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
- Snow Day in
- Mail Delivery for Roger to Ban Na Village in
- The rainbows, butterflies and the incredible
- Boat and Motorcycle Gang in
- You go to Pak Beng? Yes, this is a travel day, but it was a great story. (Pak Beng,
Who’s Most Likely to be Playing on Our iPOD on a Travel Day? Marc
Mixing with Locals
- Ceremonial dinner in Ban Na after delivering package for Roger (Bah Na Village,
- Marc and Bob playing pool with the locals in
- Dinner with Jef and Irna at the casino on the
- Catching up with Ana, my college friend, and her boyfriend Kyler (
2 comments:
marc like thai fire girlzzz... hot diggty damn
Laura! Ben Harper isn't your #1? I'm going to tell him and he is going to be piiiiiiissed off... :D
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