Monkeying Around the World

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of the Ko Tao Island Resort on April 5, 2009.  We were picked up by a truck.  We arrived at the ferry.  Ivan got our tickets for the ferry.  We boarded the ferry.  We arrived in Ko Phangan an hour later.

We hopped into a taxi.  We didn’t have any accommodation booked yet.  We were dropped off in the Haad Rin area.  Ivan wanted to stay right by Haad Rin Nok.  It’s the location of the Full Moon Party Beach.  The party would be occurring in a few days on April 9th.  Jennifer and I sat down in the Tommy Resort’s restaurant.  Ivan checked out different resorts around the area.  Ivan came back and said we’d stay at Tommy Resort. 

We checked in.  We placed our backpacks into the room.

At this point, we were all starving.  We went to the Moon Dolphin restaurant.  Ivan ordered a spicy pad-seaw with chicken.  Jennifer got a pad-seaw with chicken.  I had fried rice with bananas.  The food here is cheap and tastes good.

We walked to Dream Cones.  This place offers free wi-fi.  I had a banana ice cream scoop.  Ivan and Jennifer each ordered a chocolate ice cream scoop.  The ice cream was good.  The chocolate was really rich though.  Ivan and Jen used the laptop for awhile.  It started raining.  It seems that it rains a little each day.

We walked into town.  We picked Bongo Bungalow for dinner.  Ivan and Jennifer each had a falafel.  I had a pad thai with bananas.  The food was alright here.  The restaurant was playing the movie The Doors.  A lot of the restaurants here play different shows like Family Guy, Friends and The Simpsons.  At night, the restaurants like to play mostly newer movies. 

We went to the beach on April 6, 2009.  The waves are really big at the Haad Rin Nok beach.  I ran around on the beach while Ivan and Jennifer were in the water.  I saw a nice lady who handed me a banana.  I wish I got free bananas more often!  We headed to the pool at our resort.  It’s a nice big pool.  Ivan was reading in the pool. Jennifer was swimming around.  I soaked up the sun on a lounge chair. 

During the day, there are many football (soccer) games played. 

The games are right on the beach behind Tommy Resort.  We sat down and watched two games of football.  It’s exciting to watch. 

We walked into town for lunch.  Ivan wanted to try a schnitzel.  We sat down at Mama’s Schnitzels.  Ivan and Jennifer each ordered a chicken schnitzel.  I had a banana schnitzel.  We all enjoyed the yummy schnitzels.  We chilled in the room for awhile.

We went to Trattoria Italiana for dinner.  The dishes were  expensive.  I had a banana ziti.  It was alright.  Ivan had a terrible vegetable calzone.  Jennifer had cheese and spinach raviolis.  The dish wasn’t that big.  Jen said it tasted alright, but Ivan thought it was a rip-off. 

We hopped into a free taxi headed to the Pool Party.  It’s located at the Coral Bungalows.  The party says on the flyer that Thais are not allowed at the party.  The lady thought Jennifer was Thai.  Ivan said No, she’s not Thai.  The weather was good.  The pool party has no entry fee.  There was a lot of people at the party.  Jennifer forgot to bring her swimsuit. 

Ivan and Jennifer ordered a bucket to share.  I had a banana juice.  The music was really good.  We danced around the pool area.  There were lots of people in the pool.  Ivan jumped in.  He was trying to get Jennifer to go in.  It was great fun dancing around.  I wish there were other monkeys at the party.  Ivan was in the pool.  I jumped on his shoulders.  Other people were trying to grab me too.  I think they were drunk.  I tried to dance on Ivan’s head.  But, I almost fell in the pool!  Ivan put me back on the ground so I could dance some more. 

Jennifer jumped into the pool with her clothes on.  Everybody was having fun.  I was really enjoying my monkey self.  We partied for awhile.  We hopped onto a motorbike.  We were dropped off in town.  Ivan and Jennifer were hungry.  They grabbed a sandwich.  I had a banana crepe.  We walked back to Tommy Resort.

April 12th, 2009 | Category: Ko Phangan, Thailand | Comments (2)

Ivan, Jennifer and I woke up early on April 4, 2009.  Today, we were going on a snorkeling tour.  We were picked up a little after 8:30 am.  We boarded the boat.  The weather wasn’t good.  It started raining.  Ivan and Jennifer went snorkeling at our first stop.  There wasn’t much to see though – only a few fish. 

The boat was taken to another snorkeling place. 

There were so many fish in the water.  I sat on a life vest while Jennifer pushed me around.  A few people on the boat were throwing bread into the water.  The fish went crazy and all came to the area.  Ivan and Jennifer were surrounded by fish.  I could see them from the life vest.  There were hundreds of them.  We were supposed to head to a place where you can swim with sharks.  Unfortunately, the waters were too rough.  So, we had to skip it.

It was time to eat lunch  on the boat. I brought along three bananas for me.  Ivan and Jennifer ate the boxed lunch.  It consisted of rice with an over medium egg and some chicken.  It was good but not a big meal. 

It’s really nice to be on a boat.  The boat passed by some great scenery.

We were taken to Japanese Gardens.  It was time for more snorkeling.  Ivan and Jennifer enjoy snorkeling.  They think it’s nice to look underwater.  It’s nice to see all types of fish.

Our last stop was Ko Nang Yuan.  It’s 100 Baht per person for the entry fee.  I hid in the dry bag so I wouldn’t get charged.  The island doesn’t allow people to bring in plastic bottles.  We were allowed an hour on the island.  Ivan and Jennifer were both really tired.  Jennifer and I took a nap.  Ivan wanted to explore the island – but he was too tired.  He read magazines. 

We went back on the boat.  We arrived back at Ko Tao sometime after 4 pm.  Everybody was tired.  We relaxed in the room.  We also took a short nap. 

Ivan, Jennifer and I walked to Papa’s Tapas for dinner.  I ordered the same thing as last night.  It was great again.  Ivan and Jennifer ordered their favorite tapas – spinach risotto, home made potato chips with salsa and pumpkin gazpacho.  They also ordered a main course of prawn skewers.  For dessert, they ordered a white chocolate panacotta with raspberry.  Ivan and Jen enjoyed their meal.

Ivan wanted to check out Fizz.  It’s a bar right by the beach.  There’s seating on the beach.  Also, there’s tables with green bean bags.  We sat on the bean bags.  They’re quite comfortable.  Ivan and Jennifer ordered a drink.  I had a lovely banana and mango juice.  We walked back to resort to get some rest.

April 12th, 2009 | Category: Food, Ko Tao, Thailand | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I had lunch at the Island Cafe on April 3, 2009.  It’s located right across from our resort.  Ivan had a tuna sandwich.  I had penne with bananas.  Jennifer had spaghetti with basil and creme.

Ivan rented an ATV for the day.  We drove around exploring the island.  It’s safer being on an ATV compared to a motorbike.  It’s definitely more fun since it can go faster.

I like seeing the scenery of new places.

Ivan stopped at a place that has bowling and mini golf.  Ivan and Jennifer wanted to play a round of golf.  I wanted to play but the place doesn’t have monkey-sized clubs.  I was bummed.  The course has challenging holes.  There was one with a few bumps to get past.

I liked the Golden Gate bridge and the Stonehenge hole.  I had a chance to play on a few holes.  I found a stick on the ground.  It didn’t work too well though.  It was still fun.  Ivan and Jennifer were competing against each other.

They were both sweating since it was hot and humid out.  The score was even so they called it a draw.

Ivan brought Jennifer back to the room since she wasn’t feeling well. Ivan and I went driving around on the ATV.  We rode around for awhile.

For dinner, we went to Papa’s Tapas.  It’s probably the poshest restaurant on Ko Tao.  The restaurant has three Western chefs which is unusual.  Ivan and Jennifer ordered many different tapas dishes.  They chose chili prawns, tuna carpaccio, spinach risotto, pumpkin gazpacho and homemade potato chips with salsa.

Ivan and Jen thought it tasted great.  Their favorite dishes were the spinach risotto, pumpkin gazpacho and the homemade potatoes chips.  Ivan and Jennifer each ordered a refreshing glass of red sangria.  The restaurant played some great songs.  I had to ask for some banana tapas made just for me.  I told them what I liked and they said they’d try to make some nice dishes.  I got a banana risotto, banana stuffed shrimps and a banana gazpacho.  The food was so tasty!  You’re supposed to share the tapas.  But, I didn’t want to share my good banana dishes at all.  Ivan and Jennifer ordered dessert – cubanitos with a mango salsa.  The cubanito is made of dark chocolate.  It was a nice way to end the meal.

Ivan and Jennifer wanted to check out the Dragon bar.  It was drum and bass night there.  The bar has some cool Asian decorations.

It’s more of a lounge place.  Nobody was dancing to the good music.  A few people were playing pool.  Jennifer got a Peachy Pussy drink.  Ivan ordered a Hairy Monkey.  I asked if I could get something similiar to Ivan’s drink.  The bartender made me the same drink without the alcohol.  He called it a Hairless Monkey.  The drinks were delectable.  We only stayed for a short time.

April 12th, 2009 | Category: Food, Ko Tao, Thailand | Comments (1)

Ivan, Jennifer and I had to wake up extra early on April 2, 2009.  We were headed to Ko Tao today.  We were picked up by a mini-bus at 7:20 am.  Ivan and Jennifer watched Family Guy on the laptop.  I took a monkey nap.  Jennifer also took a nice nap.  The bus ride was 4 hours long.

We transferred to a bigger bus.  It took us to the pier.

We boarded the ferry run by the company Lomprayah.  We were going to Ko Tao.  Ivan and Jennifer watched something on the laptop.  I listened to music on the iPod.  Jennifer started feeling seasick as the ride was very rough.  She took a short nap.  The ferry ride took 2 hours long.

Ko Tao means Turtle Island.  We looked around for somewhere to stay.  We checked in to Ko Tao Island Resort.  Unfortunately, there’s no free wi-fi at the resort.  There’s free wi-fi at Coasters.  The paid internet is 2 Baht per minute.

Ivan rented a motorbike and we rode around for a bit. We saw the nice sunset.  We drove to find a restaurant that has sushi called Morava.  Ivan and Jennifer started off with tuna with noodles.  The noodles were thin and white.  The noodles were tasteless and looks like Styrofoam. It was not a good start to the meal.They also got some tuna sushi rolls.  The sushi wasn’t that good.   I had a nice banana stuffed chicken with a small salad, and it was actually pretty good.  Ivan and Jennifer had a good main course.

It was a bell pepper stuffed with cous cous.  It also came with a small salad, a pita and hummus.  Jennifer was still hungry for some reason.  So, they ordered a chicken dish.  It was actually chicken and vegetables fresh spring rolls, and it was a tasty dish. We were all stuffed now.

Ivan drove us around to find something to do.  We saw a few ladyboys advertising their show at The Queen’s bar.  It started at 10 pm.  We decided we’d check it out later on.  We saw the Cave Bar.

It’s based on the tv show The Flintstones.  The place has rooms to stay in as well.

We heard live music at Papa’s Tapas.  We sat down on some bean bags.  Ivan and Jennifer each ordered a glass of white wine.  The guitarist only played for a couple minutes and then stopped.  I think he had been playing for awhile.  Papa’s Tapas has lots of cocktails but they’re 300 Baht each, which is about 9 dollars. Ivan inquired about this.  An employee said that they’re created by a guy who’s one of the 10 best bartenders in the world.  Ivan and Jennifer didn’t think that mattered….its not as if this guy is making them.

We walked to The Queen’s bar for the ladyboy show.  It was 10 pm but the show still wasn’t on.  The entry is free but each person or monkey must buy at least one drink.  Ivan and Jennifer each got a Bacardi Breezer.  I ordered a banana juice.  The show started.  The costumes were really good.  The ladyboys danced really good.

There was lip-synching.  This was 100% better than Simon Cabaret.  The sets weren’t that great compared to Simon.

The ladyboys kept smiling a lot and they were having fun.  There was a funny part where a ladyboy was dancing around.

He actually pulled out a fake man’s genitals at the end.  It was so funny!  There was one set where a ladyboy takes off all the make-up and clothes while dancing, so that he goes from looking like a ladyboy, to looking like a man…that bit was quite clever.  We really enjoyed the show. At the end, the ladyboys picked a few volunteers from the crowd.  They dressed them up in costumes.  The men looked really funny with wigs and dresses on.

April 8th, 2009 | Category: Food, Ko Tao, Thailand | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of the Railay Princess Resort and Spa on March 31, 2009.  We took a boat to Ao Nang, another part of Krabi.

We hadn’t booked any accommodation.  We checked in to the Palace Aonang Resort.

We were all real hungry.  So, we went to Tatana’s for lunch.  Ivan had a jungle curry with rice.  Jennifer had stir fried chicken with onions and cashew nuts.  I had fried rice with bananas.  The food was alright.

We walked around to find a nice restaurant for dinner.  Ivan wanted to have pizza.  We chose to eat at La Casa.  I ordered a banana pizza.  Ivan got a tuna pizza while Jennifer got the BBQ Pollo (chicken) pizza.  Ivan and Jennifer each had a glass of red wine.  The pizzas tasted awesome!!  Ivan and Jennifer took some pictures but I forgot to put the memory card back in.  So, the pictures are on the camera.  We can’t access them since we don’t have the right cable for it.

We walked around Ao Nang.  Ivan and Jennifer wanted to get a drink at a bar.  We sat down at one bar.  Ivan and Jennifer played Connect Four.  The bar provided free peanuts.  I wish it was free bananas.  But, there were no monkey patrons here – other than me.  We went to another bar.  Ivan and Jennifer talked awhile.  Some people nearby were playing Jenga.  We went home after awhile.

We were picked up by a truck on April 1, 2009.  Today, we were headed to the Krabi Thai Cookery School.  Ivan went to this same cooking school 3 years ago.  The teacher is a very friendly Thai lady named Ya.  The class was a group of 7 people and a monkey.  We started off by chopping ingredients for the curry pastes.

Ya showed us how to make curry pastes with a blender.  Everybody started cooking up Pad Thai with chicken.

I made mine with bananas.  The dish came out really good.

It was time to make some curry.  I chose the green curry with bananas.

Ivan made red curry with chicken while Jennifer made penang curry.  Next, a few people in the group were making soups.  Ivan made a Tom Yum soup.  I made a soup of Bananas in Coconut Milk,which is apparently a traditional Thai monkey dish. A few people were making Papaya Salad.  Jennifer smashed the ingredients to make a great papaya salad.  It was time to make more dishes.  Ivan made a Stir fry chicken with holy basil.  Jennifer made Chicken and Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce.  I made a Stir Fried chicken with bananas and cashew nuts.  Then, a few people made Morning Glory.  Everybody worked really hard.  The food was placed on the dining table.

It was time to eat.  There was so much food.  It tasted great!  It started raining outside.

We got our recipe book signed by Ya.  She is filled with great stories. Ivan, Jennifer and I really enjoyed the cooking class.  We got back in the truck and were taken back to the resort.

We chilled at the resort.  We were so stuffed from all the food from our class.  We did have a small snack.  We went to sleep shortly after.  Tomorrow, we’d be headed to a new place.  I wondered what adventures we would have there.

April 8th, 2009 | Category: Ao Nang, Food, Krabi, Thailand | Comments (1)

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of the Pirates House on March 29, 2009.  We left our backpacks at the Pirates House to store for a few hours.

We took a boat to Long Beach.  It only took less than 10 minutes.  We had lunch on Long Beach – can’t recall the restaurant’s name though.  Ivan had a mushroom soup and a tuna sandwich.  I had a banana pad se-eaw.  Jennifer had spaghetti with prawns and mushrooms.

We went to the beach to chill out. This beach was really really beautiful. Amazingly white sand and the water was paradise blue and very warm. We had time to waste since we would be taking a boat to Railay, Krabi later on.  We put our stuff down right under a big tree.  Jennifer laid on the beach reading.  Ivan swam a little.

He liked feeding the fish right by the shore. He only had to walk in the water a little bit and there were loads of fish swimming around….and even more came when Ivan fed them with some bread he had gotten from the restaurant where we had lunch.   I took a monkey nap on the hammock.

We got a boat back.  Ivan and Jennifer gathered the backpacks at the Pirates House.  We headed to the pier.  We got on the boat headed to Railay which is on Krabi.  The boat took 1 1/2 hours.

A smaller boat took us to Railay.  We checked in to the Railay Princess Resort and Spa.  The resort is really nice and has a great infinity pool.

We walked around to find a nice restaurant for dinner.  We ended up at the Diamond Restaurant at the Diamond Cave Resort.  I picked the buffet since it included banana fritters.  Ivan and Jennifer each ordered sizzling chicken.  The sizzling chicken comes out on a plate that’s on fire.

Then, the waiter adds the chicken.  Then it’s really sizzling when it’s brought to the table.

It takes awhile before the smoke disappears.  Then the dish is ready to eat.  Ivan and Jennifer really liked the sizzling chicken.

Jennifer said the chicken was caramelized since it was on fire.  I enjoyed the banana fritters.  I thought it was a race so I ate all the banana fritters they had.  They kept bringing more out!  I’m just glad there weren’t any monkeys eating at the restaurant.  My belly was so big since it was filled to the brim with banana fritters.

We walked to the Joy Bar.  Here, Jennifer and Ivan had a drink.

I had a sweet banana and papaya shake.  The music was different and cool.

We walked to Railay West.  It’s where the beach is located.  It’s only a few minutes away from our resort.  We sat down at the Railay Beach Resort.  Ivan was using the free internet.  Ivan enjoyed his mushroom soup and a tuna burger.  Jennifer ordered a roasted chicken salad and a banana shake.  I had a Tom Yum Soup with bananas.  Jennifer’s salad was small.  I liked my soup.  Ivan went in the water for a short time.

We walked back to the resort.  Ivan wanted to head to the infinity pool.  We grabbed our stuff and went to the pool.  Ivan and Jennifer chose a few lounge chairs under an umbrella.  I laid down.  It’s a great pool area.

We chilled on the lounge chairs.  Ivan and Jennifer went swimming in the pool.  The water was very warm.  Jennifer did a cannonball on the diving board.  There was only a few other people in the pool area.  It’s very relaxing lying down on a lounge chair.  I was reading my book ‘Unique Banana Dishes’.  It started raining.  Everybody left the pool except us.  I stayed under the umbrella so I wouldn’t get wet.  Ivan and Jennifer remained in the pool.  They moved to the part of the pool that has jets.  The rain didn’t affect them.  They were having a good time still.  The rain stopped a few minutes later.  Shortly after, we went back to the room.

We walked to Railay West for dinner.  We looked at the Flame Tree menu and thought it was looked good.

Ivan ordered fish with three flavors.  Jennifer got the grilled chicken with mango salad.  I got a banana and fish dish with rice.  The food was really good…in fact so good that Ivan decided to order another portion of the fish dish as soon as he had finished the previous one. I told him that was a lot of food and it may not be a good idea to get the dish again, but he insisted he was okay as he was so hungry.

Anyway, once he finished his second helping, he didn’t feel to good at all..I think he was ‘fished’ out. He apologized to me for not listening to my advice, and brought my a banana to say sorry and promised that he would listen to me in the future when I tell him not to order so much food!

April 5th, 2009 | Category: Food, Krabi, Railay, Thailand | Leave a comment

WIvan and I went out on March 28, 2009.   Jennifer wasn’t feeling good.  She was still sore from the fight the other night.  Jennifer went to eat lunch at D’s Books.  She had a cheese sandwich which came with a potato salad and a glass of orange juice.

We all walked to the Sunset Bar.  Ivan ordered drinks.  We had planned on staying at the Viewpointe Resort.  Ivan booked a night at the resort the day before.  Ivan said we’d stay at the Pirates House again.  There’s an infinity pool next to the Sunset Bar.  It says it’s for guests only.  Jennifer was sitting in the pool.  A resort employee asked Ivan and Jennifer what  their room number was.  Ivan said we hadn’t checked in.  The lady said that he didn’t book a room without even asking for his name.  He said that he booked it yesterday.  She wouldn’t look it up.  The lady was being really rude.  She was screaming that Jennifer should get out of the pool.  At one point, she told Ivan she was going to call the police.  She said she need proof of the booking.  Ivan used the internet.  He asked the lady if she would come to screen to see the booking.  She wouldn’t come over.  She said you have to print it out.  He printed it out.  They wanted to charge 100 Baht for the internet.  Ivan was appalled at their lack of service.  The nice guy Jaime at the Sunset Bar actually cleared it up.  Ivan didn’t end up paying for the internet.  Ivan did read that the Viewpointe is a nice place to stay at with a great pool – but the staff is the rudest in Thailand.  They certainly proved that.

We had to move to the bar since we weren’t guests of the Viewpointe.  The drinks are a little expensive at the Sunset Bar. 

But, a lot of them are unique and taste wonderful.  Ivan and Jennifer had a few of them.  The sunset was beautiful. 

The bar plays some great music.  I had a virgin banana daiquiri that was so delicious.  This is a must see in Phi Phi Don. 

We walked to Hello India for dinner.  I ordered a banana and chicken curry with rice.  Ivan and Jennifer started off with vegetable samosas.  They ordered the garlic chicken, rice and garlic naan.  The food was great again. 

Jennifer got an hour oil massage.  She really needed this.  Her calves and arms hurt the most.  Ivan and I went to the room in the meantime.  I listened to songs on the iPod while Ivan read.  Jennifer felt a lot better after the relaxing massage.  She came back to the room.  Ivan and Jennifer watched an episode of Lucky Louie before heading to bed.

April 5th, 2009 | Category: Phi Phi Island, Thailand | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I slept in on March 26, 2009.  We went to lunch at Lemongrass.  Ivan read about this restaurant online.  The Tom Yum soup and the green curry were recommended on that website.  Ivan and Jennifer each ordered the Tom Yum soup with chicken.  I decided to get it with bananas.  The soup was great!  It wasn’t too spicy either. 

We went to find the Sunset Bar.  We went to the Viewpoint.  I guess it was the wrong one.  There were so many stairs going up.  Jen and I got frustrated and didn’t go all the way up.  We told Ivan we would head back.  Ivan said there was no Sunset Bar there.  We must have went the wrong way. 

We went to get a leg and foot massage.  There’s one right by the Pirates House. 

We all enjoyed the hour massage.  We definitely needed it after all that walking.

Ivan and Jennifer wanted to get Mexican food for dinner.  We went to Banana Sombrero.  Ivan had chicken fajitas.  Jennifer had shredded chicken tacos. 

I got a chicken and banana quesadilla.  The food was okay, nothing special at all.

We went up to the Banana Bar.  It’s located on the roof of a building.  The bar gives out free banana shots.  I had a shot without alcohol. 

I would have been happier if it was a free banana.  That would bring in the monkey crowd.  Although, I haven’t seen any monkeys on Ko Phi Phi Don.  But, maybe the monkeys from Monkey Island would come visit if there were free bananas.  They also ordered a shisha with strawberry and apple flavor.  I ordered a banana shake.  The drinks are really good.  Ivan and Jennifer sat on the big cushion bed and smoked shisha.  The music was really good tonight.  Jennifer was happy to hear a song by The Smiths.  She’s a big Morrissey fan.

It was great lying down on the bar and staring at the stars.  It’s so nice that you can actually see all the stars in the sky.  Jennifer said she was thinking about volunteering at the Reggae Bar to fight kickboxing.  I thought she was out of her mind.  It’s only three rounds but it looks a little hard.  We stayed awhile at this cool bar. 

Next, we headed to the Reggae Bar.  Ivan ordered water for us.  There was a fight going on.  A Western girl volunteered to kickbox.  She looked overweight and only a little taller than Jennifer.  Ivan pointed that Jennifer would fight against her.  Jennifer said yes.  She was handed a pair of Thai boxing shorts to put on.  She put it on over her yellow skirt. 

Jennifer put on all the protective gear.  It was a helmet, gloves and these leg things.  Jennifer’s legs felt like jelly.  She was nervous.  The fight was going to be three rounds or until somebody got knocked out.  The fight began.  The Western girl just kept pummeling Jennifer’s head like it was a heavy bag.  It wasn’t fair at all.  This girl was crazy.  I mean truly a lunatic.  Jennifer kept trying to punch but wasn’t landing that many punches. 

The bell rang.  Ivan was couching her and giving her pointers.  Jennifer said it was really hard.  It was the second round.  Jennifer wasn’t ready and fixing her helmet.  The crazy Western girl hit her and knocked her down.  What a stupid jerk!  How rude can you be?  The crowd started booing at the dumb Western girl.  Jennifer got mad at her and called her bad names.  Jennifer got knocked down.  It hurt her stomach.  She decided to give up since she wasn’t feeling good.  It was cool that she lasted a round and a half.  Ivan and I were proud of her.  Some of the crowd clapped when she came down from the ring. 

Jen kickboxing at the Reggae Bar

Jennifer was feeling out of breath.  So, we headed back to Pirates House to get some rest.

Jennifer woke up feeling sore all over her body on March 27, 2009.  She wasn’t feeling up to going out for the day.  Jennifer and I stayed in the room.  Ivan went to Long Beach.  He took a 5 minute boat to get there.  Otherwise, it’s a 20 minute walk there.  Jennifer and I worked on the blog.  We went to lunch at Khun Va.  Jennifer had a chicken Pad Thai.  I had spaghetti with tomato sauce and bananas.  The food was alright.

Ivan found the Sunset Bar.  He had a few drinks there and watched the beautiful sunset.  There’s a pool at the Viewpoint Resort next to the bar. 

We walked to Matt’s Joint for their buffet dinner.  There was lots of food like salmon, chicken kebabs with bananas, hamburgers, steak, corn, salad, mashed potatoes and french fries.  Ivan and Jenifer ate salmon, chicken kebabs and salmon pasta salad.  I ate plenty of chicken kebabs with bananas.  I also had them grill some banana kebabs.  The food tasted good.  After dinner, we were stuffed.  We headed back to the room and watched an episode of Lucky Louie.

March 31st, 2009 | Category: Food, Phi Phi Island, Thailand | Comments (3)

Ivan, Jennifer and I had breakfast at the Yorkshire Inn on March 24, 2009.  Ivan ordered muesli with fruit.  I got bananas with yogurt.  Jennifer got cornflakes with milk.  We packed everything up.  We were headed to Phi Phi Islands (pronounced Pee Pee Islands).

A driver picked us up at 12:20 pm.  It started raining really hard.  We hoped that the weather would be better on Ko Phi Phi Don.  Ivan got our tickets for the boat.  We had to wait until we boarded the boat.

We got on the boat.  It was a big boat with air conditioning and nice seats.  The boat finally left around 2 pm.  The boat arrived on Ko Phi Phi Don at 3:30 pm.  Ko Phi Phi Don is one of the largest of the Phi Phi islands.

Ivan and Jennifer walked around the town to find accommodation.  Ivan didn’t want to walk far.  So, he settled on Marine House.  The room was alright.  It was nice that the hotel offered free wi-fi.

Ivan found a place for tomorrow night.  He also saw a restaurant with the best pad thai on the island.  We went to Paed Tai.  It’s a place run by a Thai lady.  She makes all the pad thai herself.  There are so many pieces of papers on the wall praising the pad thai.  Ivan and Jennifer each got a pad thai with chicken and egg.

I got one with bananas.  It was really good!

We walked to Hood’s Bar.  The bar was showing Superbad tonight.  We sat right near the tv.  It’s such a funny movie!  We missed a few minutes of the beginning though.

We walked out of the bar and it was raining.  We walked down the street to an internet cafe.  Ivan, Jennifer and I each used the internet.  It’s expensive here it’s 2 Baht per minute.  We wanted the rain to stop before we headed out again.

We walked to Khun Va to get a small snack.  Ivan ordered a chicken satay while Jennifer got a fried chocolate ice cream

I had a banana split.  The food was okay.

Ivan wanted to check out the Muay Thai kickboxing at the Reggae Bar.  Ivan picked a table right by the ring.  He ordered a bucket for him and Jennifer.  A bucket is filled with whatever you want like Vodka and Red Bull or Smirnoff, Red Bull and Coca-cola.

I got a great banana and mango juice.  The boxing is based on volunteers.  If you volunteer, you get a free bucket.  There’s three rounds.  Western girls were volunteering.  Some of the Western guys would play against a Thai fighter.  We watched a few fights.

Jennifer wasn’t feeling good.  So, we walked back to the room.  She got sick and threw up a little in the road.  Jennifer crashed out on the bed.

Ivan went out to the Rolling Stoned bar.  He read on the internet that there was a good band there.  The band was actually crappy.  He came back to the room to rest.

We checked out of the Marine House on March 25, 2009.  We checked in to the Pirates House.

Ivan said it was pirate themed.  It really wasn’t.  Ivan asked one of the employees and he said the wall and the floor.  The floor was concrete and the walls were stone.  Jennifer saw a chair made of leather and then an ashtray that said Pirates House.  I think some swords on the wall might have been good.

Khun Va is right next door to Pirates House.  We sat down for lunch.  Ivan and I had porridge with bananas and honey.  Jennifer had the spaghetti with chicken.  The food was good.

We walked to a boat near the beach.  We were headed to a snorkeling tour.  Our first stop was Monkey Island.  We saw maybe a dozen monkeys living on the island.  The tourists give the monkeys bananas and pineapples.  These monkeys really do have the life!

I wish I could just live on a beautiful beach and get free food all the time.  I saw a tourist give a monkey a Pepsi bottle.  The tourists don’t care about taking the bottle after the monkey is finished with it.  Ivan was getting mad at the tourists since there’s trash everywhere on the island.  One monkey kept refusing the bananas that we being thrown to him.  He was the banana quality inspector.  He really knew his stuff.  I grabbed some of the bananas he rejected.  They tasted okay.  I guess the quality inspector only wants the best quality.  I talked to one monkey.  He wished that the island was bigger.  He wished there was more room to play around.

Everybody went back on the boat.  We were headed towards a place to snorkel.  There were hundreds of fish in the water.  The water was a blue crystal clear.  Ivan and Jennifer went into the water.  The fish surrounded them.  It was cool seeing so many beautiful fish.

I floated around on a life vest.  I was tempted to put my hand in the water.  But, I was afraid a fish might bite me!  A lady on the boat kept feeding the fish bread.  All the fish started gathering around the boat.  The group got back on the boat.  We were headed to another place.

We snorkeled in a new place.  The fish were beautiful again and there were so many of them!  Ivan and Jennifer were happy to see so many fish.

Our last stop was Maya Bay.  It’s nicknamed ‘The Beach’ since the movie The Beach was filmed here.  The surrounding areas of Maya Bay are really pretty.

It’s not a really big beach.  There were many Western and Thai guys playing football (soccer) on the beach.

We stayed here for an hour.  It was nice relaxing and watching the football match.  Somehow a man fell on a Western guy’s leg.  So, the football match stopped.  I think the man had a broken leg.

We boarded the boat.

It was time to see the sunset.  It wasn’t that nice since it was cloudy.  We reached Ko Phi Phi Don a few minutes after the sun set.  We had a good day snorkeling and chilling.

Ivan wanted to eat Indian food tonight.  We walked to Hello India for dinner.  There’s lots of good food on the menu.  It’s a little expensive though.  Ivan and Jennifer ordered the garlic chicken kebab for a starter.  Then, they shared a garlic chicken curry with rice and a garlic naan bread.

If they encountered any vampires tonight, the vampires could be dealt with, with just their garlicky breath!  I had a great banana naan bread with a chicken and banana tikka.  The food was delicious!  Ivan and Jennifer really enjoyed the garlic chicken curry.

We walked awhile to Hippie’s Bar.  A Malaysian guy was playing an acoustic guitar and singing some good songs.  Ivan found some seats right by the stage area.  We love hearing good live music.  Ivan and Jennifer were sharing a bucket.  I had a great banana and strawberry juice.  There was a break coming up before the fire show.

They had a Limbo contest.  Ivan thought Jennifer would be really good since she’s short.  She said she wasn’t good at limbo though.  I wanted to play, but it was only for humans not monkeys.  How disappointing!  It wouldn’t be fair though – since I could just walk under it.

A Western girl won the contest and a bottle of vodka.

The fire show was really cool!  A few different guys twirled around batons of fire.  There were also fire balls lit up and twirled around too.

Since we had a front row seat – it was getting really warm!  Also, Jennifer seemed scared that one of the performers would accidentally let go of the batons.  It actually did happen but on the other side.  Nobody was hurt.  There was a finale in the fire show.  It was three guys twirling batons and balls at the same time.

This was a great free show!

March 31st, 2009 | Category: Food, Phi Phi Island, Thailand | Leave a comment