The Ping Pong Show

We decided to spend the day in Bangkok before our late night flight home in order to get last minute souvenirs, last minute Pad Thai, and because we wanted to go to Lebua, a fancy rooftop bar where Hangover 2 was filmed. We headed back to Koh San Road and loaded up on Roy Ban sunglasses, a fresh mani pedi, and got our Same Same tanks!

We wore them as soon as we got back to Chicago (and were also back on the beach ASAP). the back says "but different".

We headed to Lebua next. I was in a nice skirt, top, and flip flops. Danielle was in a nice top, jean shorts, and flip flops. We were greeted by the elevator to go up to the rooftop by a woman in a ball gown (woman bouncers are never a good sign). She informed us that our footwear was not up to par and we left denied and bummed out. It was around 6:30 at this point and we had 2 more hours to kill before heading to the airport. Something possessed me to say, "should we go find the ping pong show?"

Warning: This post may be inappropriate beyond this point. Please stop reading if you are easily offended!

And now that I've got your eyes glued to the screen....

Danielle had been wanting to go to a ping pong show since we got to Thailand and never had anyone else join in on the idea. If you've never heard of a ping pong show...what I knew of it then is that girls shoot ping pongs and other foreign objects out of their vaginas. Our guy friends went and said it was great, and also told us there were plenty of girls at the show. As soon as I suggested it Danielle lit up and I knew there was no turning back. I was pretty sure these shows were normally late at night and that we wouldn't even find one, so I still wasn't too worried.

We got to Patpong, the red light district that hosts the shows, and had no idea what to do next. The entire trip, I've been designated to ask the embarassing questions, like: is that really a stack of birth control being sold at the grocery store cashier?? How much does it cost?? I told Danielle that she was the one who wanted to go to the ping pong show, so she was in charge of finding it. After a few attempts, a man was ready to escort us into a show. I was immediately nervous! I had read about the shows the night before and read that it is a big scam. They will tell you it is free for 5 minutes, and while you forget that small detail they start charging you insane amounts. Girls will try and get you to buy them drinks and make you feel cheap and low if you dont. We asked 3 times how much it was: free. We asked 3 times how much our drinks would cost: $3 each. So we went in.

There were naked girls standing around smoking on stage, and being that it was only 7pm, we were the only 2 people there! Some thin, some fat, none very attractive. I have a problem that when I am uncomfortable I start smiling uncontrollably. This was the worst time for that! We sat down at a table with our beers, and very shortly also 2 cocktails that we did not order. I told Danielle, don't drink that, its a scam! One girl sat on stage and faced her open legs right as us. She proceeded to put her cigarette in her vagina and smoke it like that for about 2 minutes while Danielle cheered. The girl then offered us her cigarette and we both just scowled. She asked us for tips, and neither of us had small bills, so we gave her a few coins...which didn't make her happy. The next girl put a horn in her vagina and tooted it. The third girl shook up 2 carbonated beverages and opened the cap up WITH HER VAGINA! I mean....it made a popping noise and all. Then,
there was a girl at our table asking us to buy her the 2 extra cocktails on our table that we had not touched. We just kept shaking our heads and saying, sorry, no. You can't make me feel cheap for not buying a begging girl a drink, does this tactic even work on guys??

This is all of 10 minutes into the show, when they realized we were not forking over our money in tips and scams. The "pimp lady" came and put a bill on our table with a total of $50!! We asked her what the charges were for and she said $9 per drink and the rest "to look". We both said at the same time what we were told the price would be 3 times, left $3 for each drink, grabbed our beers and left.  Although I didn't even get to see any ping pongs at the ping pong show, I was relieved the scam happened early on, because I had more than enough. I don't think I've ever been so uncomfortable in my life. Danielle told me that she enjoyed every minute of it, all 10 of them. Sorry, there are no pictures, I was too nervous to move and too scared to be charge $100 per picture.

Our last meal in Thailand. SO delicious. Makes me hungry.

Singapore

Danielle and I headed to Singapore to visit our friend Rocky, who Danielle knows from college. He is stationed in Singapore as a Navy Officer. We got to his apartment, and were blown away. It was in a brand new high rise with amazing views of the city and an elevator that open directly into his apartment. I decided then that I am going into the wrong field. We went out for dinner and drinks and were in for a huge shock. Beers that cost $1 in Thailand were $15 here!! I knew Singapore was expensive, but that is ridiculous. I had fears that my thinning wallet would send me into the shakes.

The next day, we toured fancy Singapore. Everything was SO clean SO modern and SO expensive. Rocky told us that after a building is 20 years old, they tear it down to build something new. Apparently Singapore has more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world.

In front of Marina Bay Sands. A fancy hotel/mall/rooftop bar and pool.

Singapore Slings mmmmm

Rocky took us to "Durian Street". I had heard of durian before, on travel food shows. It is a big spiky, smelly fruit that is banned many places in Thailand. They will have a no smoking sign right next to a "no durian" sign. We got out of the car and I immediately smelled the durian, but didn't think it was a bad smell. Then we tasted the durian. It tasted like rotten eggs, gasoline, and a hint of banana all rolled into one, with a very mushy consistency. It was not good and one bite was more than enough. After this one taste, the smell became awful, and I understood why it was banned.

Rocky took us to Butter Factory, complete with bottle service for a night of drinks and dancing.

The next day we went to Santosa Beach, a fancy, but obviously man-made beach with man-made islands and a nearby bar/restaurant. There were a couple of British guys nearby playing cricket. Danielle said she felt like she was going to get hit in the head by them. A few minutes earlier, Rocky went to the bar to get some water and I asked him to check out beer prices for me. He came back with bad news: $15, I didn't really need a beer anyways. Next thing I know, the stupid cricket ball clocks me right in the back of the head. The British guys are covering there heads in shame while I yell at them, "Gee thanks! Go buy me a beer!". The dude responded "I will I will!" A few minutes later I have a $15 beer in hand. We all joke that we wouldn't mind getting hit a few more times. 

Views of Singapore from One Altitude, the world's highest open air rooftop bar.

Danielle and I left Singapore to head back to Bangkok for the day before our flight home late that night. We were on the train and Danielle mentioned that she had to finish her bottle of water before the flight. Singapore has crazy fines for everything, from $5000 for riding your bike across a bridge, to being caned if you spit your gum out on the street. We had noticed the sign stating it was a $500 fine to drink on the train, so we waited. We had to make a transfer and while on the train platform Danielle took a sip of water and I asked for some as well. Literally 10 seconds later a man is behind us saying "Good morning, are you aware that there is no food or drink on the train?" Completing my image with my giant travel backpack on, I played stupid tourist and said I thought that was only on the train and didn't apply to the platform (this is really what I thought). He lectured us for a few more minutes and let us go without being caned. I'm pretty sure our backpacks saved us.

Chiang Mai cont...

We had 2 days left in Chiang Mai. We spent one of these days exploring the "Old City". Where we found more temples, more signs telling us we were dressed "impolitely" and more mummified monks.

Modesty robes that we were forced to wear in 100 degree weather

I hope our impolite attire didn't offend the monks..

Temple Ruins

Mummified Monk

Sometimes in Thailand there are random buckets of snakes.

Lucila had to get back to the real world why Danielle and I stayed. We booked another adventure tour that went to a butterfly and orchid farm as well as to the Long Neck Hill Tribes. We thought Danielle had a long neck...The women in this hill tribe of Northern Thailand begin to wear these rings around their neck at age 5, and have them on for the rest of their lives! They had prop rings for us to wear for photo ops, and they are heavy! I could not imagine sleeping with that thing on. They only take off the rings every 2 years to wash their necks and the rings, and to add on more rings. They also had cuffs around their calves that seemed to completely deform this one ladies legs. The rings are thought to be beautiful by the tribe. I wonder if the added tourism attracted by this custom keeps it going...

The newest member of the long neck hill tribe.

This woman had the most rings of all the tribe members, 27!! 

Danielle sat out for the elephant ride, as mentioned in the previous blog, and took pictures on the long rickety bridge instead. After everyone returned from the elephant ride, we enjoyed ourselves at yet another waterfall. Our tour guide gave us an option: you can hike an hour to the fall and enjoy 20 minutes at the waterfall or ride in the van for 20 minutes for an hour at the waterfall. Everyone decided to drive there. We got in the van, and literally 2 minutes later we pulled to the stop and were at the fall. That was it??? This was not the first time people in Thailand were way off in their time estimates. I just don't even understand. Either way, we enjoyed the very pretty waterfall and jumped in for a dip.

Look  closely and you will find me on the bridge!

The next part of this adventure was rafting. We did both white water rafting and bamboo rafting. For white water rafting we joined a raft with 2 guys from Singapore. Since Singapore was our next stop, we asked them what we should do while there. They recommended a club on Sundays for gay night "so we can touch all of the boys". Once rafting started and Danielle noticed the rainbow bracelet, it all made sense. One of the Singaporians couldn't figure out how to hold his paddle. His arms were crossed with his right arm on the left end of the paddle and vice versa. Our guide was yelling, "Men!! Hold your paddle right!!" It took several more minutes for him to figure out. Once they got the grip right, they daintily paddled along as Danielle and I were the default muscle of the boat. We are pretty good paddlers, as we proved before on the kayaks, but come on....

Bamboo rafting was much more relaxing, since we had someone else to do the work for us. Danielle took a turn as the captain and lost the bamboo stick shortly after. Luckily, she also recovered it!

Thirsty for some Chang, Danielle and I tried to find some bars in Chiang Mai that night. We went to a strip of bars that we had noticed a day or 2 before that looked like a fun area. We got there and were disappointed that there were only a few people in each bar. Even more disappointing, the few people consisted of Thai women in high heels and short skirt, and old men wrapping their arms around the ladies' waists. Great, we are at "prosti-row". This is the second strip of bars in Chiang Mai we've noticed like that. I find it very interesting to see, but don't want to watch it for more than just passing by, so we found a small hut instead (The Lost Hut) where we played card drinking games, learned how to say cheers "chok de ka!" and each tried to get the other one to invite the Thai policeman to drink with us. We were both chicken.

Off To The Elephants!

We went to Phuket only for the day, before our evening flight to northern Thailand. Our taxi driver led us to a hotel to hold our bags, not even asking us for any fee. We ate lunch after arriving at an irish pub while it poured, and lucked out once again to be indoors during the 20 minute downpour. With the sun out after lunch, we headed to the beach. I felt like a Thai princess, lying on the beach while getting a foot massage, ordering a water to be brought to me, and buying souvenirs from peddlers all at once. We were also entertained by the craziest parasailing I have ever seen. Instead of extending the parasail in and out from the boat, the parasails would take off directly from the beach. A Thai person would be unstrapped and unsecured, hanging on to the sail in order to guide this process. To bring the parasail back down to the beach, the Thai man would hang on to the ropes and literally dangle himself off the side of the parasail, pulling it down to land. He looked like a parachuting monkey. 

We left the beach to get our 2nd mani/pedi of the trip and by this point, it was time to head to the airport. We had heard that Phucket was quite seedy at night and we definitely saw the beginning of it. Prostitutes were lining up on the street getting ready to start their shifts. I had a horrible thought: what if I unknowingly came here to party and wore high heels and a short skirt out at night?? A typical party outfit for me back home would have me confused with a hooker here! Good thing I'm in flops.

At the airport we ate at burger king after checking in. Rachel was heading home from here so we said goodbye to her in the burger king. I had my passport and boarding pass in hand and was very conscious not to throw away my wallet with my trash. We took 20 steps from the burger king when I realized my passport was no longer in my hand!! I went into panic mode, quickly rummaged through my purse and then hurried back to burger king. They opened up the trash and there was my glorious passport sitting right on top. Danielle gave me the usual "only you. I'm not surprised" line that always cones after my typical antics. I have to admit though that it's true. This was just typical me. When I'm a rich doctor, I may hire someone to follow me around and keep an eye on me 24/7 (for the past 4 years, Danielle has been the closest thing to this). Rachel's last image of me on our trip was me pulling my passport out of the burger king trash can.

We found a hotel once we arrived in Chiang Mai and called it a night. This hotel was another lonely planet budget recommendation and ended up much better than the last. We spent our first morning in Chiang Mai booking tours and then headed to a day market which was full of very traditional Thai goods with all Thai shoppers aside from us. I had seen these jelly wedges on many people in Bangkok and I wanted them. I had spotted them in a few stores in Thailand but they never had a size big enough. I saw them again in the day market and started to approach the sales girl. Before I could say anything, she took one look at my feet and shook her head telling me no. Stupid big American feet!  Lucila found the highlight of her bay to breakers costume, a race in SF where all non-runners get drunk and dress up ridiculously. She found a giant head piece and decided to be a flower.

The final result of the Thailand inspired Bay to Breakers costumes

With nothing planned for the afternoon, I decided to get a foot massage while Danielle dipped her feet into a tank of Dr. fish at the spa. The fish nibble at the dead skin around your feet..no one else thought this sounded fun. Danielle stuck her feet in and was squealing very loudly, not sure she could stand it for another 30 minutes. She said they felt like tiny vibrations and were apparently very ticklish. Luckily, she adjusted to the strange feeling after a few minutes and was able to sit in peace.

One of the highlights of Chiang Mai was the night bazaar, a souvenir haven. We had a blast getting tipsy off of Chang's before heading there to haggle. With the influence of Chang, you start bargaining for things you might not even really want. Sometimes, we seemed to be very offensive with our low offers. Danielle offered 20 baht (60 cents) for a bootleg DVD instead of the asking price, 50 baht. The lady walked away and started shuffling through a bag. I stood by trying to guess what this meant...."I think she's getting the movie, wait no I think she was just walking away....or maybe she's still looking for it?" We hear the lady mutter to herself, sounding annoyed..."20 baht!" Yep, she's offended. Other times we got them way down in price by getting very into our reactions, "Whooooaaah!! Too many baht!" By the end of 3 nights at the night bazaar, my bag was stuffed with souvenirs, and my belly with pancakes (crepes).

Our first tour in Chiang Mai was to the elephant nature park. We researched to find an elephant tour that was humane. Even though this one cost $80, we decided it was worth it since the organization was non-profit and was dedicated to rescuing abused elephants. We eased into comfort with the elephants by feeding them. They eat entire bunches of bananas whole, pineapples cut into fourths, skin and all, and pumpkin. We fed them by hand, placing the food into their trunks.

One tub is an elephants breakfast

After their lunch we walked around learning about many of the elephants. One was blind from being repeatedly stabbed in the eyes by inhumane "trainers". She had an elephant friend who loyally stays by her side to be her eyes. Another elephant had 2 broken hips from the male that tried to impregnate her. Typical men! Another elephant was hurt in a land mine, and one had a really bad abscess from an infected wound from the use of a hook on her. We got so close to these elephants, cuddling up to them like we are besties for pictures, sometimes getting flopped in the head with their ears. Our guide said they could tell by scent that we were here to support them, and so they would react gently in return. I'm not sure if I buy the whole scent thing, but they did seem to sense it and were definitely gentle.

We were amidst a family of elephants with 2 babies. One of these elephants gave each willing tourist a kiss on the cheek with their trunk (it even makes the kissing noise). 

I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to receive a kiss and was convinced the picture would be worth it....after I got my kiss on the mouth, I'm not so sure it was, but my friends still think so!

To end the day, we watched a depressing documentary, filmed with the owner of the park, showing the torture these elephants go through to become submissive for most tourism. They get locked into a wooden sort of cage and stabbed with the hook and hit with the club if they resist or don't raise a leg on command. They are so scared and confused, it was awful. The worst part is that they depend on the tourism, because so much of the rainforest in Thailand has been destroyed and they have no where to go, but it is the hope of the owner that they can alter the means used to work with them. We took another tour 2 days later and could not find one without elephant rides. We ate lunch nearby where the rides would take off, and heard the smack of clubs on the elephants and saw the trainers resting the hook against their heads as cruel reminders that they were there. One elephant was repeatedly rocking back and fourth, which we had learned at the nature park was a sign of distress. We sat out from this part of the tour, with our new knowledge of what goes into elephant tourism.

The Best Day Ever

Koh Phi Phi has 2 separate islands, Koh Phi Phi Don, where all of the hotels are, and Koh Phi Phi Leh, home of Maya Bay where The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. Koh Phi Phi Leh is uninhabited and it is illegal to build on the island, but there are many day trips over there. We shopped around for a boat tour to take us there, so we could search for Leo. We were interested in one tour, a booze cruise with unlimited beer vodka and rum. When we asked a travel agent the price she said, "2000 baht for ladies, 2200 baht for men, and 2100 baht for ladyboys". Too funny! She better not have thought I was a ladyboy and needed that info...We went with a non-booze cruise instead for 550 baht and went on a shopping hunt for a cooler to make our own, cheaper booze cruise. This ended up being a GREAT decision. The tour had cliff jumping, so we obviously needed some liquid courage (yes, liquid courage is for more than hitting on girls!).

The next day we had 10 double Chang's packed in the cooler and were ready for the "booze cruise". As we waited to leave, we fed the smallest kittens I have ever seen milk from bottles. They were taken in by the boat tour people (there are TONS of strays in Thailand). If i did nothing else that day, it may still have been the best day ever.

Cliff jumping was the first stop so we hurried to finish our first large Chang. Our tour guide said that no, we do not want to be buzzed for the jump. I thought he was going to continue on to say that this would be dangerous, but his reasoning instead was that you want to be really scared! I told him not to worry, I would be very scared no matter how much liquid courage I had in me. It was probably the most terrifying thing I have ever done. Not only was the jump itself scary, but also the rock climb to get to the jumping spot. It was practically straight up and down, jagged rock. Our tour guide, Art, waited at the top, giving us advice for the jump. His advice to me: fuck it. Don't think. I did just that and jumped without any more thought. I was scared of doing a belly flop or a butt flop. Instead, I landed slightly diagonal onto my ear, and felt intense pressure, along with tons of salt water up my nose. I swam back to the climb, because even though my ear hurt, that was not going to be my best jump or my only memory of the jump. The second jump was even more terrifying, having slightly hurt myself on the first, but it went much better and with that I decided to retire cliff jumping. My other friends went a third time while I stayed down below and caught their jumps on video. After Lucila's last jump she swam over to me and says "Oh man, I feel like I just got raped in the ass!" Danielle shouted from the top of the cliff....."ummmm guys, we can hear you pretty clearly up here". OOPS

After the jump it was time for our next stop and our next large Chang. This stop was a beautiful lagoon where we made diaper seats out of life jackets to bob in the water while sipping our beers. We had our second snorkel spot of Thailand next (no injuries this time) and then we headed to Leo's beach at Maya Bay. On the way, our tour guide Art sang songs and played his guitar. It was such a great atmosphere. We were really happy at this point we took this cheaper tour, since no other tour had Art.

Getting my diaper floating device ready!

Bobbing in the lagoon with Art and Changs!

Maya Bay was absolutely gorgeous. It was hard to believe each place could get more gorgeous than the last. We were on our 3rd large Chang at this point. We had to swim from the boat to get to shore. Luckily, the boat was equipped with waterproof backpacks, so I tossed in my camera and swam it to shore. My friends ran in the water as I waited back on the beach to take pictures. They ran straight for some boys from our boat and told them they were getting on their shoulders. It was not a request, but the guys happily obliged. They all yelled at me to come get in the picture. I spotted one set of empty shoulders and ran straight for them, leaving my camera with someone else. Thanks for the great pic British boys! Lucila and I then instructed our pairs of shoulders that they were going to participate in a chicken fight. They weren't sure what that was, but caught on quickly. Lucila was victorious, but I put up a good fight! A short while later, when the British boys were far away from us in the water, one of us (I think Danielle?) suggested we skinny dip. Without even discussing it, the 4 of us were immediately taking off our suits and twirling them in the air like a helicopter and woOoOoOing. We were of course shielded by the water... a minute later we here whoops at the other end of the bay and see the British boys also twirling their trunks above their heads. They obviously thought it was a good idea.

This picture really captures the mood of the moment! Sorry, no pics/videos of the chicken fight that followed.

Maya bay was sadly the last stop on this best tour ever. It was our last night in the islands so we were going out, obviously. Lucila and I grabbed another large change on the way back to the hotel laughing at our ways in the process. She said it right: "might as well keep it going!" We showered and got ready for dinner and it was around then that I realized I had only eaten some pineapple and piece of watermelon all day, it was now 9pm. No wonder things got a little crazy! We ate at Garlic, a little hole in the wall place recommended by my book, and the best Thai food we had all trip. I had coconut chicken soup with rice. And a large Chang.

We headed to the beach party next. I lost track of how many more Chang's I had there, but can recall at least 2...things get a little fuzzy at that point. We were all dancing on a crowded platform when I see a tall, attractive man (attractive being a relative term after 6+ double Chang's) give me the eye. I give him the eye back and he comes up on the platform and introduces himself. Literally 10 seconds later I see that him and Lucila are holding hands! I quickly tell her what happened and we agree he is not worth our time. We back away from him and find him and Rachel dancing a few minutes later. I blame the Chang's. He was not THAT attractive!  I don't remember this next part but Danielle tells me that a few minutes after we also tell Rachel he was a douche, I was back talking with him. She thought I was being sneaky at the time, but I think after a few minutes and more Chang I probably forgot the whole situation even happened.

Last night in the party islands.

Danielle went home before the rest of us that night and when I came home I just crawled into bed not wanting to wake her with any lights. We had to be at the ferry at 840 the next morning, and I assumed she set an alarm already because she is the responsible one. Also because and stopped drinking after the boat tour. In the morning Danielle wakes me up by saying, we have to leave in 10 minutes. She had set an alarm, but just not with her normal 30 minutes of get ready time. Oh boy, my stuff is all over the room. We wake up Lucila and Rachel, stuff our crap in our bags and head out.  I'm still feeling the Chang and still have on my makeup from last night. Fuck it, let's go to Phuket!

Koh Phi Phi

Our journey to Koh Phi Phi ("pee pee") left at 6am. We booked the earliest departure thinking we could just sleep on the bus. We should have learned from the bus ride from hell earlier on that no journey is ever that simple in Thailand. Our trip ended up as a van--> bus--> ferry--> back on the first bus--> another bus --> next ferry. 11 hours later we were on the island without a hotel booked. We had a recommendation from my lonely planet book, and after seeing decent pictures at a hotel booking agent right off of the pier, we decided to book it. I realized at this moment that when we were in Samui, I didn't want to take all of my 15 thousand baht out to the bars, so I left some in my from pocket of my backpack/luggage, and forgot to move it to a safer spot during transit. My fears were proved right when I found an empty pocket. 5,000 baht ($165) gone. My bag was away from me on the ferry with the other cluster of bags. I would bet money that the thief was a tourist, and not a Thai person, since I've found (most) Thai people to  be very honest and nice. I was mad mostly at myself. For my stupidity in leaving my money in such an easily accessible pocket. I tend to always have a positive outlook, so I moved on being thankful that I was safe, so was my passport, and I still had money left in my purse. The next day I checked my email and had a message from my dad that said, "Haven't heard from you. Taken?" Before the trip, my family was taking bets how long I would survive Thailand before being taken. My dad told me not to worry though, he had all of the Liam Neeson's lines from Taken memorized...."I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you let me daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you". When I asked him if he would really come look for me he said no, probably not. Back to plan A: don't get taken. I responded to my dad's email and said I have not been taken, only 5000 baht was.

After booking the hotel, someone came to cart our bags the short walk away. We got in our room and Danielle's first word is "eww". They looked like prison cells with the only window facing a cement wall 6 inches away and a moldy bathroom. How did lonely planet recommend this?? It wasn't that cheap, by Thailand standards. We were ready to make the best of it (Danielle said she just wouldn't shower for 3 days) until I checked tripadvisor reviews of the hotel out of curiosity. 2 reviews in a row complained of bed bugs! I started inspecting the beds and didn't see real "bed bugs" but did find some sort of little bugs crawling throughout. We went to complain and request a refund, not expecting good results, but got a full refund so easily! I love the Thai. The hotel booking agent recommended another hotel that we decided to go see before booking this time. It was soo much better for only $3 more per night.

We went out that night on the beach and sat sipping
vodka tonics and watching a fire show. There were more fire shows going on in both directions. They set up a limbo contest after the show. Each round you go under gets you a free shot! After each tourist faced their limit with the final "tourist height", they put the bar even lower and had a local go under, no sweat. Then, they put the bar BELOW all of the pegs, rested it on 2 cans, and he really showed off his talent. After limbo, I couldn't have been happier. The fire jump rope was back!! We sat back sipping on our drinks, while entertained by the tourists getting burned and getting mad at the one who was too good at it and ruined our videos of stupid tourists. After awhile the fire shows turn into beach dance parties that go until 4am, so we danced our pants off. Phi phi night life was amazing, it was like a mini full moon party every night. We couldn't hardly pass up the buy one get one buckets!

fire jump rope!

The most impressive limboing I've ever seen!

A nice spot to watch the fire shows!

Too much time in the sun!!

The next day was a relaxing beach day. Danielle and I got Thai massages. I am surprised it took me half way through the trip to get one, but my painful sunburn earlier on was part of the reason for waiting. It was the best $6 I've ever spent. I didn't even mind that there was a not so small Thai woman on all fours on my back. After this massage, I got several more on the trip.