Sippin from a bucket in phuket...

Now in the sunny climes of Phuket on the andaman coast of Thailand. Spent a few uneventful days on ko phi phi absorbing the sunshine and local bacteria and not really doing much else.

My two overriding impressions from ko phi phi were of the tsunami damage that is still clearly visible and the thai nightlife that I finally experienced. At first I didn't really notice anything as it was just one more strange, slightly rundown, asian town to me, but once I started looking closer I noticed the snapped off palm trees, bent steel beams on the remaining buildings, and the huge empty area in the prime resort space in the centre of the island. Eeriest for me was noticing the tiled floors of three shops just in front of my guesthouse that had been totally swept clean of the stores above. When i was swimming in the bay, the waves rolled in in these perfect, unbroken lines from one of the bay to the other that gave me chills. But, apart from that, the whole island looks like it's bouncing back, and at least my guesthouse was on a hill, so I probably would have survived a tsunami if it reoccured - The most ironic thing is that the cheapest, scummiest accomadation perched on the hills survived the waves, while the exclusive resorts and presidential bungalows right on the beach were completely ravaged.

So, with the eerie feeling in the back of my mind, relaxed on the beach, finally succumbed to the bacterial horrors of cheap hawker food, and relaxed for a couple days. Went out to experience the nightlife with Alex, the british guy in the room next to mine who is a perpetual traveller and stereotypical of a british backpacker. This means he knows where the best places for cheap beer and food are, and eats pretty much nothing but rice to save money for beer. Good times though, as I saw the lady-boy cabaret and some of the crazier bars on the island. The lady boys were actually kind of boring, once you get over the shock that some of them make very convincing women, it's really just someone with poor english skills lip synching to bad english love songs.

Another thing they have here is a bar which gives you a free bucket from midnight to 12:10 every night - contents of the bucket (like a child's sand bucket) include samsung (cheap thai whiskey), red bull, coke, and ice. Needless to say, a couple of those and your recollection of what you did that night starts to get really blurry. The bar next door had a muay thai ring right in the centre with thai fighters giving a demonstration and fighting a few bouts. If you climb into the ring and fight the thais, you get two free buckets... unfortunately, it's basically suicide, as the muay thai fighters are ridiculously fast and love to teach stupid foreigners respect for the martial arts.

Anyways, in phuket now, looking around at maybe doing some scuba diving here, and otherwise continuing my laid back progress around Thailand. Actually was fairly homesick for the last several days, aggravated by being sick in a strange country and constantly wondering what it was that poisoned you in the first place. Bought a new toothbrush and spent a couple days eating nice, bland, food, and eventually pulled through, but wasn't the most pleasant couple days.... You know it's bad when you start to wish for a kitchen you could just make your own food in, or a toilet that actually flushes when you press a button, rather than needing a bucket of water.

I'm still alive and kicking though, and on the plus side my hotel tonight comes with a chamber pot, so I can try some really rustic "historical" pooping.

Happy trails,

Rai Ley + ko phi phi photos