Island Life, Thai Style

(Dec. 12) Koh Phi Phi (pronounced “Pee Pee“) is a small island about a 2 hour ferry ride from Phuket. What Disneyland is to 6 year olds, Phi Phi is to a slightly older population. There’s no Donald or Goofy here, and no rides, but if you are, let’s say, 25, all you want is right here. The village is a grid richly crowded with open-air bars with small tables and chairs spilling out onto the “street.” Internet cafes, t-shirt shops, dive shops, massage venues, and an amazing array of eateries fight for your attention. It is an assault on your senses, but not an unpleasant one. As you make your way up the congested walkways, you are invited to all manner of evening parties and shows. All that’s missing is a carnival barker. The streets -- some paved, some not -- give the appearance that Koh Phi Phi is crowded. But, I believe this impression is created only because the walkways -- there are no cars here -- are narrow forcing whoever’s here to share limited walking space. The many locals who try to navigate this maze on bikes are, fittingly, candidates for cirque de soleil. They make 90 degree turns on a dime, routinely stop motionless while remaining upright and somehow (mostly) avoid pedestrians with magical consistency even though those on foot always seem mere centimeters from their front wheels. This task is complicated by the steady infusion of small children, running and biking with no apparent pattern, often without an adult in view. Cyclists gamely blurt out “beep beep” as they make their way through as if fair notice has been given. Really, we are all players in a life-sized video game here.

If there were a flag for Phi Phi it would most certainly feature a large flip flop since that is all you see here. They are not just ubiquitous; they are universal. Ok, ok I did see a couple of guys in worn out running shoes and one eastern european dude wearing combat boots, but these were very much the exception.

Along the alleyways, there is almost always the strains of some music, but not the minor chords of thai music as you might expect. Rather, from somewhere, you hear the voices of Cat Stevens, Bob Marley and Janice Joplin. It’s weird, but somehow it fits. This theme picks up at the Millie and Tia Sunflower Beach Bar on the sand on the other side of the island. It doesn't take too much imagination to picture this place in Key West, or maybe San Diego. You take a seat at one of the curved carved tables facing the ocean, Singha beer in hand, awaiting the sunset. Stray cats jump up on your table. The longboats are now dormant providing a picture postcard foreground for the sunset that is soon to appear painting the sky in the reddest reds and the bluest blues. The ambient music is all acoustic, naturally. My camera does not even remotely do justice to all this.

This is a beer commercial, right?