KO PHI PHI

Well what can I say about Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee) - except it's like in the photo - a beautiful paradise. Very idyllic little island - with nothing much to do except swim, sunbath, drink cocktails - or if you are more adventurous you can go diving.
Tere and I are staying in one of the resorts on a beach called "Long Beach" - you have to use water taxis to get to the mainland - takes 5mins.
Water taxis are long boats with car engines as the motor.
The resort is lovely and has lots of little bungalows perched on the hill. A steep walk up. Like Rarotonga - Phi Phi has the clear blue water and golden sand. Lots of tourists here.
Sadly Phi Phi was also affected by the Tsunami in 2004 and they are still recovering - there was a big memorial tree with a wreath of flowers tied round it - and there are photos showing the damage that was caused. On one of the beaches you can see where all the palm trees have been ripped out of the ground and what was once quite a lush area populated with trees and plantlife is now quite barren.
Lots of the shops in Patong and here sell DVD's of the movie "Tsunami". Locals say that it has really affected their economy in terms of tourism.

Most of our time in Phi Phi is spent lying on the beach, going for a swim or eating and drinking.
At our resort you can hire a DVD player and watch a movie for $2. Tere and I watch Terry Gilliam's - The Grimm Brothers which is excellent. We both really enjoyed it.
There is a family of cats & her 3 kittens - a lot of the cats here have stumpy tails - a type of breed. I call them bobtails.
One of the kittens was really cute - blk & white - I named him "Tiny Tim" - quite a boistrous little thing.
As you can see in the photo you get superb sunsets.
There is a lot of wildlife on Phi Phi including frogs, locusts, dragon flies, mina komini (birds - cheeky things, they were in Rarotonga too), fluro pink bugs and small lizards - we had one in our room, they make funny chirpy noises and are cute. Good too as they kill the bugs. Apparently there are also 3 types of snakes: green tree snake, brown snake and a type of python.

Things we did on Phi Phi:
Caught water taxi to Monkey Bay and observed up close a group of macaque like monkeys going about their day, rummaging through rubbish that has washed ashore - I watch one as he finds a bag of water cups - like you get on plane with the seal - he is trying to peel the seal back with his hands, finally he gives up and uses his 2 front teeth to pierce the lid and drinks the water. SO fascinating to watch. Some are looking at themselves in pieces of glass, some grooming each other, looking for food. Once one of them came up really close to Tere - think he was curious about Tere's camera. Beach is tiny and we take a dip in the sea - water is warm!

We head back to mainland and decide to go up to lookout. Boy what a workout! Hundreds and hundreds of steep steps, we huff and puff our way to the top. But it's worth it - the view is spectacular! We sit at the top taking it all in for about 30mins. There are a number of memorials dedicated to family members who lost their lives in the Tsunami including tourists. There is a grave for a 2yr old local girl. Apparently this is where people headed when the Tsunami hit.

Nightmare wax.
Well I decided that I'd get my legs waxed since we're on a beach and all - done it before in NZ - stung a little bit - but nothing I couldn't handle.
Well this was a different story.

This woman was out to get me, I'm sure of it! She had this plastic container with the tackiest looking wax and she used a butter knife to apply it to my skin - the application was excruiating - I felt like my skin was been ripped off. When she actually ripped the wax off it was nothing in comparison.
I had tears in my eyes and was biting the pillow - she sadistically laughed and asked me if it was my first time - I managed to squeak out "No, but first time with this kind of wax". When I walked out of that torture salon it was the most relief I'd felt in a long time. I ran into Tere's arms.

Needless to say I've stuck with shaving my legs for the rest of the trip.

Other than that Phi Phi was lovely - fairly touristy, but lovely none the less. The staff at our resort were great and friendly and I really enjoyed having Tiny Tim and the cat family around - since I'm missing our 2 furry girls.

But I'd definitely recommend Phi Phi as a kind of romantic getaway - if lazing around on a beach drinking cocktails is you're thing. Just don't get a wax...

NOSTALGICCA

I forgot to mention the name of the band, and here's some pics.

Em wrote this section:
We have a bar-snack as we wait for the band "Nostalgicca" to start. The drummer is very friendly , Thai guy called "Roy-ng" - he looks like a Thai version of "Brett Michaels from Poison". Beautiful silky long black hair - I'm so jealous. Tere strikes up a conversation with him and when he finds out Tere also plays drums - well they are best buddies!
Lead singer is a dodgey short pot-bellied swiss guy with a wispy mullet. He enjoys making crass comments about women in between songs. For any of you that have watched "Black Books" he's the spitting image of Manny.
While we watch Nostalgica thrash out the rock cover we meet an English guy called Gordon and his very camp "friend" a young Thai guy.
Gordon explains to us that everyone thinks they are gay, although he assures us they are not.....OK Gordon, sure... Excuse me for awhile while I have a fag-hag boogie with your Extremely camp "friend" to ACDC's "TNT". Quite a weird combo dancing with such an affeminite guy to ACDC.

After Nostalgicca's nostalgic set is over the drummer joins us again. I watch him and Tere in deep discussion about which drummers they are influenced by and observe Roy-ng flicking his lovely hair over his shoulders every minute or so. Roy-ng likes Dream Theatre and Tommy-Lee. I imagine that he would also love to have a set complete with pyrotechnics, although to be fair they did have dried-ice and a HUGE King Kong sculpture above them. Roy-ng tells us that his other band is playing tomorrow night - they are a Metallica tribute band - unfortunately we will be in
Ko Phi Phi...we are geniunely disappointed, that would've been fantastic - maybe he would've hit the gong...
We say our goodbyes to Roy-ng and Gordon and his boyfriend and head back to our room for zzzzz

Phuket - Briefly

8 May

Sending this from Phuket, Thailand. A big resort Island - a bit too touristy for our liking. Somewhat seedy. Only here one night - taking a ferry over to Ko Phi Phi, a small island off Phuket. There for 4 nights. So will be sun-bathing & swimming and relaxing. Head back up to Bangkok on 13 May - then depart to Cambodia on Mon 15 May. We are having heaps of fun.

Last night went to a bar called Rock City. Band was playing 70s and 80s Rock covers. Including "Run to the Hills" (Iron Maiden). Guy had a drumkit 10 times bigger than mine, including a Gong......didnt see him hit it though....

Chiang Mai - A major update

4-5 May - Out and About

Arrive at Chaing Mai airport at 2pm from Bangkok on 4 May. We are collected by our "pick up" & we take a detour to BMP Tours (people who are arranging our Elephant Trek). Lady there helps organise our trek for us, her name is "Ping Pong" (I kid you not..) Ping Pong is very helpful she also tries to persuade us to go to one of the "lady-boy" (drag-queen) shows - a cabaret style show filled with glamourous lady-boys wearing feather boas...Tere and I politely decline.
We arrive at our "guesthouse" - Raming Lodge which turns out to be pretty damn flashy - sweet!
Hit the streets to check out Chaing Mai - much smaller than Bangkok some might say "quainter". Has a nice slower pace than the hecticness of Bangkok - easy going.
We walk down a side street and have lunch at this little restaurant food is supreme.
I have the most delicious red vege curry and Tere has pork sausage fried rice. Excellent food and so cheap!
We wander aimlessly through the streets situated near our hotel taking in the sights.

Chaing Mai is divided into the Old quarter which is surrounded by a moat and a New quarter - we are staying in the new.

Later that night we walk into town to check out Chaing Mai's infamous "Night Market" - the streets are lit with lanterns and absolutley lined with stalls selling clothing, DVD's, silk scarfs, food vendors - the atmosphere is fantastic and we squeeze through the other hundreds of tourists looking for a bargin. Each vendor eagerly trying to urge you to buy their goods. Every second person saying "You buy Sir, You buy Madam - I give you good price.." There seemed to be a fairly large population of Indian people there - most of them owned Tailoring shops - needless to say Tere was constantly hounded as they offered to make him a suit.
I purchased a skirt and attempted to haggle - I got it down to $320 baht from $350 baht - approx $13 NZ. All in the name of good fun - as long as you are friendly and good natured about it the locals respond well to you.

Next day we walk into town and come across a Wat - woman holding baskets filled with birds tells us releasing them brings you good luck, so we pay $100 baht each and release a bundle of birds into the air. Felt better letting them out of the tiny cage than anything.

We head back to the Night Market and to the "FoodMarket" which is an outdoor "food court" surrounded by trees with fairy lights.
I confess I have become rather fond of Pad Thai (Thailand's basic noodle dish) - Vege Pad Thai with chilli, fresh lime and crushed peanuts topped off with a Singha Beer is my idea of a good time. Really cheap meals & great atmosphere.

That night we decide to go to a bar to check out Chaing Mai's nightlife - catch tuk tuk to a bar on riverside called "The Brassiere" - 2 absolutely stunning Thai girls show us in to a table - we order cocktails. NB: They do not skimp on alcohol here & even a whiff makes you feel tiddly. There is live music - a woman playing acoustic guitar strums away playing Dido & Tracy Chapman covers..We sip our cocktails and look out over the moonlit river - this is the life!

6 May - Elephant Trek
After 1hr drive we arrive at trek. Our group consists of 5 people including a Brit called Toby and 2 irish girls called Anne and Collette.
We climb aboard our Elephants - it's bloody high as we are perched on our little seat - held in by a flimsy chain that links across us.
The elephants have a lovely gentle sway when they walk. Our elphants name is "Jing-Juk" at least that's how our "driver" pronounced it. I buy some banana's for Jing-Juk and immediately his trunk came up and we took turns to feed him. He had a few tanty's along the way - including blowing dirt out of his trunk at us cos he wanted more bananas. haha Trek took 30-40 mins up and over a hill and back down and it was bloody hot. They are amazingly resourceful creatures the way they can utilise their trunks and tails.
We have a photo taken ontop of Jing Juk then we jump in minivan and it's off to meet the "Karen" hilltribe.

The Karen people have lived in the hills for 200 years after been chased out of city - guide told us they orginally came from Burma.
The women wear colourful purple and pink outfits and once they are married they must wear a skirts. The men wear red.The women there are sitting quietly weaving beautiful coloured fabrics.
We were harrassed by the small village children hounding us to but one of their bead bracelets for $5 baht. They were so cute that couldn't resist and purchased two each. Back into the minivan and we're off to visit a waterfall.

We go in for a swim in the refreshing water which is such a relief after the intense heat. The current is very strong and it is impossible to try and swim toward the waterfall, we are there for about 30 mins, then it's off to lunch more like a feast - tofu soup, sweet and sour vege curry, spicy pork chilli currry and fresh cut pineapple.

Finally we head to the river for bamboo rafting. Tere and I are on one raft with a 10yr old local boy as our "Captain" at the front steering (he was pretty strong) - Tere takes charge at the back and I am the queen of the nile content to sit and float down the river. However I don't get off that easy - my reward for been lazy is to be constantly splashed with water by the captain and by any locals who happen to be swimming as we float past. Soon Tere joins in much to the delight of our captain and by the end of the ride I am absolutely soaked.
The ride down the river is lovely and the banks are lined with locals having family picnics and drinking beer. All of them are so friendly and wave out to us. Beautiful emerald butterflies fly around us.
When we reach the end of our gentle river cruise we give our Captain $10 baht as a tip and have our photo taken with him - he is very cute.
Then it's back to our hotel.
We both thouroughly enjoyed our 1 day trek - good times :)

That night we head back to "The Brassiere" have a a few drinks and watch a Thai band playing covers of psychedelic 60's tunes - Hendrix and bluesy numbers. Awesome guitarist.
They are then joined by the infamous "Took" a Thai guitar legend and man is he good. He sings a Bob Marley number and both me and Tere are astounded as he sounds exactly like Mr Marley. We stay on till about 12 am and catch tuk tuk home.

7 May - Do Su Thep
Catch taxi up to "Do Su Thep" a huge wat (temple) high up on the hills of Chaing Mai. 2 other tourists in our taxi - Simon (wouldn't you know it originally from NZ) and his girlfriend Abby from UK.
We arrive at the wat and there are huge bells lined up in a row. Amazing vast views over Chaing Mai. We head into the main temple - wander around for about an hour - everything is so ornate.
Taxi back into town and we have lunch in mall at foodcourt - where I might add we accompianed our food with a pint of Singha beer. Yes it is possible to order a beer in a foodcourt in Chaing Mai - infact one entire foodstall was dedicated to beer. Try that in Queensgate...
As we walked back to our hotel we came across another street market (this was different from the Night Market) and contained more art - paintings, photography etc.. A buddhist monk began talking to us (it is very common for the locals to speak to us as they like to practise their English & are quite open about the fact). He asked what we had been up to & we told him we had visited Do Su Thep - he told us that he was the Abbott (head) of his temple and that Su Thep in Thai means "God of Mountains, in heaven."
We waved goodbye and headed back to our hotel to rest.

It's off to Phuket tomorrow.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Chaing Mai and we're genuinely sad to leave - everything here is so relaxed and cruisy. Would definitley recommend it as a must if you are planning on visiting Thailand.
PS) make sure you have the Vege Pad Thai and a Singha beer for me :-)