Three days to catch up... here we go!
As you know, we abruptly decided to head down to Phuket on Friday. We were totally ready for something completely different. So everybody spent Friday making a way down to the islands. Phuong and Katie left late and took an overnight bus to Bangkok and flew to Phuket. Shirley and I took the lazy route by flying to Bangkok and then Phuket.
At the Bangkok airport, Shirley and I came across some (suspiciously looking) spaghetti bolognese, exuberantly priced at 240 bahts (about US$8), which is approximately five times the price of a typical Thai dish in most places. We both ate it in an attempt to appease our withdraw symptoms. It tasted amazing. Katie would not approve.
Since we arrived at Phuket province before Phuong and Katie, we stayed at a hotel (Karon Living Room) in Karon (after surviving a memorable rip off attempt from the private transportation company at the airport--ask me for details). Our hotel was the first (and really only) full-blown hotel accommodation. We noticed two prominent things about it:
- We had our own TV! In commemoration, we (partly) watched some James Bonds movie. Coincidentally, I later found out an earlier James Bonds movie was shot at one of these islands!
- The Japanese are well known for their amazing efficiency--especially in the automotive industry. Well, even Toyota's CEO's jaw would drop when he found out the Thai found a way to shit, shower, and shave at the same time!
Note: I later found out that our subsequent accommodations provided similar convenience:
On Saturday, Shirley and I went to Karon beach. On the walk there, we came across multiple interesting signs. Two that stood out: "We serve coffee, tea, and breakfart." and "Porn Beauty Salon and Massage." I think the word "Porn" actually means something different in Thai, but I didn't get any help from google.com, which returned what you would expect.
The beach itself was nice, although not much more memorable than the one I saw in Rio the year before. Shirley and I played arithmetic and word association games. During lunch, we had an unmatchable banana shake.
We then took a bus downtown to meet up with Phuong and Katie at our next hostel (Phuket Backpackers).
Unfortunately, we took the bus to the wrong stop, which resulted in an aggravating hike (carrying our backpacks) including failed attempts at getting directions from puzzled locals.
Upon arrival, I must admit I was a bit appalled at our room:
Note: We ended up moving to another room because one of our fans was broken.
Today was (in my opinion) our best day in the trip. This morning, we came to Phi Phi (pronounced "pee pee"... hehe) island where we proceeded to find some (air-conditioned) rooms (500 bahts or about US$16 a person). Phi Phi is prety expensive, but I personally think our haggling skills have been impressively sharpened throughout the trip!
Here's how each of the two rooms looked like:
I particularly liked our door locks:
We took an awesome sunset boat tour around the surrounding islands. Here are some attempts to capture the encompassing beauty:
Phuong noted that although the temples we previously saw were amazing, they were also what was expected from seeing them in photographs. The natural beauty from these islands, however, is impossible to be experienced through mere two-dimensional photographs. Instead, you have to be there to not only see everything around you, but to also feel the sun and breeze on your skin, and to be able to smell the water and sand.
During the tour, we also went snorkeling, kayaking, and diving off the boat--the last being questionably safe.
While we snorkeled, the locals threw food crumbs near us, which caused swarms of fish to rush right there next to us. The feeling of their brushing against our skin was kind of strange. Shirley attempted grabbing some of the fish, but their fins proved to be faster than her hands.
Phuong and I kayaked under some overhangs where we spotted some crabs. They proved to be shy as well.
We spent some time at a beautiful island (where apparently they shot some movie with Leonardo DiCaprio) and the locals proceeded to kick the tourists' asses in soccer. I made a goal against my own team.
At night, I found an awesome original oil painting by a local artist (whose name escapes me). He based the painting off two photographs (both printed in National Geographic). Here are the original photographs:
Marakesh by Matthias Stolt
Tuareg by Pascal Maitre
Here I am next to the painting with receipt in hand:
The sellers considered the photograph strange. I considered it proof of purchase in case the painting goes missing on its way to California.
The painting cost a total of US$261.56 including shipping and credit card surcharges.
At night, Phuong and I watched an awesome fire show. The easiest way to describe it is this. Imagine ravers dancing with glowsticks attached to strings:
Now replace the glowsticks with fire:
Note: Random photograph stolen from the web.
One of the performers also used rods with fire on both ends.
For better or worse, the music consisted mostly of American rock, pop, and some sort of techno.
Unfortunately, my camera was out of batteries. But once again, photographs would do injustice to the original performance.
A while back, my roommate Andy noted how in break dancing, even the best dancers have a hard time keeping in beat as they do the more advanced (acrobatic) power moves. But during the fire show, the performers always performed to the beat, even as they tossed and juggled the fire, accurately changing tempo with the music. One of the performers would "spit fire" (i.e. vodka into flames) at climactic moments in the song. Bartenders in the States look cheesy and unimpressive attempting the same.
As a grand finale, all performers went up front together. The trails of light from the fire made an amazing contrast against the night's background of darkness. I only hope to keep these memories forever.
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