The Whit Show: March 2012

Friday, March 30, 2012

Koh Phi Phi

So many good stories to tell, and oh boy do I have such a short attention span. Here is my best attempt to bloggity blah blah about Phi Phi.

Thailand Flag

Day dreaming about PhiPhi

Yesterday, after I completed my second rabies shot, we took our first boat trip from Phuket to The Phi Phi Islands. Phi Phi is more gorgeous than __________. (Everything). After we got settled in our garden inn bungalow we decided to take the Longtails for a spin around the islands. The bouldering cliffs, mountains, and beaches were just incredible. First stop on the Longtail, snorkeling. The water was so crystal clear you could see all of the fish and coral from the boat and we were itching to submerge ourselves into the crystal abyss. Once you hop into the water the fish come at you like piranahs, by the hundreds. If those fish had teeth, I would have been chum. But it was beautiful and well worth it non the less.

Feeeeeesh

After getting nibbled on for about 45 minutes we decided to troll on over to Monkey Beach. Monkey Beach is just that, hundreds of monkeys on the beach, in the water, stealing peoples stuff, and attacking. One little lady was not so fortunate at Monkey beach yesterday, but she was kind of asking for it. We witnessed a full fledged monkey attach, it put my little nip to shame. This lady was getting a little too close to the monkeys personal bubble and the big daddy monkey did not appreciate it. He started hissing and chasing after her. All of the other monkeys joined in and they circled around her like a pack of lions on a gazelle. The lady back stepped, fell to the ground on her butt and the daddy monkey leaped on her. I'm not sure if it was a bite or a scratch, but blood was running down her leg. Monkeys are not so friendly so contrary to what I believed before coming over here, looks like I wont be able to bring one home. I hope that lady has fun with her rabies shots.

Baby monkey taking a smoke break

Keeping my distance... I already learned the lesson the hard way

After our long tail cruise we got some food, got another Thai massage for 8 bucks, showered, and then the festivities commenced! There was a beach fire show and at first we just sat in our bean bag chairs like civilized citizens, until they open the festivities up to the public. Once the fire jump rope was available to try, I was the first in line. I successfully completed about 6 jumps over the firery rope and walked away unburned. I now can add fire jump roping to my life resume, which will come in handy if I ever apply for jobs at the circus. Once the fire show was over the lite up limbo bar came out and again, I was one of the first in line. If you know me well at all you know I'm quite competitive and up for any challenge. As the pole got lower and lower the number of people in line was quickly shrinking and I was still in the game. The pole got pretty low and I was starting to have my doubts after the first few limber looking girls face planted. Then it was my turn. I looked at the pole, and thought to myself there is no way but I'm going to give it a go. I walked up to the pole, bent my back, squatted my legs and cleared the rail, clean as a whistle. I am proud to say I was the limbo games victor of Ko Phi Phi Islands last night! Another resume booster, obviously.

Circus ready.

Ladies and gents..... Your Champ.

Step on a crack, break your mothers back. Limbo a low pole, same results. Last night I was feeling good after the win. Tonight I am laying here in bed and I feel paralyzed. I would put money on it that this pain I am experiencing is the limbo aftermath, but there is a slight possibility it could be that my backpack weighs a million pounds and we had to walk what felt like a marathon today with them on. Side note: I am beginning to experience the backpacking world. I put one sweaty shirt in my backpack and it clearly sat in the sun way too long because now everything in my backpack smells like I just got out of soccer practice. Its going to be a long three months.

Dead.

We left Ko Phi Phi this morning and now we are in Krabi for the next few nights. The only thing we have on our agenda so far is kayaking through the mangroves tomorrow and possibly rock climbing in Railay (world famous rock climbing spot). I am just praying I will be able to walk in the morning.

Limbo lovin,

Whitney

Wheres Katie?

Oh PS - My camera got water logged and I was quite proud of the contraption I rigged to try and fix it. TRY was the key word. Didnt work.

Yeah, we're COOL.

Rabies shot 2 of 5, Check.

Longtails.

My new favorite place to lay out.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

That's a wrap, Phuket.

Phuket Town

We have been in Phuket for a week now and all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow morning we are waking up early to go to the hospital for another rabies shot, dropping off our scooters, and then headed off to Phi Phi and Krabi Islands. Katie and Mike made me watch The Beach so I will have a greater appreciation for Phi Phi, but now I'm just hoping we don't get shot! We have been very spoiled this past week with a room to ourselves, king size bed, flushing toilet with a hose, shower, power outlets, AC and WIFI. We even got to do a load of laundry yesterday instead of hand washing in the sink! Although they only have washers here, no dryers, so my clothes are nice and crispy from drying in the sun.

Gettin my clothes nice and crispy, just how I like them.

Sad to leave our luxurious room.

These past two days have been dedicated to packing and getting everything we need to really begin our excursions. My list included cookies, chocolate, ice cream. Once we leave Phuket we will not be coming back and Mike had to move out of the place he has been staying for the past few months. Today we went to a dried up waterfall and to Freedom Beach, and Katie got burned by the scooter muffler, twice. She now has two Thai tats on the back of each leg. We had two other Floridians join our crew for the day, Bryan and Megan. They are both from Orlando and teach English here as well.

Romantic

Squat pot

Freedom Beach

Katies muffler burns

5 Floridians and a British mans finger

I don't know the next time I will have Internet service, so if you need to reach me...well, you cant. But if you are missing me too much, the next best thing would be to call my Mom! She would love to talk to all of you.

Peace love and Thai babies,

Whitney

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Whit show, Bit show. (caption creds Molly Carroll)

All smiles.

Yes, its true. I am the lucky winner of a monkey bite! We were heading up the mountain yesterday to Big Buddha when I saw a bunch of people taking photos of something along side the road. Once I notice it was a monkey of course I frantically tried to get into the action, big mistake. I pull over and realize its, for lack of a better term, "a petting monkey zoo". The two monkeys, 1 big guy and 1 little baby, were on leases and were posing for pictures all nice and cute with the people ahead of me. The lady informed me it would be 100 baht (3 dollars) to get my picture taken with the monkeys so of course I said yes, please! The big monkey was so nice and friendly, sat on my lap, crossed his legs, smiled, etc. Then it was time for my picture with the little baby. That little baby was one wild creature and I was determined to have it sit still and pose for a picture. It was climbing all over the place, my head, my shoulders, my arms and supposedly the guy was telling me not to grab the monkey (Katie told me that's what he was trying to tell me but of course I was in the zone and only focused on the monkey). Then, a bus drove by, the monkey freaked, I grabbed the monkey to try to control and comfort him and BAM, its little baby jaws chomped down on my pointer finger. The bite is seriously so tiny, it bruised the bottom of my finger and bleed a teeny tiny bit on the top of my finger. It hurt like crap but I didn't think much of it because the bite was so small so I continued on with my day. I called my bro last night and he immediately said I should get it checked out because monkeys, of course, carry rabies and all other types of diseases. I skyped my parents for a second option and they agreed. Katies sister, and pretty much everyone else agreed the smart thing to do would be go to the doctor and at least get some antibiotics. Learning point of the day, a tiny bite and even a scratch can give you rabies. Also, once rabies is detected, its too late. There are only 6 known cases of rabies survivors in the US. So to ease my mind, this morning we woke up and went to the nearest Thai hospital. What an experience. The doctor prescribed me two antibiotics and said I needed to start my rabies and tetanus vaccinations ASAP. So today I got 2 shots and I have 5 more to get throughout the course of the next month. Looks like I'll be getting know where all the local hospitals are here in Thailand, lucky me!

The monkey that caused my misery.

Learning lessons the hard way.

After our visit to the hospital we went to the mall, got lunch and Katie and I decided we needed to see The Hunger Games movie. Once I got past the Thai captions at the bottom of the screen I almost forgot I was in a foreign country. Reality hit when we walked outside and had to play a little game of needle in the haystack trying to find our scooters.

Tonight we went to one of the local outdoor markets with one mission, to eat bugs. Mike said he had done it before and suggested we do the same. So when in Thailand, well, we might as well eat some bugs. I am happy to report Katie and I successfully ate a grasshopper, a cricket, and a meal worm. The meal worm was ok, but man, the legs on the grasshopper and cricket were hard to get down! I had to washed it down with a big glass of Thai tea, which is essentially a can of condensed milk. Which brings me to another point, I am OBSESSED with the Thai tea here. I was hoping to maybe shed a few lbs on this trip but at the rate I'm drinking these Thai tea concoctions, the scale is going to be going up instead of down!

Dinner is served.

Hmmm, what else. We have done so much in the past 3 days. We have gone to just about every beach and lookout point here in Phuket and each one gets more and more beautiful. Last night we went to The Simon Cabaret in town and watched all the lady boys dance around. The act was about par with cruise ship entrainment, but it was quite a show knowing that all those "women" on stage were men.