March 23, 2009: Rantee Beach, Ko Phi Phi

We awoke early to our first full day in Thailand. After all, we didn’t want to miss the 8 a.m. complimentary breakfast. The first day is always easy to remain energetic. We trotted downstairs to the dining area and, other than one other older European gentleman, found ourselves to be the only guests having breakfast.

The meal was quite good and consisted of scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice and coffee. We ate happily as we gazed out the large, open awning to the outside. We watched as an old Thai woman washed dishes on the sidewalk across the street. It appeared that she ran some kind of little restaurant. She also had some fish drying out in the sun. A few motor-bikes whizzed by occasionally as well. I was already beginning to feel the excitement of being surrounded with the new culture.

After breakfast, we decided to head back upstairs to pack up our belongings and set off to explore the town. As we climbed the staircase, I couldn’t help but notice what a nice portrait backdrop the lime green walls provided. I convinced Sarah to model for a miniature photo-shoot. I was very impressed with the resulting pictures. Of course, Sarah looks good in any picture!

After packing up our things snapping a few pictures of a nearby mosque from our hotel room window, we checked out of the Royal Place Hotel and set off walking around town. We came across many interesting scenes which we were very unaccustomed to seeing anywhere else. Lots of cooking in the open air along the street side, motor bikes and tuk-tuks zipping up and down the streets, a woman carrying eggs in a very interesting basket over her shoulder and a nice old man who was happy to have his picture taken. We were very amused (and kind of worried) to see a small child in his father’s lap on a moped. We quickly realized that this is a very common practice. And not just for children and babies, but for pets as well!

We were reminded of the tsunami devastation of only a few years ago, when we saw signs indicating a tsunami evacuation route. A little while later, we saw a sunken ship with its nose pointing up out of the water as another reminder.

We walked through a local outdoor market which reminded me a little of the Mexican flea markets back home in Amarillo. Nearly all the booth tenants napped as potential customer perused. Most of the items were decorations and other nick-nacks. We even noticed one woman making some sausage, which gave off a nauseating aroma in the 90 degree heat.

After a little more walking, Sarah flagged down a very “Thai” taxi-cab and we hopped in. It took us to the pier where we could catch a ferry to Ko Phi-Phi, which was our primary destination. The cab was interesting in itself, but the ride also provided a great opportunity to take in other views. We saw more mopeds, motor bikes, and other two and three wheeled vehicles than I have probably ever seen in my life. It seems that everyone, regardless of age, uses these things for transportation.

The scenes we passed by were constant reminders of how poor this country is compared to most other places we have been in the world. It had many similarities to Mexico. In fact, in sort of seemed like Mexico’s parallel universe. Everything was basically the same, with only slight variations.

In a short time, we arrived at the pier and were soon cruising our way toward Koh Phi-Phi. The ferry was crowded with around 150 people who were all eager to get to the island. After about two hours, we arrived at our destination. The island of Koh Phi-Phi was every bit as beautiful as we had hoped.

We did a little walking around in the village and then took a water taxi (long tailed boat) to Rantee beach which is located on the backside of the island. I should also mention that there are no roads on the island and one must take a water taxi to get to any of the various beaches on the island.

Rantee beach is a secluded beach with only a few old bungalows and a couple of little restaurant/bars huddled against the jungle backdrop. We rented a bungalow for the night and it only cost us about $8. Why the good deal? There is no electricity, which means there is no cooling system of any sort in the hot, sultry weather. I think the pictures explain the rest.

Before going to dinner, we opted for a nice little evening swim. The water felt great as it cooled us from the hot day. It was perfect weather and very peaceful since we were the only one’s still swimming. The few other people who had been there earlier were now eating dinner or snoozing in the hammocks on the porches of their bungalows. It was nice to have the entire beach to ourselves.

That night, we ate a great Thai dinner at one of the restaurants. It had a roof but was open-air on three sides which provided for an excellent view of the ocean only a few yards away. It was particularly interesting because it had two flat-screen televisions and a satellite. The fancy electronics seemed very out of place amongst the rest of the tiny village which otherwise resembled what it might have looked like centuries earlier. There was a European soccer game on TV and we casually watched it as we ate a delicious meal of garlic bread (with fresh garlic), sweet and sour chicken, rice, Thai “Singha” beer and a desert of banana boiled in coconut milk.

After dinner, we decided to continue hanging out there since it was the only place with lights and electricity. We pulled out a deck of cards, but couldn’t remember how to play any card games. Instead, we played farkle for awhile. After a good game (which I managed to defeat Sarah) we pulled out our flashlight and made our way to our bungalow.

We lit a small candle to provide some additional light as we pulled the mosquito netting tightly around our separate beds. Sarah took the extra precaution of applying some bug-spray to herself. I decided to just trust the netting to do its job. We did leave the windows to the bungalow open in an effort to produce some sort of cooling air flow. It didn’t do much good, though. We each lied on our beds on top of the covers and sweated ourselves to sleep.

-Brandon