Back 2 Skewl

Current location: Ko Phi Phi, Thailand
aka, Tropical Frat Party

Ko Phi Phi is gorgeous, y'all. Really, in its natural state, it has got to be paradise on earth. The water is surreal in how blue-green, the sand is perfectly white, the rocks are sheer and beautiful. The internet is also not super cheap, so I am not uploading pictures yet, but it is just like a postcard, honestly.

I didn't know what to expect, also, because the tour books all are printed before the 2004 tsunami which went right across the island and killed masses of people here, or they were printed right after, which means there were like 2 bars that were planning to reopen, and much accommodation was still shut. Well, things have progressed a lot, and the accommodations are back up, and believe me - the bars are booming. Even more than the east coast of Australia, this feels like a tourist mass. The island is small, but everything on it is a hotel, a restaurant, a tour shop, a bar, or a souvenir shop. That is essentially Ko Phi Phi. I will be here for 3 days, and I think that will be enough.

(I am really glad I got to come, though. The accommodations here are all rather inexpensive guesthouses, but they really have very few dorm-style ones. so on my own it would be a pretty pricey bed, and I likely would ahve stayed one night at most. Since I met Michelle in Phuket, though, we've been traveling together and splitting our own, bare-bones bungalow is quite cheap, so it's a lovely way to travel).

Anyway, so this place is packet to the gills with young travelers, and they love their drink late at night. The drink of choice would honestly rival Las Vegas for crass excess: you buy a bucket. This is not figurative. You buy a little plastic sand bucket on the street, and it is filled with a can of Red Bull, a can of Sprite, and a flask of Smirnoff or whiskey, and a few straws. Mix, and proceed to forget the evening.

A BUCKET.

The bars serve them, too - generally they compete for business with 2-for-1 bucket deals, amazingly - but why bother with those prices when you can pick one up at a stand on the street and wander through the tiny cobblestone streets with your bucket in hand?

I really feel like I am on spring break in Cabo, or wherever the Girls Gone While hotspot is now. It's so...classy.