Pt 23 – “Pee Pee,” Cave Men & Crabs

Monday, February 15th, 2016

The next morning, the taxi dropped us off at the pier to take the ferry to Krabi, with a pit stop at Koh Phi Phi (aka: “Pee Pee” Island). We giggled like school children over the proper pronunciation of the islands just as we had with the butchered pronunciation of “Phuket.” The pier slowly became a mad house as more and more topless, fist-pumping bros started showing up with girls wearing matching attire and purses.

Once we started loading up on the ferry, so did the towering stack of luggage in the back of the boat. As they stacked the bags higher and higher, we caught a glimpse of our backpacks. The possibility of them falling overboard was looking more and more likely, so we quickly retrieved them and decided to keep them with us during the ride. The ferry didn’t pull off until 1-hour passed the scheduled departure time. There always has to be the tardy stragglers who put everyone’s patience to the test.

Soon after Phuket disappeared from sight, the views made it all worth the wait. We would enjoy the sight of many rocky, forested islands, and also that of the people on the deck below us struggling with their balance as they walked around on the moving vessel. The captain slowed down once we were next to one of the islands to announce the former film location of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, “The Beach.” A crowd of 20-somethings crowded the deck, taking their time to capture that perfect selfie for the ‘Gram.

Before our final destination at Phi Phi Don, the northern island, the boat stopped to allow a longboat parallel of us to take some of the passengers to Phi Phi Ley in the south.

We pushed through the massive crowd as we all unloaded onto the pier. Starving, we stopped at one of the first restaurants we stumbled upon. I got grilled chicken on a salad and panicked when I noticed half of the chicken breast was raw in the center. I’d become so fearful of the “possibility” of food poisoning that I’d start convincing my stomach that I was nauseous. This happened to me once before in Moab, Utah during our road trip across North America.

After going on a short walk through gift shops and along the bay, we grabbed a couple beers before returning to the pier to catch the ferry over to Krabi.

A girl with a bleached-blonde ponytail insisted on pushing through the line passed tons of people who had been patiently waiting just so she could get on the ferry first. I vent to Trevor how rude some people get when they go on vacation.

A nice couple behind us in line, Neil and Audrey, seemed to agree, and we killed the remaining time waiting to board chatting with them about travel and life. We told them about our plans of hiking the Appalachian Trail as soon as we got back home. They told us about working abroad; one of them worked in China, the other in Tanzania. They loaded up in the cabin, while we took the cancerous route on deck where we fried in the sun so we could take in the views. Note to future island hoppers: sunscreen doesn’t work so well down here.

…and that was the day we both turned into lobsters.

As we pulled up to the pier at Krabi, we entertained ourselves by blocking “entitled ponytail girl” from exiting the boat at full speed to get to her destination. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but sometimes it can be fun. Then we ran back into Neil and Audrey, who we shared a cab with to our hostel which was in close proximity to where they planned on staying. Once we got to the “Sleep Whale Express,” we waved goodbye to them, checked in, ditched our bags and took off to explore Krabi.

There were a lot of neat sculptures and cave man-themed traffic lights to ponder over before we stopped to eat dinner at “Poo Dam Bar and Restaurant.” Our waitress must have been having a really awful day. She was visibly stressed out and flustered. When we placed our order, you would’ve thought that we were just yelling at her given her reaction. She responded with great defense before storming off to the next table.

Trevor got the Fried Glass Noodles with rice and a fried egg. I ordered Fried 4 Mushroom in Oyster Sauce with rice and a fried egg. The egg never showed up, but the rest of it was tasty. Tips aren’t exactly expected in Thailand restaurants, but we left her one anyway hoping it might bring a little light to her day.

Jump Back to Part 22: The Swelter Shelter, Sunday Market & Dehydration

Jump Ahead to Part 24: Mudskipper Fight, “Dirty” Laundry & Airport Snooze

Start from the Beginning at Part 1: Mumbai to Chiang Mai