocities.com/spiker43924/IMG_1103.JPG Ended like so http://www.geocities.com/spiker43924/IMG_1152.JPG That's right, a mosh pit. There was this band that played at once of the few open bars there, called the Rolling Stoned - a fantastic Thai Cover Band, to be exact. They played all sorts of Iron Maiden and ZZ Top and Pink Floyd, all the old classics, and when they played Rage Against The Machine, well... Everyone went crazy! I actually got to play some drums later on at this same bar. Now, I have for you a new and exciting story. On one of these not-so-sober nights, I met these girls. http://www.geocities.com/spiker43925/IMG_1222.JPG They might seem like ordinary girls, but they are evil! Especially the one at the top of the picture - she is especially evil. Her name is Laura. We were playing a game of half inebriated soccer on the beach, and she kicked the crap out of my foot... Which made a very loud cracking sound after said contact. While I have no pictures of my toe Pre-Laura, I do have one picture of my toe Post-Laura http://www.geocities.com/spiker43926/IMG_1229.JPG Kinda nasty. Don't get me wrong, I have ugly hobbit feet anyway - but that toe, in this picture, happens to be broken and dislocated. I've also got a picture of the medic who set my toe, a really nice guy named James, from the States somewhere. http://www.geocities.com/spiker43927/IMG_1306.JPG He yanked on that tiny toe with all his might, popping it back into place, though it was - and is - still broken. Sounds crappy, but of all the bones to break, on my entire body... Could I have picked a better one? Doubtful. And here's the proof - look how happy I was with my newly broken toe! http://www.geocities.com/spiker43925/IMG_1223.JPG And it definitely didn't stop me from going to Phi Phi Leh the very next day! Phi Phi Don is where most of the population resides, the northern island, split into two bays with a big beach in the middle. Leh is another island just south of Don, and happens to be where they filmed most of the movie "The Beach", starring Leo Dicaprio. The exact location is called Maya Bay - What a gorgeous place. http://www.geocities.com/spiker43926/IMG_1244.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43926/IMG_1260.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43926/IMG_1265.JPG Apparently they digitally added mountains into the middle of the landscape to make it the secluded lagoon you've all seen in the movie. Not only was the beach absolutely stunning, but the marine life in the water was ridiculous - I've never seen so many fish in my life. Just ask Ray, who looks like he's being drowned by fish in this picture http://www.geocities.com/spiker43927/IMG_1278.JPG Callahan managed to get some underwater shots with his waterproof camera bag http://www.geocities.com/spiker43924/100_2170.JPG The fish looked nice, but our boat driver would throw rice at us while we were in the water, so the fish would swarm us and eat all the rice, while taking little bites of skin all the while - they didn't ever draw blood, it just hurt a little. All they wanted was the rice. In fact, when Ray decided to shove rice down my pants, the fish decided to swim up my pants to get the rice. What a wonderful friend! On the way back from Phi Phi Leh we encountered some large stormclouds, which of course did not raise any alarms with our fearless Thai captain. http://www.geocities.com/spiker43927/IMG_1285.JPG In fact, we stopped at another little beach on the way back to Phi Phi Don, where Cal, Reed, Jesse and Ray (All travelers I'd met earlier on in Thailand) were met by about 25 monkeys who were not pleased to have intruders on their beach. I don't really have any pictures of this occurrence, since I was resting in the boat, broken foot and all, and they were all running away from the monkeys. They also had a lot of fire dancing on Phi Phi, and it was the best I've seen, even better than Koh Pha-Ngan. http://www.geocities.com/spiker43925/IMG_1209.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43925/IMG_1213.JPG On the same night I took these pictures, I encountered one of the strangest occurrences I've ever experienced. It can be described using two beautiful words - free alcohol. Folks, let me first tell you that this story is not a joke, and I'm not kidding. The British Embassy, upon hearing about all the volunteering in Phi Phi, decided that the best way to help out - seriously - was to donate 5 thousand baht in free booze. Only the Brits... The thing is, Thailand refused foreign aid, and so this was basically the only way that they could help out. Besides, who doesn't like a bit of free alcohol here and there :) Well, after leaving Phi Phi, I took an all night bus to Bangkok, where I am now. I would have gone to Phuket a few days ago, but I was just enjoying Phi Phi too much to leave. So many fantastic people all in one place. I started this post at 6 in the morning, though I'm not exactly sure what time it is right now - the computer clocks in this country are consistently inconsistent. Here in Bangkok I plan on doing some major shopping before I hit Australia, since everything is so cheap here, and I'll send another package home which will probably arrive after I do. I need to buy a book or two for the plane - that's right, I've actually started READING BOOKS. If this doesn't confirm a complete change in my life, I don't know what would! I've read the Davinci Code, The Alchemist, Life Of Pi, and The Celestine Prophecies, as well as a couple beginner books about Buddhism. If any of you can recommend some good books that I should check out, it would be greatly appreciated! I also need to buy me a digital camera, since I'm not sure who I'll be traveling with in Australia. I'm meeting my friend Vanessa in Brisbane, but I'm not sure how long we'll be together, or what her plans are. I plan on making one last post before I leave Thailand, so there's no point in getting mushy quite yet - but I will surely miss this wonderful country when I am gone. The good thing is... I fly to Brisbane in three days!!! Spiker

posted by Spiker @ 4:02 pm