Christmas on Phi Phi

The day was pretty spectacular actually. A group of us rented some longtail boats and went over the phi phi ley. Did a little swimming, some snorkelling, ate some sticky rice and fried chicken on the boat and on the way back to phi phi we saw a school of dolphins, which really made my Christmas.

That night we went out for spicy shrimp panang curry and later the evening took an evil turn as Amit forced us to play drinking games...which got Deb a little tipsy and onto the dance floor. Christmas day ended well into Boxing Day and both Deb and I are dragging our heels a little today.

But it was all worth it

Happy Ho Ho to you all

Well it is officially Christmas here in Thailand. You are all still sound asleep waiting for Santa to arrive with all your presents.

Today we woke up to sunshine...perfect xmas day conditions. A group of about 10 of us are going to get a longtail boat over to Kho Phi Phi ley island where we are going to snorkel for a few hours and then have a picnic lunch on the beach. A pretty perfect way to spend the day if you ask me.

Last night we spent the night relaxing on the beach, watching the fireshow, drinking a few drinks, watching fireworks and listening to some reggae music and the sounds of the waves crashing on shore....and of course partaking in a few bucket drinks. Why order a drink by the glass when you can get it in a bucket? It isn't quite the same as spending Christmas with my nona in the mountains in BS...but it comes in a close second.

Hope you all have a very merry christmas. Thinking of you all...much love.

No more snorkelling for this girl

Just spent the day underwater in day 2 of my open water dive course. It was incredible. Started off a little rocky as breathing underwater is a lot stranger than I imagined it to be. On the 2nd dive of the day the water was really choppy and we had to jump off the boat into some serious waves. I got slammed a few times with waves, drank some salt water and started to freak out a little. But my instructor was great, got me down to the bottom and calmed me right down.

It is such a different world down there. Feel like I should have done this a long time ago. Saw so many things down there. We saw turtles, barracuda's, black tipped sharks (who are vegetarians so they didn't scare me as much as I thought they would), Nemo the clown fish who I personally found so cute, puffer fish, etc.

We swam through this cave and it was filled with fish. Just to be able to swim through them all, look up at the water above you and see nothing but the bubbles from your tank and thousands of fish. For a girl who swims underwater almost more than she is above the water it was great.

My only fear now is that I will become addicted and have a very expensive sport to support. Now I am looking forward to the next leg of my trip (Indonesia) so that I can do some diving there as well.

Have really been loving this past week as Deb and I have gone our separate ways for a bit. Everyone knows how much I love her...but I gotta be honest, after 10 months of being pretty much connected at the hip I was experiencing some technical difficulties. But for the past 6 days I have been swinging single and it has been great. Met some great people on Phi Phi...did the dive course with Amit from England. We had loads of laughs...some of them underwater which is a little complicated.

Sure doesn't feel like Christmas here. There are xmas trees up and stuff but I am just not feeling very festive. I think the most festive I have felt was underwater on my dive today this guy swam past wearing a Santa hat. It was hilarious to see Santa underwater and made me feel pretty Christmasy.

Just ate at my favourite restaurant on the island called Papaya. It was closed when I got here for the first 3 days so I was starting to have heart palpatations that it was going to be closed for the entire time I am here...but it opened yesterday (yahoo). Had the shrimp panang curry with just the right amount of spice. Nummies.

Oh...and there is a rat in my room eating my soap. The guy at the front desk says he will hunt it and kill it so maybe it will be rat for xmas dinner instead of turkey:)

Debbie goes under the knife

Well poor Deb has been having some trouble with her toe since we were in Laos. The handsome Aussie men we met (who also happen to be med students) suggested a trip to the doctor in Thailand because it is an in grown toenail.

So after much nagging from me, off we went to the hospital in Chiang Rai (which is very nice). We got there at 11:20am, saw the doctor within 20 minutes and she was told that she had to have surgery and he could see her that day at 1pm. So we went to the hospital cafeteria had some lunch, went back upstairs to the operating room and within 20 minutes she was under the knife. They froze her toe, cut her nail off and wrapped her up and send her on her way with some antibiotics and pain killers. We were out of there by 1:50pm. If we were in Canada we would still have been waiting to see a doctor.

The entire thing (meds included) cost her just under $45. Not bad...

The Gibbons Experience - the verdict is still out

Well really for me The Gibbons Experience started with our bus trip from Luang Namtha...we knew it was going to be a long haul...about 7 hours, but we were not prepared for the day ahead of us.

*the bus was supposed to leave at 9:30am...it left at 10:30am

*about 1 hour into the trip over the bumpy roads the bus slammed on the brakes about a foot from a truck and the driver cursed and spun the steering wheel round and round. Everyone off the bus the steering column is broken.

*an hour later we are all back on the bus and moving along. Until we arrive at a huge hill...where it is once again everyone off the bus, climb to the top of the hill and even then all the men on the bus had to pull on a rope and help the bus up the hill. Everyone back on the bus.

* oh...everyone off the bus. This time the steering column is really broken. Bus driver hops in another car and goes off to the next village. We wait and wait on the side of the road right next to a construction site...red dust flying everywhere, sun beating down. Here we sat for 4 hours.

*part arrives, they fix it...back on the bus. Until the next hill where the road is single lane and a truck coming down the hill charges towards us...the bus backs up until part of the bus is hanging over a precipice. I am off the bus with Deb in tow in a matter of minutes. Climb the hill and back on the bus.

*several hours later we arrive in the village where The Gibbons Experience is going to pick us up...we were told there were 2 guesthouses in town. It is 8ish in the evening...the town is lights out and quiet. Not guesthouses, but homestays which is ok. Sleep on the floor in a communal room, outdoor washroom, et.

*next day, they pick us up, we hike into the forest (gorgeous), have our orientation and off we go to the first zipline. Incredible. You jump off the platform and whip 100's of metres in the air and sometimes you are so high above the canopy of the trees that you can't even see the forest floor.

The first day is awesome...about a 3-4 hour hike with about 6 different ziplines. It is an incredible way to see the forest from a different perspective

*arrive at teh first treehouse which is actually quite lovely (treehouse #5). Gorgeous views, bathroom where you stand over a slated floor and shower while looking at the sheer drop below. Deb didn't like this feature. The features i didn't like was there was no door so the guides could clearly see into the washroom. We hung up a towel and a sarong to provide some privacy, but that didn't stop them from sticking their faces up against the bamboo slats trying to see in, or even just poking their heads right inside as if they are looking for something other than your naked body. Argghhh.

* next day we go for a nice long hike...I get wicked blisters in my hiking boots and of course they have no first aid kit and we forgot ours. In the end I have to hike for over 4 hours in 2 days in just my socks. End result is that the bottom of my feet are bruised and swollen and I walk like a gimp...this is where you all sigh and say poor Chris. Come on, let me hear it.

*we ask for lunch and they bring us sticky rice and say there is no other food, even though we have seen the guides stuffing their faces (conclusion here is that they eat all the good food in the kitchen and then bring what they don't want up to the tree house). Finally got fed, but none of us were impressed.

*at the next tree house it is even worse. There is no real washroom in the treehouse so you have to zipline out for #2's...and then hike downhill for 5 minutes. not a problem in the day, but at night could be problematic...ziplining in the pitch black does not sound fun to me. There is a little place you can do #1, but it is out in the open...no privacy at all, so seriously you might as well just hang your ass over the edge of the treehouse and say good bye to privacy.

It seriously just goes on like this. The positive is that the ziplining is incredible. What a rush. Flying through the sky so high up...seeing the scenery, sleeping in a treehouse about 80 metres above ground. The experience was amazing...the service was horrible.

Ladies and lady boys...look NO further

I have found 3 specimens of male perfection. The question is, have I been blessed or cursed? Blessed, because I have been fortunate enough to stumble across such raw masculinity, with their finely manicured facial growth. Or have I been cursed because sadly they can never be mine?

Forever I will be haunted by images of Chris' lush moustache and how it danced across his upper lip. Don't even get me started on Shervin's thick sideburns and the sensations that would pulse through my body at the mere glimpse of them. Then there was Liam with the upside down handlebar moustache. The dedication to cultivate such a thing of beauty continually astounds me.

I contemplated keeping these images to myself. What woman wouldn't? Something like this is meant to be treasured. But it felt like too much of a burden for my slim shoulders to carry. So I am sharing them with all my female friends so that they too can be taunted by what they can never have.

Ladies...this is virility in it's rawest form. Enjoy...

The giving of alms to the monks

While we were in Luang Prabang we decided to get up early 5:45am so that we could witness the giving of alms to the monks. There are hundreds of monks in Luang Prabang and everymorning they walk down the main street and locals (as well as tourists now) give them food. Sticky rice mostly, and they use this food for their 2 meals of the day. The first at 7am and the last at 11am.

At around 6:30am the monks start walking past and all you see is this ocean of orange. I felt strange taking pictures at all as there were some very obnoxious tourists that were standing right in front of them snapping photos with flash right in their face. It seemed wrong somehow, so I stayed back and with the help of my little zoom managed to get a few shots.

The town is filled with wats and the monks are very eager to practice their english with you. I spoke to one 22 year old who has been at this monastary for 7 years. And he was with another boy who was just 17 and had only been there for 6-7 months. While I was talking to them I witnessed something that I thought was quite poignant.

A mosquito landed on the younger boy and the boy raised his hand as if to kill it. The older boy saw this, gently grabbed the young boys hand with his one hand and with his other hand he just gently brushed the mosquito off the boys arm. Hmmm...it was quite beautiful.