Steve bit Ryan’s foot last night. I swear that cat needs a good ass-whooping. Ryan was all manner of mad, picked up kitty by the scruff of the neck and sionara’ed him out the door.
We got temporary jobs! Princess Divers has an instructor who’s leaving and a couple instructors coming back in a few weeks, so they need us to fill in the gap. We’re very pleased as it will give us a bit of income as well as get us some familiarity with working on the island.
We're on route to Penang - crammed in a mini van that's very bouncy!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Pressing On and a Visa Run
Steve bit me last night. This was after I thoughtfully brought him back home-made fettuccini with an asparagus and mushroom cream sauce that he yummied right up. Little poopmonster drew blood. Believe me that at the time he got called a wide array of colorful names and poopmonster was the kindest and most polite I could come up with for the blog. He bit me on the foot, which I guess got in his way while I was stretching on MY bed. So no walking to the top of the Viewpoint for me today. And thank god for an up-to-date tetanus! It’s on the bottom of my foot though in the arch, so I have to keep a bandaid on it or it will get infected from walking around in
flip flops so it’s going to take forever to heal. Dumb cat!
On our way into town this morning we passed a danger zone. A human had a monkey on a rope and the monkey was up a palm tree picking coconuts for his human. You had to time your passage so as not to end up with a coconut on the head. Don’t see that driving into work on the 101!
We’re off to Penang, Malaysia tomorrow morning to get our three month visas. We’ll be back late Thursday. It’s a 10 hour bus ride tomorrow, followed by a day of waiting for our visas, followed by another day on a bus. A lot of traveling for something that in my opinion could just as easily be done at the immigration office in Phuket. I *really* don’t understand why we have to go through this two days on a bus thing. And we have to do this every three months. The easy answer is that they want their money. And that’s fine, I have no arguments against paying immigration for a visa. Just don’t make it such a pain in the butt to get one. On the plus side, Penang is supposed to have killer Indian food which Phi Phi does not. Looking forward to a Vindaloo.
Much progress has been made over the past couple of days. Let’s see…
We met a really nice lady from Ireland who’s leaving to go visit her brother in San Francisco for 3 months and was looking for someone responsible to sublet her room. So Ryan and I are going to stay at her place. The Pink is small and noisy. I’m glad that Ryan convinced me to try it for a week before we committed to a month. We went and visited Keira’s room which made me realize just how small the Pink is and the noise – well, the noise comes from the wind and rain at night which slams around the corrugated metal fence that separates the Pink property from the neighbours. Keira has assured us that her place is very quiet. If we like it, we’ll probably rent a place from the same complex. (Complex, check me out, I make it sound like it’s cookie-cutter condominiums in Sunnyvale.)
We’re going to leave all of our stuff at Keira’s while we go which will save us a few nights of paying double for a hotel room.
We’ve now put in our resumes and cards to every shop on the island. And we’re waiting. Keira’s departure might open up some opportunities for us as she’s a freelancer with a couple of the shops here – notably one that she recommended to us called Blue View Dives. They’re off the beaten path and cater mostly to resort clientele. They also have a contract with a Canadian company that keeps them busy about 9 months out of the year. And they’re losing their two instructors in September. So we’re hoping we might get some business out of them. When we get back from our visa run, we'll do another rounds to refresh our faces in the minds of all those managers.
I’ve discovered green papaya salad – so so so so good – and a healthy meal alternative to coconut milk curry of some sort over rice.
As I write this, we’re sitting at D’s Books, the little café/bookshop we’ve been having breakfast at while enjoying some “free” wifi. I use the quotes because our breakfast is a little pricier than it would be were it not for the “free” internet. Their menu is an assortment of baked goods, sandwiches, waffles, cereal/muesli with fruit, yogurt or milk, and a couple egg dishes. They also make a very good cup of coffee and some killer fruit shakes. But their “kitchen” would make Nicole scream. First of all, it’s out doors. Consists of two stainless steel work benches and two upright cast iron burners. It’s very simple, very efficient and, unlike the Pad Thai lady, they at least have proper refrigeration. Funny.
flip flops so it’s going to take forever to heal. Dumb cat!
On our way into town this morning we passed a danger zone. A human had a monkey on a rope and the monkey was up a palm tree picking coconuts for his human. You had to time your passage so as not to end up with a coconut on the head. Don’t see that driving into work on the 101!
We’re off to Penang, Malaysia tomorrow morning to get our three month visas. We’ll be back late Thursday. It’s a 10 hour bus ride tomorrow, followed by a day of waiting for our visas, followed by another day on a bus. A lot of traveling for something that in my opinion could just as easily be done at the immigration office in Phuket. I *really* don’t understand why we have to go through this two days on a bus thing. And we have to do this every three months. The easy answer is that they want their money. And that’s fine, I have no arguments against paying immigration for a visa. Just don’t make it such a pain in the butt to get one. On the plus side, Penang is supposed to have killer Indian food which Phi Phi does not. Looking forward to a Vindaloo.
Much progress has been made over the past couple of days. Let’s see…
We met a really nice lady from Ireland who’s leaving to go visit her brother in San Francisco for 3 months and was looking for someone responsible to sublet her room. So Ryan and I are going to stay at her place. The Pink is small and noisy. I’m glad that Ryan convinced me to try it for a week before we committed to a month. We went and visited Keira’s room which made me realize just how small the Pink is and the noise – well, the noise comes from the wind and rain at night which slams around the corrugated metal fence that separates the Pink property from the neighbours. Keira has assured us that her place is very quiet. If we like it, we’ll probably rent a place from the same complex. (Complex, check me out, I make it sound like it’s cookie-cutter condominiums in Sunnyvale.)
We’re going to leave all of our stuff at Keira’s while we go which will save us a few nights of paying double for a hotel room.
We’ve now put in our resumes and cards to every shop on the island. And we’re waiting. Keira’s departure might open up some opportunities for us as she’s a freelancer with a couple of the shops here – notably one that she recommended to us called Blue View Dives. They’re off the beaten path and cater mostly to resort clientele. They also have a contract with a Canadian company that keeps them busy about 9 months out of the year. And they’re losing their two instructors in September. So we’re hoping we might get some business out of them. When we get back from our visa run, we'll do another rounds to refresh our faces in the minds of all those managers.
I’ve discovered green papaya salad – so so so so good – and a healthy meal alternative to coconut milk curry of some sort over rice.
As I write this, we’re sitting at D’s Books, the little café/bookshop we’ve been having breakfast at while enjoying some “free” wifi. I use the quotes because our breakfast is a little pricier than it would be were it not for the “free” internet. Their menu is an assortment of baked goods, sandwiches, waffles, cereal/muesli with fruit, yogurt or milk, and a couple egg dishes. They also make a very good cup of coffee and some killer fruit shakes. But their “kitchen” would make Nicole scream. First of all, it’s out doors. Consists of two stainless steel work benches and two upright cast iron burners. It’s very simple, very efficient and, unlike the Pad Thai lady, they at least have proper refrigeration. Funny.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Pizza Ho-Bag Steve
We came home tonight with no leftovers for Steve. Ryan went to refill the water bottle at the 5TB water station and I headed across the field to the bungalow. Steve came leaping out of the bushes meowing up a storm and followed me inside and meowed the whole time I was in the shower. I exited the shower right around the time Ryan walked in the door to Steve howling. Ryan suggested that we toss the leftover pizza from two nights ago (it’s not been refrigerated), but was wondering what we could give Steve. Ryan bought Basil and Garlic Pringles at the shop tonight so I said he should share with Steve. Which he did (though he decided that two Pringles was about right for cat serving – I thought that was a little stingy).
Steve did too and went and dug the styrofoam of pizza out of the garbage. Ryan heard and took it away from him and was getting ready to boot Steve out of the room. I protested and told Ryan to put the garbage in the bathroom and close the door. Ryan didn't like that idea because then Steve wouldn’t be able to have a drink of water (mind you two seconds earlier Ryan was ready to give him the old heave-ho). So Ryan just put the garbage on top of the clothes rack. And all was quiet for a while. Then came a slap and a thud as first the styrofoam of pizza hit the ground shortly followed by the thud of cat landing. How can you argue with that? He's adamant about having pizza for dinner! And now he’s leaving us which is just as well seeing as that pizza’s two days old so has a good chance of making an encore!
Steve did too and went and dug the styrofoam of pizza out of the garbage. Ryan heard and took it away from him and was getting ready to boot Steve out of the room. I protested and told Ryan to put the garbage in the bathroom and close the door. Ryan didn't like that idea because then Steve wouldn’t be able to have a drink of water (mind you two seconds earlier Ryan was ready to give him the old heave-ho). So Ryan just put the garbage on top of the clothes rack. And all was quiet for a while. Then came a slap and a thud as first the styrofoam of pizza hit the ground shortly followed by the thud of cat landing. How can you argue with that? He's adamant about having pizza for dinner! And now he’s leaving us which is just as well seeing as that pizza’s two days old so has a good chance of making an encore!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Steve, "The Beach", the Viewpoint and the Hawk
Steve also likes pizza. This is what he’s been getting for treats. I said that we should buy a little bit of catfood for Steve, but Ryan is of the opinion that Steve is well fed and I must say that for a stray island kitty he is rather rotund. Steve spends a bit of nap time in the afternoon with us and he spends evenings with us before we kick him out when it’s lights out time. I don’t want to keep him overnight in case he pees on my stuff.
The past two times that we’ve gone diving, we’ve enjoyed our surface interval in Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh. Maya Bay is most famous for being the backdrop of the movie version of The Beach. It is as picturesque as you’d imagine with turquoise water and pale sandy beach. Speed boats spot the shore line, some circled by snorkelers. It is a major stop on the island hopping tours that depart from Phuket and Phi Phi Don.
Both of our visits were greeted by a beached sail boat which hadn’t been there for long – in fact on our first day, it seemed to be getting a visit from the authorities. This prompted my Facebook posting of “Somebody is having a worst day than you are.” Ignoring for a moment that the guy should not have been anchored in Maya Bay in the first place, it’s gotta suck to lose your anchor and start keeling over. We saw that happen in Bequia and a beaching can happen super fast.
Incidentally, this diving that we’re doing is giving us a good introduction to the different sites. Navigation is a breeze – mostly it’s wall dives, so you either keep the reef on your right or you left. The boat drops you off and picks you up, so there’s not a whole lot to it. In fact, I think I’ve mentioned that Andy’s let us go off on our own a couple of times. He’s mentioned that some of the shops wouldn’t let us do that regardless of our dive history, but he’s perfectly happy to do so. And let’s face it, it’s good for him as well. If he’s booked us and he knows he can let us go off, then he’s still free to book a few more people.
I touched the exact same thing that I touched in the Philippines and now my left thumb has the SARS. I cut myself on some kind of coral and it itches and has made funny blisters and is red and gross and it will last at least a month because that’s how long it lasted after the Philippines. And being hot and sweaty all the time does not help with the itching.
We’ve gone around to most of the shops on the island and given either a CV or a business card or both. Some shops are adamant that they don’t need people, others are happy to take your information and use you as a freelancer if they have work. One guy went so far as to tell us that he wouldn’t need anyone for at least 5 months (that’s December) – I don’t see how people can make claims like that. But it is the low season so we know that work may be slow to come until September. We have one shop to go visit at the complete other end of the beach. They’re attached to a resort.
I’m really not sure how we’re going to occupy two more months on this teeny tiny island if we don’t get calls for work before high season.
A few days ago we finally walked up to the Viewpoint. It’s a good climb up a million steps and when the steps are done, there’s probably still a good mile or so to climb. But the view is breathtaking. It’s from the top of the mountain that you can see down to Tonsai Village, the strip and two beaches. Tonsai is nothing more than a strip of beach connecting two islands. Out of curiosity and because people do talk about it we’ve googled the tsunami and watched some footage on YouTube. Seeing the topography of Phi Phi Don, I just don’t see how Tonsai registered as so much of a bleep on the tsunami radar.
We went back up to the Viewpoint yesterday and walked even further this time to where you can see Krabi (the province to the east on the peninsula), Phuket and a ton of other small islands. Unfortunately, I did not take the camera this time since I thought that we were just going to see the same thing again. I’ll repeat that it is one hell of a climb! I suspect that Ryan will want to go back up there today and I’m thinking that it’s really really hot to be clambering up there.
There are little convenience stores at the various viewpoint stops. They sell water, sodas, ice-cream – and are adamant, all of them, about no beer which leads me to wonder if in the past they’ve been used as party central either disturbing the peace or leading to an accident of some sort. Anyway there was a nice Scandanavian couple up there yesterday enjoying an ice-cream each – the kind that looks like a dove bar - when a bird of prey – probably a hawk – swooped down and tried to steal the guy’s ice-cream, knocking it out of his hands. The guy then tossed him the ice-cream, the hawk picked the chocolate shell off of it and left the rest to melt on the rocks. A few minutes later a white kitty with very large cohones came by lapped up some of the ice-cream. And the girl did not share the rest of her ice-cream with the guy and the guy did not get a new one.
The past two times that we’ve gone diving, we’ve enjoyed our surface interval in Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh. Maya Bay is most famous for being the backdrop of the movie version of The Beach. It is as picturesque as you’d imagine with turquoise water and pale sandy beach. Speed boats spot the shore line, some circled by snorkelers. It is a major stop on the island hopping tours that depart from Phuket and Phi Phi Don.
Both of our visits were greeted by a beached sail boat which hadn’t been there for long – in fact on our first day, it seemed to be getting a visit from the authorities. This prompted my Facebook posting of “Somebody is having a worst day than you are.” Ignoring for a moment that the guy should not have been anchored in Maya Bay in the first place, it’s gotta suck to lose your anchor and start keeling over. We saw that happen in Bequia and a beaching can happen super fast.
Incidentally, this diving that we’re doing is giving us a good introduction to the different sites. Navigation is a breeze – mostly it’s wall dives, so you either keep the reef on your right or you left. The boat drops you off and picks you up, so there’s not a whole lot to it. In fact, I think I’ve mentioned that Andy’s let us go off on our own a couple of times. He’s mentioned that some of the shops wouldn’t let us do that regardless of our dive history, but he’s perfectly happy to do so. And let’s face it, it’s good for him as well. If he’s booked us and he knows he can let us go off, then he’s still free to book a few more people.
I touched the exact same thing that I touched in the Philippines and now my left thumb has the SARS. I cut myself on some kind of coral and it itches and has made funny blisters and is red and gross and it will last at least a month because that’s how long it lasted after the Philippines. And being hot and sweaty all the time does not help with the itching.
We’ve gone around to most of the shops on the island and given either a CV or a business card or both. Some shops are adamant that they don’t need people, others are happy to take your information and use you as a freelancer if they have work. One guy went so far as to tell us that he wouldn’t need anyone for at least 5 months (that’s December) – I don’t see how people can make claims like that. But it is the low season so we know that work may be slow to come until September. We have one shop to go visit at the complete other end of the beach. They’re attached to a resort.
I’m really not sure how we’re going to occupy two more months on this teeny tiny island if we don’t get calls for work before high season.
A few days ago we finally walked up to the Viewpoint. It’s a good climb up a million steps and when the steps are done, there’s probably still a good mile or so to climb. But the view is breathtaking. It’s from the top of the mountain that you can see down to Tonsai Village, the strip and two beaches. Tonsai is nothing more than a strip of beach connecting two islands. Out of curiosity and because people do talk about it we’ve googled the tsunami and watched some footage on YouTube. Seeing the topography of Phi Phi Don, I just don’t see how Tonsai registered as so much of a bleep on the tsunami radar.
We went back up to the Viewpoint yesterday and walked even further this time to where you can see Krabi (the province to the east on the peninsula), Phuket and a ton of other small islands. Unfortunately, I did not take the camera this time since I thought that we were just going to see the same thing again. I’ll repeat that it is one hell of a climb! I suspect that Ryan will want to go back up there today and I’m thinking that it’s really really hot to be clambering up there.
There are little convenience stores at the various viewpoint stops. They sell water, sodas, ice-cream – and are adamant, all of them, about no beer which leads me to wonder if in the past they’ve been used as party central either disturbing the peace or leading to an accident of some sort. Anyway there was a nice Scandanavian couple up there yesterday enjoying an ice-cream each – the kind that looks like a dove bar - when a bird of prey – probably a hawk – swooped down and tried to steal the guy’s ice-cream, knocking it out of his hands. The guy then tossed him the ice-cream, the hawk picked the chocolate shell off of it and left the rest to melt on the rocks. A few minutes later a white kitty with very large cohones came by lapped up some of the ice-cream. And the girl did not share the rest of her ice-cream with the guy and the guy did not get a new one.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
More Phi Phi
Written June 22.
We’ve moved again. This time we are in the Pink Adobe. It’s a bungalow and we are back to basics – fan, cold shower, manual flush toilet.
We toured the island yesterday and looked at many rooms and this bungalow. Each room is pretty much the same – a bed, a small bathroom – some without even a sink – a fan and very very sparse in furniture. A couple we visited had a big bed and a small bed and we joked that would be Chris’ bed if we took one of those rooms. Some are slightly bigger, some are slightly smaller, all are on the ground level, some with people above you. Most were about a 5 to 7 minute walk into town. All were about the same price - 8000 to 10000 TB per month while it’s still low season.
We opted for the bungalow for a couple of reasons – all having to do with peace and quiet. It’s free standing, so there is no chance of neighbours banging on the walls. It’s away from the bars, so chances of music and other street noise is greatly reduced. It seemed like every night we spent in town was something different - one night it was a loud frat-style party in the next room (those people promptly got kicked out), but only after ruining a night’s sleep. One night a leaf blower noise randomly started at 1:00 in the morning (heard that even through my ear plugs). One night the dive shop across the street stayed open super late with people yammering outside.
So we’re at the Pink Adobe. It’s actually called Gypsy Bungalow, but I’m calling it the Pink Adobe for obvious reasons – it’s hella pink! Ryan LOHOHOHOHOVES it! Now we just need monkeys hanging from the ceiling and it will be oh so reminiscent of my Santa Fe days!
The one common problem with all of these places is complete and total lack of storage space – not a closet, not a dresser, nada, zilch. Even the expensive places grossly lack storage space. Once we’re committed to our new Pinkness, I’m going to have to settle in and be very creative about organization.
I’m fairly certain that the delightful lady who greeted us at the Pink this morning was a man – something about the facial structure, but the mannerisms and gentleness was all woman. And beautiful.
The Pink is no more than 100 meters from the local mosque and we can hear Allah Hakbar every so often.
We’ve adopted a new cat. His name is Steve. He looks a bit like Kermit so I wanted to name him Junior, but Ryan picked Steve first and it’s sticking. He looks a bit like Kermit only 300 lbs lighter – Steve is not dragging large amounts of pink flab around. Steve, like many of his island brothers is the result of his mommy and daddy being related, so he has a funny tail. In fact there are very few cats on the island that have a straight tail with all the vertebrae. Kermit also has a bit of a kink at the end of his tail, so I’m wondering if he was the result of inbreeding. Steve is probably from many generations of it as his tail is short and completely bent over on itself. I don’t want to touch it – not because I think it’s weird but because I think it must hurt. Doesn’t seem to bug Steve.
Steve likes sour cream and onion potato chips. And I think he's got a thing for chocolate because he meows a lot around chocolate. He has no interest in mango.
We had lunch at the Pad Thai place – so called because that’s all they serve. It’s a little shack near the Thai market and the woman stands in front of a single burner and makes pad thai all day. She’s got four tables under a bamboo shack adjacent to her little kitchen with the single burner and a variety of coolers where she keeps her ingredients. The little dining room has notes posted all over the walls from happy customers praising the pad thai. A note from Chris went so far as to say he’d go down on a lady boy for that pad thai. I assume Chris was a guy mostly because of the vulgarity of his note! Completely sexist, I know.
Some of the street vendor food looks a bit frightening, but the majority of it looks really delicious. We haven’t ventured much into it – other than today’s pad thai. But at the market there are lots of buffet style setups where you can dine cafeteria style. I wouldn’t mind trying it – I’d bet it’s super tasty (and probably super Thai spicy).
I think of Nicole often as we’re walking the streets. We’ll see something particularly health department offensive and I’ll have to mention that Nicole would just be completely besides herself here. You’ll see fish left out for hours or mollusks baking in the sun. And you just have to wonder how more people don’t get sick.
One thing we have been buying a lot from street vendors is fruit – mangos mostly and some pineapple. Both are a real treat and it’s a treat you don’t have to work for – they both come completely peeled and ready to eat.
We’ve found a pasta joint that has really good pasta and really good pizza. As many of you may already know, pizza is about the last thing that I would choose to have for dinner unless it’s super late at night and I’ve got to shove something down my throat before bed and all the Una Masses have closed. I eat it but it's not something I seek out. Here the pizza is REAL ITALIAN pizza – very thin crust with excellent quality tomato sauce and cheese – it is truly a slice of heaven. We’ve also enjoyed a fettuccini with pesto sauce where the fettuccini tastes homemade. It’s nice to have variation from Thai food every so often. I did hit the proverbial wall on Thai food last week and craved a salad and anything that didn’t have chili in it.
We’ve moved again. This time we are in the Pink Adobe. It’s a bungalow and we are back to basics – fan, cold shower, manual flush toilet.
We toured the island yesterday and looked at many rooms and this bungalow. Each room is pretty much the same – a bed, a small bathroom – some without even a sink – a fan and very very sparse in furniture. A couple we visited had a big bed and a small bed and we joked that would be Chris’ bed if we took one of those rooms. Some are slightly bigger, some are slightly smaller, all are on the ground level, some with people above you. Most were about a 5 to 7 minute walk into town. All were about the same price - 8000 to 10000 TB per month while it’s still low season.
We opted for the bungalow for a couple of reasons – all having to do with peace and quiet. It’s free standing, so there is no chance of neighbours banging on the walls. It’s away from the bars, so chances of music and other street noise is greatly reduced. It seemed like every night we spent in town was something different - one night it was a loud frat-style party in the next room (those people promptly got kicked out), but only after ruining a night’s sleep. One night a leaf blower noise randomly started at 1:00 in the morning (heard that even through my ear plugs). One night the dive shop across the street stayed open super late with people yammering outside.
So we’re at the Pink Adobe. It’s actually called Gypsy Bungalow, but I’m calling it the Pink Adobe for obvious reasons – it’s hella pink! Ryan LOHOHOHOHOVES it! Now we just need monkeys hanging from the ceiling and it will be oh so reminiscent of my Santa Fe days!
The one common problem with all of these places is complete and total lack of storage space – not a closet, not a dresser, nada, zilch. Even the expensive places grossly lack storage space. Once we’re committed to our new Pinkness, I’m going to have to settle in and be very creative about organization.
I’m fairly certain that the delightful lady who greeted us at the Pink this morning was a man – something about the facial structure, but the mannerisms and gentleness was all woman. And beautiful.
The Pink is no more than 100 meters from the local mosque and we can hear Allah Hakbar every so often.
We’ve adopted a new cat. His name is Steve. He looks a bit like Kermit so I wanted to name him Junior, but Ryan picked Steve first and it’s sticking. He looks a bit like Kermit only 300 lbs lighter – Steve is not dragging large amounts of pink flab around. Steve, like many of his island brothers is the result of his mommy and daddy being related, so he has a funny tail. In fact there are very few cats on the island that have a straight tail with all the vertebrae. Kermit also has a bit of a kink at the end of his tail, so I’m wondering if he was the result of inbreeding. Steve is probably from many generations of it as his tail is short and completely bent over on itself. I don’t want to touch it – not because I think it’s weird but because I think it must hurt. Doesn’t seem to bug Steve.
Steve likes sour cream and onion potato chips. And I think he's got a thing for chocolate because he meows a lot around chocolate. He has no interest in mango.
We had lunch at the Pad Thai place – so called because that’s all they serve. It’s a little shack near the Thai market and the woman stands in front of a single burner and makes pad thai all day. She’s got four tables under a bamboo shack adjacent to her little kitchen with the single burner and a variety of coolers where she keeps her ingredients. The little dining room has notes posted all over the walls from happy customers praising the pad thai. A note from Chris went so far as to say he’d go down on a lady boy for that pad thai. I assume Chris was a guy mostly because of the vulgarity of his note! Completely sexist, I know.
Some of the street vendor food looks a bit frightening, but the majority of it looks really delicious. We haven’t ventured much into it – other than today’s pad thai. But at the market there are lots of buffet style setups where you can dine cafeteria style. I wouldn’t mind trying it – I’d bet it’s super tasty (and probably super Thai spicy).
I think of Nicole often as we’re walking the streets. We’ll see something particularly health department offensive and I’ll have to mention that Nicole would just be completely besides herself here. You’ll see fish left out for hours or mollusks baking in the sun. And you just have to wonder how more people don’t get sick.
One thing we have been buying a lot from street vendors is fruit – mangos mostly and some pineapple. Both are a real treat and it’s a treat you don’t have to work for – they both come completely peeled and ready to eat.
We’ve found a pasta joint that has really good pasta and really good pizza. As many of you may already know, pizza is about the last thing that I would choose to have for dinner unless it’s super late at night and I’ve got to shove something down my throat before bed and all the Una Masses have closed. I eat it but it's not something I seek out. Here the pizza is REAL ITALIAN pizza – very thin crust with excellent quality tomato sauce and cheese – it is truly a slice of heaven. We’ve also enjoyed a fettuccini with pesto sauce where the fettuccini tastes homemade. It’s nice to have variation from Thai food every so often. I did hit the proverbial wall on Thai food last week and craved a salad and anything that didn’t have chili in it.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Still on Phi Phi
I was finally able to post pictures yesterday. The internet is incredibly flaky, so it took more time and effort than I would have liked.
After a few days off, we chose to dive again today and were rewarded for our patience. The ocean was flat so visibility greatly improved. We saw everything short of a whale shark. Our first dive at Bida Nai (inside island) treated us to at least two leopard sharks – I say at least two because we had four sightings total, but we’re pretty sure it was only two sharks. We were then treated to a beautiful dive of lionfish and nemofish and Indian Walker fish and a couple of swim throughs. Our safety stop was amidst small black tip reef sharks. Dive two was on the windward side of Phi Lay – a site called Palong South. This time we were treated to two turtles – one had a conch riding on it. We also saw a greater variety of nudibranchs on this dive than we’d seen so far. Oh, and an Octopus. I failed miserably in the photography department today, which is why we saw so much great stuff! Oh, and Andy, our instructor/divemaster/tour guide, came with us as well which might have added to the spotting of cool stuff!
Had a couple frustrating days. After seeing two brand new job listings on the PADI board yesterday, we visited both shops only to be told that they weren’t *really* looking for anybody. One of the shop managers even kind of made it sound like their shop totally didn’t have their crap together – not the best way to attract staff – AND talked badly of another shop which is totally unprofessional – in fact the shop he bad-mouthed was the same shop that we first applied to. It’s a shame because the other chap who works there who first greeted us was great. In the meantime, I’m starting to feel quite comfortable with the shop we’ve been diving with – we’ve chatted a bit with the three anglo staff members there and they’re all real nice. If we dive with them enough, who knows, maybe we’ll end up sticking there as permanent fixtures.
It’s low season, so the job thing is tough. And I’d gotten my hopes up a bit seeing as one shop was hiring I started thinking it would be nice to get jobs this early. In a couple months every single shop will be hiring.
Oh, I should really post about this: Andy’s best friend is Eel Toe Thumb guy. If you don’t know who Eel Toe Thumb Guy is, then watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHNpYxCSnUM. I’ll reserve all judgment - I’m sure the story actually hits much closer to home than some of us might care to admit or want to think about. Andy’s then girlfriend is the one who shot the video. The eel lives in the Similan Islands and is a friendly eel – would come out and happily take hot dogs from tour leaders and would rub himself on divers. Combination of the “friendly” eel having a “grumpy” day and as you can clearly see in the video, Toe Thumb Guy having a bit of a problem getting the hot dog out of the bag AND this eel, as all eels, having extraordinarily bad eyesight, led to a particularly bad day for Toe Thumb Guy. As Andy told us, they’d done this tons of times (think of how many harbor seals you’ve petted or how many crabs you’ve picked up) and it was very, very shitty luck. What got me the most about the story as if it wasn’t bad enough was the following detail – it wasn’t to the first set of jaws that he lost his thumb, it was to the second set. So the moral of the moray story is: don’t harass or feed the wild life! Didn’t you learn this in open water?
Oh, another tidbit of wisdom, I’ll pass along to all my diver friends – don’t watch where you put your knees in the sand, just don’t put your knees in the sand! We watched a scorpionfish today walk across the sand and bury himself and disappear to where I could not make it out at all – no classic telltale signs - no mouth, no eyeballs, nothing - and I’m still pretty sure that would have been a BIG ouchy if I’d knelt on it. After watching that, I did a lot of picture taking doing fin pivots (maybe that’s why all my pictures sucked). Oh and upon return to shop, we read up on a guy who’d been stung by a stonefish (or maybe it was a scorpionfish) – not my idea of a fun way to spend three months – starting with 1,000,000 units of penicillin over 6 days! Parental units, I apologize if this short episode causes you worry! Don’t worry, we’re not putting our knees down anywhere or feeding eels!
Ryan is now napping – it was my idea to nap and he stole it and I’m sitting at the bar typing! I’m hoping that we’ll decide to do more diving tomorrow and that I can redeem myself with the picture taking.
We saw:
A Leopard (zebra) Shark
A Turtle
A Pretty Nudibranch
And I didn't bother with the reef sharks - they're too squirly to photograph - you'll just have to take my word for it, unless Ryan got some good video. I got some good turtle video which I will post later!
After a few days off, we chose to dive again today and were rewarded for our patience. The ocean was flat so visibility greatly improved. We saw everything short of a whale shark. Our first dive at Bida Nai (inside island) treated us to at least two leopard sharks – I say at least two because we had four sightings total, but we’re pretty sure it was only two sharks. We were then treated to a beautiful dive of lionfish and nemofish and Indian Walker fish and a couple of swim throughs. Our safety stop was amidst small black tip reef sharks. Dive two was on the windward side of Phi Lay – a site called Palong South. This time we were treated to two turtles – one had a conch riding on it. We also saw a greater variety of nudibranchs on this dive than we’d seen so far. Oh, and an Octopus. I failed miserably in the photography department today, which is why we saw so much great stuff! Oh, and Andy, our instructor/divemaster/tour guide, came with us as well which might have added to the spotting of cool stuff!
Had a couple frustrating days. After seeing two brand new job listings on the PADI board yesterday, we visited both shops only to be told that they weren’t *really* looking for anybody. One of the shop managers even kind of made it sound like their shop totally didn’t have their crap together – not the best way to attract staff – AND talked badly of another shop which is totally unprofessional – in fact the shop he bad-mouthed was the same shop that we first applied to. It’s a shame because the other chap who works there who first greeted us was great. In the meantime, I’m starting to feel quite comfortable with the shop we’ve been diving with – we’ve chatted a bit with the three anglo staff members there and they’re all real nice. If we dive with them enough, who knows, maybe we’ll end up sticking there as permanent fixtures.
It’s low season, so the job thing is tough. And I’d gotten my hopes up a bit seeing as one shop was hiring I started thinking it would be nice to get jobs this early. In a couple months every single shop will be hiring.
Oh, I should really post about this: Andy’s best friend is Eel Toe Thumb guy. If you don’t know who Eel Toe Thumb Guy is, then watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHNpYxCSnUM. I’ll reserve all judgment - I’m sure the story actually hits much closer to home than some of us might care to admit or want to think about. Andy’s then girlfriend is the one who shot the video. The eel lives in the Similan Islands and is a friendly eel – would come out and happily take hot dogs from tour leaders and would rub himself on divers. Combination of the “friendly” eel having a “grumpy” day and as you can clearly see in the video, Toe Thumb Guy having a bit of a problem getting the hot dog out of the bag AND this eel, as all eels, having extraordinarily bad eyesight, led to a particularly bad day for Toe Thumb Guy. As Andy told us, they’d done this tons of times (think of how many harbor seals you’ve petted or how many crabs you’ve picked up) and it was very, very shitty luck. What got me the most about the story as if it wasn’t bad enough was the following detail – it wasn’t to the first set of jaws that he lost his thumb, it was to the second set. So the moral of the moray story is: don’t harass or feed the wild life! Didn’t you learn this in open water?
Oh, another tidbit of wisdom, I’ll pass along to all my diver friends – don’t watch where you put your knees in the sand, just don’t put your knees in the sand! We watched a scorpionfish today walk across the sand and bury himself and disappear to where I could not make it out at all – no classic telltale signs - no mouth, no eyeballs, nothing - and I’m still pretty sure that would have been a BIG ouchy if I’d knelt on it. After watching that, I did a lot of picture taking doing fin pivots (maybe that’s why all my pictures sucked). Oh and upon return to shop, we read up on a guy who’d been stung by a stonefish (or maybe it was a scorpionfish) – not my idea of a fun way to spend three months – starting with 1,000,000 units of penicillin over 6 days! Parental units, I apologize if this short episode causes you worry! Don’t worry, we’re not putting our knees down anywhere or feeding eels!
Ryan is now napping – it was my idea to nap and he stole it and I’m sitting at the bar typing! I’m hoping that we’ll decide to do more diving tomorrow and that I can redeem myself with the picture taking.
We saw:
A Leopard (zebra) Shark
A Turtle
A Pretty Nudibranch
And I didn't bother with the reef sharks - they're too squirly to photograph - you'll just have to take my word for it, unless Ryan got some good video. I got some good turtle video which I will post later!
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