island news...

Burnt knees, sand in the bed, it rained all night.
Beachfront bungalow, no shoes, total freedom.
I’ve wanted to write so much over the past 4 days since we got to Thailand but my computer is never close by, let alone the internet, not to mention I am pretty caught up in the moment to stop and go hunting for pen and paper.
So let’s see if i can synopsize.
Arrived on Koh Lipe yesterday afternoon. The Journey from India to Koh Lipe. First when we got off the plane in Phuket airport in southern Thailand, we de-planed with hundreds of other sun and fun seekers from all parts of the globe. The Thais, being an efficient and motivated bunch, started marking us with stickers then, to help sort us and let us know where we are going or which company we belong to. I am not sure if this is to assist us in the case we get so drunk we forget where we belong or if we are just so stupid that we can’t figure it out along the way. Regardless, it is a nifty way to keep everyone organized. Thoughtful, even if you sometimes feel like you are in kindergarten and have just had your name tag pinned to your shirt.
Anyhow, as i was saying, us and hundreds of others in Phuket. We are beyond delirious when we reach Phuket in the sunshine at 10am. We have been awake for over 36 hours at this point and the effect is not becoming on either of us. Disregarding that, we steel ourselves and exit the airport, finding a car to take us to the pier. On the pier we board a ferry that seems clearly meant to handle about only half the passengers we currently have on board. All of us bound for the island of Koh Phi Phi. Phi Phi has for many years been famous for the beach that was used to film the movie “The Beach”. It is called Maya Beach here, and it is found on the island just next to Phi Phi. So here we were, headed off with oh... about 100-150 other revellers to find our little piece of paradise, hopefully.
Arrived on Phi Phi at around 3:30 in the afternoon. Neither of us were ourselves by that time, so sleep deprived and disoriented we were. We stumbled, i mean disembarked onto a palm lined bay full of shops and bungalow touts. Looking like we knew where we were going, obviously, we bee-lined straight ahead, no clue where we were going. Too tired to think, too tired to walk, i started wondering “whose idea was this? To wait a full day in Delhi airport for a couple of night flights to Thailand, to not stop there but to continue by ferry to an island in the middle of the Andaman Sea. I’m sure Nakul was having similar doubts by then as well as both of us were past having the energy to speak for non-essential purposes.
We settled on a budget breaking room for comfort and sanity and decided to stay two nights, in an effort to regain aforementioned sanity.
Phi Phi was fun. It’s a party town. So its good for that. Great beaches. Our hotel had the coolest pool I’ve ever been to. An infinity pool with a swim up bar which pretty much swallowed us up for the entire day. The pool looks out over a picture perfect beach. We lounged until we started to grow scales.
Phi phi has cats. Everywhere, cats, so cute. It’s laid back there, I mean, there’s a million restaurants and shops and the nightlife is awesome. Our second night we went to this Italian joint with tables right on the beach. I delighted in the fact that our caprese salad and tiramisu were as authentic as you would get on the coast of Sicily. Clearly starved for such things, Nakul laughed.
After dinner we took in the beach nightlife. Phi phi has the best fire shows in the world. Better than Goa, the bars here compete to attract customers by having the best fire shows on the strip, so you can look down the full length of the beach and see about 20 flames going on a time. And not just fire spinners, although of those there are plenty who are talented, but also flame blowers and flame throwers shooting flames a hundred feet up in the air, not to mention the flaming giant skipping rope built for two and the line ups of silly drunk tourists waiting to test their jump roping skills. The Thais at each end holding the rope turn it faster and faster until the jumper or jumpers in the middle can’t keep up anymore and get a clothesline of fire on the ankle or in the face or in the crotch. Great entertainment.
We even found one dj spinning drum and bass, we hung out there and danced for a bit before moving on to the place that was really going off for the night, the place with the biggest crowd to sit back and enjoy the show.
The next morning after a brief swim and a breakfast we headed off for the ferry to Koh Lanta on our way to Lipe. This ferry had fewer people than the day before, yet still quite a large group. Slowly we are getting away from the crowds. On Lanta we change to a speed boat and now we are only 2 of 24 on our way to the southern islands. We drop some others off at islands on our way and by the time we reach Lipe we are about 12. We get off at an offshore floating pier used to transfer to local long tails. Here we find that all passengers except for us climb in to one long tail to take them to the biggest beach called Pattaya. We climb into the next long tail boat alone, just the two of us and our driver as we take off around the island to the other side to Sunset Beach.
We laugh at how we started off in a huge crowd getting off the plane in Phuket. Ferry to Phi Phi so many people, to Lanta less, then the speed boat even fewer, until finally we are here, and we are the only two people in the boat taking us to where we are going.
At Sunset Beach we are greeted, not by bungalow touts but by a quiet white sand beach, some shade, a couple of dogs lazing around, and 2 or 3 people sitting and looking at the sea. That’s it. We jump out of the boat into the water and walk ashore and just sit down in the shade for a moment before looking for a place to stay.
Turns out there is a nice row of cheap and decent beach bungalows right there, we chose one and moved in. Its simple, very much so, but we have everything we need here. The island is small so from here we can explore everything we need to. There is some of the best snorkelling on the island right off the beach in front of our bungalow. We picked up some masks and snorkels in Phi Phi so we are ready to go.
Last night dinner of Pad Thai had giant shrimp that were definitely caught fresh that day and Fried Rice with chicken that had Nakul feeling like he never left home. So we are in good hands.