Living in Paradise

The group split up again temporarily and Emily and I headed down to Koh Phi Phi while Claudia stayed behind to meet up one more time with our old travel buddy Calvin before he headed back to Canada and the real world again.





We spent four lovely nights on one of the nicest islands I've seen. Our guesthouse was situated on a beautiful beach in a protected bay with white sand and blue waters. Not bad.


The tides in the bay are amazing; I suppose because the level of the sand is so even the tides appear absolutely enormous. Around midday there is often only a few feet of beach, but by the middle of the night you can walk out almost 100 feet before you hit any water at all.





We spent most of the time being beach bums during the day and checking out the bars at night. We managed to run into Bella, a friend of Emily and Claudia's from home and her friend Lucy who were traveling around the world and celebrating Bella's 23rd birthday on the island which was a great reason to celebrate!


On our last day there the four of us went on a boat trip to explore the other beaches and the second island of Koh Phi Phi which has, among it's features, the beach used in the movie "The Beach." We headed out and although the tide was pretty strong, Lucy and I were determined to go check out the famous beach. It was a pretty tiring swim from the boat and then a rather dangerous climb up and over some rocks on a very wobbly bamboo ladder, but we made it nonetheless. It would probably have been the most beautiful beach I'd ever seen if it weren't for the hundred other people there thinking the same thing. The sand was soft and pure white and the water amazingly clear.


After that and some more snorkeling stops we hit Monkey Bay, a secluded beach inhabited by..monkeys! How did you know?? The four of us were the first ones to get on our kayaks and land on the beach. As we started to walk towards these monkeys I picked up a little plastic toy mobile phone thinking 'oh cute, the monkey's have toys.' Then these 'cute' monkeys starting approaching us...at a full on sprint...and growling... I RAN back into the water which turned out to be a good choice since they can't swim and therefore couldn't get near us. Unfortunately Emily ran the other way and so after I chucked the plastic phone at them to get them away from Bella and myself they turned on poor Emily and one of them managed to sink it's teeth into her knee before she could hit them away and run to safety. A little traumatic. She is now safe and sound back in England and halfway through a course of Rabies injections. Thanks Thailand. I skipped over this in my last post, but while we were in Pai, Emily also got her hand almost eaten off by a baby elephant. Thai animals and Emily Foot - maybe not such a good idea apparently.



After that we reunited with Claudia who had one night out with me in Phi Phi before we headed to Koh Lanta for some serious peace and quiet. Lanta is a beautiful island but thanks to low season it is really really quiet. Almost eerily so. I enjoyed my time with the girls but this place wasn't for me. After three nights Claudia and I are now back in Koh Phi Phi! Our bank accounts are feeling very pressured, so to give them a little rest we have become one of those annoying people who stop you in the street with a flyer and try to get you to come to their bar. Yup. I'm a bar flyer girl. Hey it pays and covers my accomodation and most of my food/extra costs each day while we do it, so it doesn't hurt. Last night was our first night and I actually enjoyed meeting all the other travellers like us who needed a bit of extra cash and an excuse to stay on this island just a bit longer.



After this our trip may be coming to an end sooner than I would like. Money being the main driving factor of course. I was thinking about the idea of going home today, and while it seems strange, I think I am getting close to achieving what I wanted out of this experience. There's still a small hope that Claudia and I will make it to Vietnam, but barring that happening, it looks like a couple of weeks to make some last memories on the islands before a flight back to London town. Hopefully I will then be making it Stateside to see mum and dad and my other American loves for a few weeks before getting back to London to try and ride out this recession!



Meanwhile, back to the beach for a few hours before it's time to hand out those flyers!

My encounters with Thai wildlife...

Apparently December is spider season here in Tha Wang Pha.

If you know me at all, and especially if you've ever lived with me, you will know that I suffer from pretty major arachnophobia. I'd like to take this time to thank my previous roommates for their wonderful tolerance of my problem. Especially when residing on Buswell Street, Boston. Any BU alum/students reading this who have ever lived in an old South Campus brownstone know how fun the bug problems can become...

Anyway, last week I was pleasantly surprised by a rather large (but thankfully already dead) spider that had managed to jam itself in between the open slits in my bathroom wall and the screen that I am SO happy we had installed. When we first moved in, these open slits which presumably serve the purpose of ventilating the bathroom (and making sure it is always cold in there at night) were exposed, and Kelly, Shaleas and I found ourselves with a whole host of guests including beetles, geckos (which are actually very welcome since they take care of my mosquito problem), and at one point a frog. Nothing too scarring, but a slight nuisance nonetheless, so we all had a wire screen installed to cover up these slits.

Fast forward again to last week and I had to spot this spider (about the size of my palm with nice hairy legs) jammed in this screen. Kelly, my official spider assassin, somehow managed to use the combination of a wire hanger and some water from my shower to push the spider back out into the back area where I hope he made a nice dinner for the chickens. 

So I thought that was bad. Come to yesterday morning when Devon and Shaleas discovered a live spider, reportedly even larger than my deceased friend, running around the bedroom. Needless to say that resulted in some blood curdling screams from Shaleas, although they did take their time trying to capture it, deciding instead to video tape the experience. I did not partake in this event except to yell at Shaleas for waking me up with a noise that sent chills down my spine, so I cannot comment first hand on the spider, but those involved were clearly pretty shaken by it all. 

So just to confirm that we clearly have an infestation of enormous spiders, Kelly was visited by one this morning, also stuck between her bathroom slits and the screen, alive. Being far more rational about these things, she went about her business and left it alone. Needless to say this recent sequence of events has not helped to settle my nerves.

At least I don't live near here. Cyanide millipede?! Come on now.