Well things are looking up already (contract and expand!).Today was a truly lovely day - not just because I may be in love with my dive instructor. But it was one of those days where everything has gone well...let's hope i haven't just jinxed it.
I woke up early so that I could go scope out accommodation. I survived with no new mosquito bites (i had a mosquito coil and kept the fan on even though it meant I was freexing) and it turns out there aren't many dogs here on Phi Phi b/c most have been shot or were lost during the Tsunami (which I will touch on later).I got the accommodation I wanted (a single bed for 300b) and after a celebration breakfast, I headed to my first dive lesson.
When i got there i was greated by Henry...the future father of my children (well maybe one child). I know i sound like a 14 year old school girl, but whatever, I can't fight this feeling! Henry is from England (the north where the people and the accents are much more tolerable) and is absolutely gorgeous. I was initially distracted from his face by his body. He is about 6'4" and perfectly toned, not too big, not too little. He was of course shirtless and nicely tanned. He has short kind of shaggy blonde hair and blue/green/hazel eyes. Yes I know...sigh!Some of you may be saying...oh Tracy you love your white boys...but ladies, beauty is beauty, and henry is beautiful.
Anyway back to the lesson. It turned out to be a one on one...another sigh... and it was really good. Watched a movie, went over my homework and then went over the equipment and whatnot. After all that we headed to the beach. The good thing about this diving is your shallow water excercises are done on teh beach, as opposed to a pool, so you get to see some cool coral and fish. The excercises kept us very close (safety first) and gazing into each other's eyes. It was great - i'm sure it's equally as good with ugly or same sex instructers.
After the lesson, I decided i wanted to go to Rantee Bay, a quiet little beach, to relax and read a bit. I had heard the walk was about 30 minutes. I didn't want to have to pay for a boat and was happy for the excercise. I left at about 3:15 and it was about 30 degrees outside. THhe first part of the walk is uphill, about 100 stairs up to be exact. After pushing through that, I reached the viewpoint. It was worth the walk. Phi phi is shaped like anoval that was pinched-in in the middle. And there are two beaches with white sand and glacier-blue water on the concave parts. The rounded ends are filled with dense jungles and limestone cliffs. And, at the viewpoint there was a natural wildflower garden to make it absolutely perfect.
Then the fun was over and i had to head down the other isd eto get to rantee. The walk was much more rugged. No paved path and stairs, just jungle trekking (and very steaply downhill). This was extremely difficult in flip flops and a sarong. And the mosquitos were attacking me. All in all the walk through the jungle was nice, but I was dead when i hit the beach. I ripped off the sarong, threw down my bag and got in the water (too rocky to swi but very refreshing). I relaxed on the beach reading adn writing in my journal and then thought I should check for a boat back (I was too tired to walk). At first they said there were no more boats, then they said it would be 400baht! I am tight on money so firgured whatever, just walk. You can make it back to the viewpoint for sunset.
So I got my things (i had spent less that 1.5 hours on the beach) and headed back into the jungle. The trek up was hard, and my legs were already sore from the first hike. I made it up quicker than expected got to teh viewoint just as the sun was going down. Again you will have to consult my picsc when I can get them up... but it was amazing seeing the red sun disappear behind the cliffs. The tide was low, so the beaches were nothing but white sand with puddles and temporarily shipwrecked longtail boats.
At the viewpoint, i noticed a cut out section from a phuket paper, the Nation about eh tsunami. it was about 25 pages of pictures and it was really intense seeing the damage. Standing there with the view of phi phi and seeing what it had been reduced to less than three years ago was a weird experience. Two major waves hit Phi phi one on eather side of teh isthmus (pinched part). They met in the middle and wiped out everythign.
There is still a lot of construction going on here and it has occured to me several times, that the people in the restaurants adn guesthouses and working the boats and the dive instructors were all hear for that. They must have lost friends and families, there boats and houses, seen thousands dead. And now three years later they have built it back up and the tourism is booming. You could come and almost never knew it happened, but I'm sure the people here think about it every day.
Kevin said that he was hear for the tsunami (he was on vacation luckily when the waves hit though). He didn't offer up too much more and i wasn't about to pry. I would like to talk to locals about it, but it seems a bit early and it's probably not something they liek bringing up.
So anyway, after the sunset I walked back down the 100 or so stairs. On the way down I saw two chicken ( or turkeys) humping. I had recently made a comment to a friend about whether or not chicken have sex. My one frined actually said that the eggs were fertilized after they were laid. But i can say that chicken d o hump and it is a pretty comical sight to see. The man is puffed up and his tail is fanned like a peackock. His wings are flapping as he...well balances while doing the deed. Afterwards is the best part (I caught the tail end (hahaha no pun intended) so I saw the end. I'm not some sick bird perv that sat ther efor like 10 minutes. I do however have pictures:) After the deed is done, the birds cirlce eachother. They are going really slowly, the man still all puffed up, and they keep turning thier heads to look at eachother. It is like watching the beginning of the tango, the argentine man puffed up as he stairs down the woman, staring back just as intensley. It was really cool. And to think, soon there will be more roosters to crow at all hours of the day (not jsut sunrise and sunset) and annoy the hell out of tourists and locals alike...the beauty of life!
Now, I'm off to shower eat and then to bed. I have a 7:30am start tomorrow and I get to do my first open water dive!>
