"Mui tre-ouble-o"...Jan 27th
The last few days on Ko Phi Phi have not been without incident. Most good, some not so good.
Robyn and the gang (which the gang consisted of Robyn, her boyfriend, her sister and, soon-to-be brother in-law) and the guys met up a few nights ago; we hit an Irish pub in the middle of the tourist area. Seems like I keep finding Irish pubs, bands, and making friends wherever I go. Not a bad thing, just amusing 'cause THESE FUCKERS CAN DRINK!!!! We played a little pool, had a few laughs, and Jimmy (Robyn's boyfriend) got bugged by this guy from the UK because he didn't know who 'Laurel and Hardy' where. "I can't believe you don't know who 'Laurel and Hardy' are!!! It's like me asking if you know who Jesus is....gooo-lly!!". Apparently it was a big deal though I don't know what the fuss was about...like really, these were comedians in the 50's; who gives a crap!
The following day, we trekked over to Long Beach (at the southern tip of the island) and met up with Robyn and the gang again and received my first injury of the trip...a little gash by these freakin little barnacle.
Remember how I said I couldn't swim? Well, I still can't but everyone encouraged me to get my ass in the water and try snorkeling. It was kewl!
Arnie had bought this snorkel and mask in Ko Tao before we had left (Ko Tao is like supermodel island...gorgeous women everywhere...) and he let me use it to practice swimming and snorkeling - wwaaaaayyy kewl. Robyn helped me pull me along in the water until I was confident enough to go chasing after one of these little fish in the water....it was too fast; couldn't catch it.
Today, we went on a snorkeling trip around all of Ko Phi Phi and surrounding islands. It was good...I snorkeled where I felt comfortable (started off with a life vest though the guys kept making fun and asking for arm floaters for me with little fishies on them...jerks). That's when I got my second set of injuries. It was low tide around an island called Bamboo Island and I went swimming without the vest (a big step for me) and was doing fine. When I got closer to a reef between me and the beach (the reef being less than three feet from the top of the water), I started taking in water into the snorkel and mask; that's when I panicked and kick up some coral. OOOOWWWWWWW!!!!! That hurt!!
At least I got the wounds to prove that I'm no wuss! At least I'm making progress....
Ko Phi Phi, by the way, is also another supermodel island. Lovely women everywhere. There were these Spanish women on my boat that where just unbelievable. Dan would say "Are they in trouble Harv??" and I'd reply with a Spanish accent "Mui tre-ouble-o...". But then I'm a chicken and never approached....just leered as usual....leeeeeerrrrrrrrrinnggg.....
I mentioned during my last blog that walking around the island left me in a bit of a somber mood where I saw the houses (shacks really) where the locals were living and huge stretches of the north beach area that have been completely wiped out. The Thai government has now designated the north side of the beach to no longer be community planned area but to allow for resorts to be constructed (makes sense I guess as tourism is the sole industry for the islands...and it's busy here).
Dan and I went and hiked to the top of a mountain viewpoint to get a birds eye view of what the village looked like and how the Tsunami wave must of hit the beach below. Later, we visited the memorial for the victims. Like I said, it was a somber day as I had also found out that a fellow co-worker that I knew had passed away.
Victor Chang, though I didn't really know on a personal level, was someone I enjoyed working with (I managed a technical team in a call center where he would report to me - he worked hard and always had a good attitude), was a good guy, and I liked talking to him now and then. I'm sorry I didn't get to know him better but you know what it's like...you see someone at work or school, they're nice people, you enjoy talking to them but the conversations stay high-level and you just end up talking to them at work or at school. It's not a bad thing, it just is what it is.
Now not to be corny by dedicating this BLOG to Victor (I don't think that would be in good taste, not from an acquaintance), I will use this BLOG to pass on my wishes and condolences to his family and friends.
Tomorrow we leave Ko Phi Phi and I think (we're still mulling it over) we're going to head of to Phuket where we'll kayak and go see James Bond island and other sites. More to come later.
Harvey
Robyn and the gang (which the gang consisted of Robyn, her boyfriend, her sister and, soon-to-be brother in-law) and the guys met up a few nights ago; we hit an Irish pub in the middle of the tourist area. Seems like I keep finding Irish pubs, bands, and making friends wherever I go. Not a bad thing, just amusing 'cause THESE FUCKERS CAN DRINK!!!! We played a little pool, had a few laughs, and Jimmy (Robyn's boyfriend) got bugged by this guy from the UK because he didn't know who 'Laurel and Hardy' where. "I can't believe you don't know who 'Laurel and Hardy' are!!! It's like me asking if you know who Jesus is....gooo-lly!!". Apparently it was a big deal though I don't know what the fuss was about...like really, these were comedians in the 50's; who gives a crap!
The following day, we trekked over to Long Beach (at the southern tip of the island) and met up with Robyn and the gang again and received my first injury of the trip...a little gash by these freakin little barnacle.
Remember how I said I couldn't swim? Well, I still can't but everyone encouraged me to get my ass in the water and try snorkeling. It was kewl!
Arnie had bought this snorkel and mask in Ko Tao before we had left (Ko Tao is like supermodel island...gorgeous women everywhere...) and he let me use it to practice swimming and snorkeling - wwaaaaayyy kewl. Robyn helped me pull me along in the water until I was confident enough to go chasing after one of these little fish in the water....it was too fast; couldn't catch it.
Today, we went on a snorkeling trip around all of Ko Phi Phi and surrounding islands. It was good...I snorkeled where I felt comfortable (started off with a life vest though the guys kept making fun and asking for arm floaters for me with little fishies on them...jerks). That's when I got my second set of injuries. It was low tide around an island called Bamboo Island and I went swimming without the vest (a big step for me) and was doing fine. When I got closer to a reef between me and the beach (the reef being less than three feet from the top of the water), I started taking in water into the snorkel and mask; that's when I panicked and kick up some coral. OOOOWWWWWWW!!!!! That hurt!!
At least I got the wounds to prove that I'm no wuss! At least I'm making progress....
Ko Phi Phi, by the way, is also another supermodel island. Lovely women everywhere. There were these Spanish women on my boat that where just unbelievable. Dan would say "Are they in trouble Harv??" and I'd reply with a Spanish accent "Mui tre-ouble-o...". But then I'm a chicken and never approached....just leered as usual....leeeeeerrrrrrrrrinnggg.....
I mentioned during my last blog that walking around the island left me in a bit of a somber mood where I saw the houses (shacks really) where the locals were living and huge stretches of the north beach area that have been completely wiped out. The Thai government has now designated the north side of the beach to no longer be community planned area but to allow for resorts to be constructed (makes sense I guess as tourism is the sole industry for the islands...and it's busy here).
Dan and I went and hiked to the top of a mountain viewpoint to get a birds eye view of what the village looked like and how the Tsunami wave must of hit the beach below. Later, we visited the memorial for the victims. Like I said, it was a somber day as I had also found out that a fellow co-worker that I knew had passed away.
Victor Chang, though I didn't really know on a personal level, was someone I enjoyed working with (I managed a technical team in a call center where he would report to me - he worked hard and always had a good attitude), was a good guy, and I liked talking to him now and then. I'm sorry I didn't get to know him better but you know what it's like...you see someone at work or school, they're nice people, you enjoy talking to them but the conversations stay high-level and you just end up talking to them at work or at school. It's not a bad thing, it just is what it is.
Now not to be corny by dedicating this BLOG to Victor (I don't think that would be in good taste, not from an acquaintance), I will use this BLOG to pass on my wishes and condolences to his family and friends.
Tomorrow we leave Ko Phi Phi and I think (we're still mulling it over) we're going to head of to Phuket where we'll kayak and go see James Bond island and other sites. More to come later.
Harvey
posted by Harvey at
2:50 AM
1 Comments:
Good to see you got in the water Harv, keep it up. Remember you will never see the wemon you meet over there again, so don't be shy. Start puttin a hurt on them.
Ronnie B
By
Anonymous, at 4:14 PM
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