So regardless, here we are in Phuket, Thailand. It is BANANAS here!! It's basically like New York and Vegas had a love child and it speaks Thai. We have been staying in Patong Beach which is as we are told, the craziest of all Phuket. We met up with our friend Nick from VT who happened to be traveling at the same time. It's been really nice to have a slice of home and another partner in crime but needless to say that after we part ways tomorrow, Nate and I will hang our livers out to dry for a while!
Thursday we left Patong for the night to head to Ko Phi Phi Don. It's about an hour taxi drive and then a 2 hour ferry ride there- upon which you get utterly drenched by the waves! Ko (island) Phi Phi is a star in it's own right as it's the place where Leonardo DiCaprio found his hidden paradise in "The Beach". Judging from the movie it's desolate and mystical. This may have been the case before Leo got off the boat, but now its completely overrun with all-night techno clubs, neon, neon, neon, tourist, hawkers galore and of course - glow sticks! There is a lot of garbage on the beach, maybe left on shore from party revelers or washed up from other islands? Nate took some time out of his morning to create a little art piece - 68 flip flops all lined up, washed up on the rocks by our bungalow!
Amongst all the madness there is still beauty to be found. If you look beyond the clubs, Phi Phi's landscape will take your breath away. Towering limestone cliffs drop down into azure water. Orchids grow rampant and the waves lap onto shore almost silently. Friday morning Nick and I enjoyed the BEST dang piña colada I have ever had (for breakfast of course) and then we all hopped on a long boat to take a mini tour of the island. The plan was to grab some pad thai (also the best I have ever had) for the second day in a row and then gran the ferry back to Phuket. Normal people would probably check the departure time in advance but no, not us. It's far more exciting when you sit down to order and see your ferry at the pier about to take off! Luckily we made it just as the ferry was about to pull back. That was only part of the adventure back home tho. When we got off the ferry, instead of taking a expensive taxi right off the dock like everyone else, we decided to start walking and see what we could haggle. After a few failed offers, as haggling is the name of the game here, we snagged 2 scooter taxis. While barely speaking english, they agreed (or so we thought) to take us the hour drive back to Patong. About 20 minutes in, our one eyed driver abruptly pulled over and told us it would be 3x more money to take us all the way!?! Huh? After a minor roadside freak out, he agreed to take us to the bus station instead. With less than 15 minutes to spare our little one eyed scooter driver hauled ass on his little pink machine and just barely (again) we caught the our ride! All in all it was an exciting day filled with long boats, ferries, scooters and buses - which we found out are the way to go from now on. A taxi for 500 baht vs. a bus for 25 ($1 US = 30.12 baht)
Back safe in sound in Patong, we now contemplate our next move. Most likely we will head to Ko Raya per Ben and Alex's recommendation. We are still in search of that majestical and quiet beach paradise where our only concern is tan lines! It seems like that may be the place.
Hope everyone had a beautiful thanksgiving! We were all fantasizing about our favorite holiday dishes as we gulped down pizza and pad thai. Pumpkin pie was the majority rule :)
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