Yup, It's Paradise...

Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand

August 8, 2007
N 07°44.128
E 098°46.795

Today is our fourth day on Koh Phi Phi Don and we’re literally enjoying every minute. That includes the running water, air conditioning, hot water, clean white sheets, ice-cold cheap beer, fine-grain white sand, the aqua blue Andaman Sea at an ideal temperature for swimming, a very relaxed vibe, and did I say ice-cold beer?

We’ve been relaxing a lot, enjoying beach time, and the beauty of the island. We wake up each morning, open our blinds and look out at the turquoise green water before making our way down to breakfast in the beach side restaurant. Our bungalow, with the excellent views, is definitely the nicest place we have stayed on our trip thus far.

Even though the beach in front of our place is very nice, there’s a small barge unloading gravel about 50 meters down shore (part of the tsunami reconstruction effort) that can get a little noisy. No big deal though… we’ve been simply hiking over the hill about 3 KM to the beautiful, white sand, Long Beach where we sit under a coconut tree to protect us from the sun—which has been shining every day!

The island is stunning. Covering the jagged sandstone mountains are lush green palms, hibiscus, and what appear to be giant ficus. Bungalows are terraced into the mountainside, giving every bungalow a nice view of the water. Koh Phi Phi, located in the middle of the Andaman Sea, was impacted by the tsunami that struck Thailand, Indonesia and other neighboring countries. Although, it appears the natural beauty of the island has made a full recovery, the man made structures have not fully recovered. Many of the bungalows have been re-built; however, many of the villages and non-tourist structures are still in disrepair.

Since this is the low season on the island (the summer is the rainy season) the place is a furry of activity. Barges with heavy construction equipment and materials float along the shore as trucks and bulldozers carry the goods to the actual construction sites. The islanders steadily re-build schools, tourist bungalows, villager’s homes, and restaurants before the tourists arrive in droves October-January.

As we walked through the main village there are entire streets that are still in shambles from the 30 foot wall of water that crashed on the shore. With that being said, it appears everyone is working together and the locals are doing well—the worst is hopefully behind them, with good times to come!

Notes: Marc got a shave from the local barber since the shower and faucet only dispense salt water (only drawback)… as Marc explained, shaving with salt water and no shaving cream is a recipe for a dermal disaster.

After three days of walking by the same little barber shop and the owner, a 20-something Thai kid, asking Marc if wanted a shave he finally succumbed. Marc was expecting a good ol’ straight razor shave, but instead the shave was like a facial hair style.

The air-conditioned shop reeked of beer and alcohol, but was otherwise clean. Marc sat down in a chair for his shave; what we thought would we be a short, efficient process began.

The 45 minute event started with Kid Barber preparing four brand new razor blades for his straight razor. Next he mixed a concoction of shaving cream, covered his face with a surgical mask, and began to apply the cream in striped sections on Marc’s beard. Kid Barber then asked Marc, “You like, OK, good?” Marc unsure what the hell Kid Barber was talking about just sat there looking confused. I expected to hear Marc say “no gracias”, but before he had a chance Kid Barber unfolded a page from a magazine. There was a picture of a very handsome, surfer-looking, man with a beard that had been sculpted into waves. Marc now understood, he chuckled, smiled and said no thanks. Initially Marc thought Kid Barber may have been joking. However, after a few minutes you could tell he was actually a little disappointed that he wasn’t going to be able to apply his artistry.

The meticulous shave continued and after several minutes it became clear Kid Barber was not going let the thick beard of this Westerner escape his blade without some artistic sculpting. Kid Barber shaved Marc’s ear hair, nose hair, neck line, clipped his eye brows, side burns and then finished off Marc’s beard. After finishing, he proudly smiled and called to his assistant in Thai. A young boy raced in from outside, gave Marc a big goofy smile, almost chuckling at Kid Barber’s new masterpiece, and then began applying the facial cream, after shave and ice-cold towels to Marc’s face. The assistant then gave Marc a brief shoulder, neck, arm, hand and face massage.

Kid Barber walked back inside after finishing his cigarette, carefully took Marc’s head and quickly snapped it to the right and then the left. The sound of Marc’s cervical vertebrae cracking filled the room.

“150 baht, thank you, please.” Marc paid Kid Barber, smiled, thanked him, shook his hand and just laughed all the way home.

Check Marc out modeling his new face-hair on our balcony!