Dangers of Drunk People: They Kiss Fish
Ko Phi Phi (“pee-pee”) Island is beautiful, and it knows it. This formerly sleepy Muslim fishing village now blares music into the wee hours, followed by calls to prayer at dawn. If Ko Phi Phi had a soundtrack, it would a combination of electronica, Jack Johnson, Alicia Keys/Jay-Z, Shakira and traditional Muslim calls to prayer.
Ko Phi Phi’s main attraction to us is its stunning beaches and crystal clear waters. We took a long tail boat out to Ko Phi Phi Leh (where The Beach was filmed), and free dove a 10 meter wall with 30+ meters of visibility. Amazing. We saw sea turtles, black tip reef sharks, jellyfish and a two foot long pufferfish (we didn’t get too close).
Ko Phi Phi was also heavily damaged during the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. We hiked up to the top of the island yesterday, and at one of the viewpoints there is a picture of what the island looked like hours after the tsunami hit. Most of the town development is built on a sandbar between two sets of hills, with no point of land in town higher than 1 meter.
We spoke to a man who owns a place on top of the hill and saw the tsunami pummel the island. According to him, the intial surge was 10 meters high and came in from the north, covering the entire town. The surge continued around the island, hitting the town from the south side a few minutes later with a 5-7 meter surge. Over 1,000 people on Ko Phi Phi died, and over 5,000 died in the Krabi area. It is hard to imagine the devastation, and only the new evacuation signs in town give any indication that anything happened here.
Tomorrow we’re off to the island of Ko Ngai, then to Ko Kradan – both places further off the grid and we may not have internet access for a few days.
GO SAINTS!!!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Guys!
So we hiked to the top of Bald Mountain on Sunday, whipped out our i Phones and spent a pleasant 20 minutes “cyber trekking” with you folks in Thailand…ahhh ain’t technology grand?
Great blogging Allie, keep up the trip reports, you should be writing for a guide book or something, love the details.
Mark, for god sake man, you just got on the road, try and stay away from hospitals, tall trees, cliffs, or combos that also involve alcohol.
Remember, this is a year long event, not a sprint to the hurt locker;)
Hey Allie & Mark! I love reading the blog. It all sounds do amazing! I was cleaning out a file cabinet in my office and found the printed out emails from Allie’s travels in 1999! What a fantastic flashback 🙂 I can’t believe it’s been 10 years- and your traveling again!! Take care you two 🙂
Jamie! You still have those emails?!? I don’t think I have a copy of those anymore – they were saved in my now defunct hotmail account. Would you give me a copy next time we meet? Maybe…May? ;^)