Unveiling a Few Top 5 Lists...

Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand

January 25, 2008
N 07°44.128
E 098°46.795

It took us two days of walking the island, asking locals and following our noses to find Tuk’s.

Normally, we make our way down the beach to town in the evening, but stalls where Tuks used to be are dark and full of debris, there aren’t a lot of people to ask where Tuk may have gone. We decided if we really wanted to find the best BBQ on Phi Phi Island, then we better get down to the village during the day and find some locals that could help.

We sauntered through the blue tarp maze of the local market; hoping to find Tuk’s coal grills, large beer fridge, and plastic tables and chairs. First we stopped at a fruit bar and chatted with the local lady that blended smoothies and serving Chiang after Chiang to three Aussies; she didn’t even know Tuk closed—how could she not know? Doesn’t she eat the perfectly crisp chicken at least three times a week like us? We felt defeated and headed back to our place, slowly walking by the area where Tuk’s once stood when I saw a couple of local girls nearby.

“Excuse me,” I said politely, “you know Tuk?” as I pointed to the rubble of where Tuk’s once stood. They looked at me a little confused so I tried again… “Tuk, you know where he go?” Ah, their eyes light up, “yes, yes Tuk move.” We are finally getting somewhere. They tell me, “walk back towards town, and turn right and walk, walk, walk, walk.” Okay, it isn’t much, but we know he still exists.

With a new found determination we quickly went back to our room to get ready for dinner at Tuk’s. We jumped in the shower in an effort to remove at least one layer of sunscreen and bug spray, before we headed back out to complete our mission.

We followed the directions, even though we didn’t know how far “walk, walk, walk, walk” really was. At first we saw a crowd of people clogging pedestrian traffic along the narrow sidewalk of shops. Next we saw smoke, not a lot, but enough to let us know there was a coal barbeque ahead. Then, in front of us, stood the crisp grilled chicken, corn and fish we have come to love. Dinner was served, we found Tuks.

After dinner we decided to stay up for the eleven o’clock fire show at Hippies. We took-in Carpe Diem’s fire show a few days ago, but found it to be “amateur-hour” compared to the solid fire dancing talent at Hippies. When we arrived a young Thai kid was singing and playing guitar. He covered artists such as Damien Rice, Ray LaMontagne, Howie Day, John Mayer, Jason Mraz and Gomez, one of Marc’s favorite new artists from the trip (see “Likely to Being Playing on our iPOD” T5 List below). The live music was a nice warm-up for the fire show.

The fire show didn’t disappoint. Marc always enjoys watching the small Thai women dance, using both hands to twirl chains with orbs of fire on the end. He finds it very sexy and was mesmerized by the two beautiful women who performed for us. The guys are good too, but the women are more disciplined in their calculated movements as fire is being thrown all around them.

The evening was perfect: our mystery surrounding Tuk was solved, we enjoyed some live music, and a wonderful fire show.

Top 5 Lists—over the past week or so we sat down and created Top 5 Lists from the trip. For example, what is our most memorable day, worst travel day, etc. Over the next several days we will post a few of the lists on the blog. Please note these are not in any particular order.

Most Memorable Days

1. Snow Day in Camp Britanico (Torres del Paine, Chile)
2. Mail Delivery for Roger to Ban Na Village in Laos
3. The rainbows, butterflies and the incredible Iguazu Falls in Argentina
4. Boat and Motorcycle Gang in Hue with Teddy, Bob and Elise (Hue, Vietnam)
5. You go to Pak Beng? Yes, this is a travel day, but it was a great story. (Pak Beng, Laos)
   

Who’s Most Likely to be Playing on Our iPOD on a Travel Day? Marc

1. Death Cab for Cutie
2. Ben Harper
3. Gomez
4. ALO
5. Joseph Arthur

Who’s Most Likely to be Playing on Our iPOD on a Travel Day? Laura

1. Joseph Arthur
2. Ben Harper
3. Kings of Leon
4. Guster
5. ALO
   

Mixing with Locals

1. Sana’s Birthday Party (Mumbai, India)
2. Ceremonial dinner in Ban Na after delivering package for Roger (Bah Na Village, Laos)
3. Marc and Bob playing pool with the locals in Dalat, Vietnam
4. Dinner with Jef and Irna at the casino on the North Sea (Brugge, Belgium)
5. Catching up with Ana, my college friend, and her boyfriend Kyler (Barcelona, Spain)

A Change on Koh Phi Phi Don...

Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand

January 23, 2008
N 07°44.128
E 098°46.795

Our life on the island was stirred up a bit over the past few days. Our favorite street BBQ joint disappeared overnight, literally. We walked by on Sunday night after we went to our newly discovered Thai place, but on Monday evening about half-a-dozen little shops along the waterfront were gone… including Tuk’s BBQ. What will we do without Tuk’s?

Like I said, the whole row of shops are gone. Nothing left except a few empty beer bottles rolling around, plastic bags full of garbage and filthy cinder block walls that used to provide a barrier between the little stores selling “pirated” DVD’s/CD’s, swim suits and of course the best BBQ on the island.

Unfortunately the shops were in an area that was hit hard by the tsunami. It appears the shops were make-shift set-ups (tarpaulin roofs and gas generators for electricity) to get businesses up and running as quickly as possible. However, now that three years have passed it appears it may be time to put up some permanent, safer digs. We looked and smelled for Tuk on other parts of the island, but it seems it was the perfect time for him to take a vacation.

After the disappearance of Tuk’s, and the other shops, it reminded us how quickly the island changes. We mentioned some of the changes since we were here in August, including large bungalows, larger shops and the local’s market. I guess we better brace ourselves for significant changes during our next visit, especially since we don’t know when that will be.

One thing here stays the same, the natural beauty, friendly people and incredible beaches. We wake up every morning, look out our window at the turquoise water and blue sky, and know we are in an ever evolving, special place. We hope others have the opportunity to enjoy this paradise.

Other Notes: Rich Powers let us know that Koh Phi Phi Don was featured in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle Travel Section. We immediately went on sfgate.com to see what the article had to say about our little slice of paradise. The article, very well written of course, did an excellent job describing the beauty of the island, the need for tourists and the re-building efforts post-tsunami; most of which we have touched upon. We can only hope others will be encouraged to visit this beautiful part of the world.

Tasty Thai...

Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand

January 21, 2008
N 07°44.128
E 098°46.795

One would think that you can get the best Thai food in Thailand. Yes, this is true if you hit the markets and other places where the locals eat, but on an island catering to tourists it can be very difficult. The dishes lack the hot and spicy flavor that melds together the other distinct South East Asian ingredients; making Thai food one of our favorite cuisines. In other words, the food is dumbed-down for the Western audience, something we Westerners don’t approve of.

On our first night we strolled across to the other half of the island. We hit a Thai restaurant that had adequate food on our last visit. We ordered our favorite dishes including chicken green curry, mixed vegetables and pad thai, and even encouraged the dishes to be spicy. “We like spicy,” we told the young waitress no less than three times. Again, the dishes tasted watered down and lacked the spicy flavor—I didn’t have a bead of sweat or even a drip of perspiration on my upper lip.

My craving for good Thai food hadn’t been quenched. Instead, we’ve been visiting the local BBQ joint located along the shoreline/street; knowing the chicken is fresh and tasty, and we’re never disappointed. However, after a few nights away I wanted, no I needed, Thai food and it had better be good!

Last night we wandered through the back streets of the island where the local’s market is located. We moved through a maze of businesses illuminated by hanging light bulbs. Weathered blue tarpaulin roofs covered the make-shift stands where fruits and vegetables, salt-dried fish, fish nets, eggs, bread and other essentials are sold.

We remembered on our last visit that the majority of this section of the island was covered with garbage, rubble, and the skeletons of a few fruit-stands—reminders of the tsunami. It was heartwarming to see that the island market was once again a thriving business.

As we walked through the newly found section, we wandered down an aisle of restaurants. A place packed with locals and a young woman standing over a smoking hot wok, frantically whipping up food, stopped us in our tracks. A couple rules about eating while traveling: 1) If you can see your food being cooked you’ll be safe, 2) If the place is full of locals then it must be good.

The locals shot us a few strange glances, but when we smiled at them and gave our best Sawadeeka, we were all smiling. The curious looks continued while we watched Thai karaoke music videos, waited for our food and enjoyed a cool beverage.

There was a moment of pause when the food arrived at our table. We ordered basil chili chicken, mixed vegetables and the ever so telling green curry. Before we even tasted the food we added extra chilies to the vegetables and didn’t combust. The guys at the table next to us seemed to be mildly entertained by the fact that we enjoyed the kick; plus they had six empty large bottles of beer in front of them. I looked over at them, gave a thumbs-up and pointed at the chilies—we like, very good. They smiled and laughed, seemingly proud to share such good food with us.

When the green curry arrived we were unsure if it would live up to expectations since we didn’t see any familiar red Thai chilies floating in the green liquid mixture. I decided I wouldn’t add any more spice until I tasted it. It was a good thing! The curry was the star of the show; the perfect blend of coconut milk, chunks of chicken, green curry paste, a couple of hot chilies, and kaffir lime leaves. The green curry paste, where the majority of the spicy-hot comes from, is made in large quantities, and had the perfect amount of heat. We sat there, very happy, savoring every bite of the curry with an ever so slight perspiration moustache, regularly cooled with a sip of Singha.

I’m sure we’ll visit the restaurant stall a few more times while we’re on the island. With great prices, even better food and a name like Coconut & Cream (Tasty), exactly like that, who wouldn’t want to come back for more?

Makin' a List...

Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand

January 19-20, 2008
N 07°44.128
E 098°46.795

After one day of overcast skies and brief showers, the weather on the island has been perfect—blue skies, sunny and relatively low humidity. We’ve been taking advantage of the sun and hitting the beach every day and, more importantly, we’re doing what we planned to do on the island—relax.

For me the first few days were tough, not only because of the problems in our rooms, but because I had a taste of home. A quick taste, yes, but it did something to me I can’t really describe. I guess my anxiety about coming home really peaked and thoughts churned in my head, or should I say lists of what needs to be done to get our lives back to “normal.” I didn’t want to be thinking about home while I was on this beautiful island and it took a few days for the formations of lists to go away.

Now instead of making lists of things we need to take-care-of when we get home, we’re making Top 5 Lists of moments during our trip. For example, Top 5 Worst Travel Days, or T5 Most Memorable Days, or T5 Places for Natural Beauty, T5 People We Met that Enriched Our Journey, etc.

A full post of all our T5 Lists will be on our blog within the next couple weeks. However, we’re pretty busy right now with our daily routine—breakfast, apply sunscreen, relax on beach, relax on balcony, beer, enjoy view of bay, enjoy sunset, shower, apply bug spray, go to dinner, relax on balcony and go to bed.

I don’t think I could tire of the view from the balcony, of the crystal blue, multi-dimensional water and rocky, volcanic hills covered in greenery in the distance. The long tail boats crisscross on the bay in front, birds land on the rail of our balcony and serenade us while hummingbirds feast on the blossoming flowers surrounding our balcony. It is quiet a site.

We haven’t stayed out late enough yet to catch a fire show at Hippies, but we’ve watched the multicolored lights of the fishing boats dance across the bay at night from our balcony. I’m sure we’ll rally in the next couple nights and catch at least one fire show, maybe tonight.

We’re very happy we came back to Koh Phi Phi; it really is the definition of paradise in our minds.

Other Notes: The leak in our bathroom has subsided a bit. A guy came a few days ago, looked at the leak and told us he would be back “tomorrow”. We have yet to see him again...