Koh Phi Phi | Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

The Power Of Suggestion

Published May 1, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

It started in Bangkok. The itching, I mean. I needed a haircut so I stepped into one of the salons in the Khao San Road backpacker district and followed the girl to the back of the shop to get my hair shampooed. When I walked back to the front of the shop two of the stylists were curled up on a sofa next to the entrance, one with her head in the lap of the other, who was slowly picking through the hair of her fellow worker. Oh my God! Lice, I thought. I can’t believe they allow their employees to do this in full view of the customers. My scalp starting itching that afternoon but I knew it was all in my head (pun intended).

Then I went south to the Phi Phi Islands. Everywhere I saw pairs of women grooming one another’s hair. They sat on front stoops, in the entryways to retail stores, even in chairs in restaurants, picking nits. The itching in my scalp grew worse. By the third day on Phi Phi Don, whenever I scratched, my fingernails came away from my scalp with small, hard white grains that resembled lice eggs. I told myself it was just embedded sand from the beach.
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Posted in SE Asia travel |

Tagged Around The World, Free Spirit, Humor, Koh Phi Phi, lice, nits, Phuket, power of suggestion, Thailand, Travel |

Disappointing Phuket, Thailand

Published April 28, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

The most exciting thing about Phuket was the ferry ride between Phi Phi Don and Phuket Town, when two blokes aboard our boat discovered they had gotten on the wrong ferry. The operators had to radio up the Krabi ferry to come alongside so the two errant passengers could be transferred from one boat to the other. It was accomplished easily and with precision (and astonishingly, without any ropes or tie lines between the boats), leading me to believe that this is not the first time they’ve had to perform this maneuver. I watched as each of the young men handed their luggage over our boat railing to outstretched arms waiting to grab it on the other boat bobbing up and down next to us. Then, timing their jump for a moment when the two boats were level with one another, they jumped across. I said a silent prayer of thanks that it wasn’t me who had boarded the wrong boat.

Transferring passengers from one ferry to another in the middle of the bay

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Posted in SE Asia travel |

Tagged Around The World, Bangtao, Free Spirit, Humor, Kamala, Karon, Kata Beach, Koh Phi Phi, Patong, Phi Phi Don, Phuket, Surin, Thailand, Travel |

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Goodbye Phi Phi, Hello Phuket

Published April 27, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

Tomorrow morning we leave Phi Phi Don and head for Phuket for one day before continuing north to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Today being our last day on Phi Phi we did two things. First, we took a longtail boat to Haad Yao Beach (commonly referred to as Long Beach), a more remote site north of the main town that is known for its wide, white sand beach. While it was beautiful, I wouldn’t want to stay there. The longtail boat ride cost each of us $5, one way. There are only six resorts on Long Beach, few restaurants and no entertainment. Being there for six whole days would have driven me crazy – there’s only so much time I can spend lying on the beach.

Sunset over Loh Dalam Bay

In my opinion we were in the best resort on the island – the Phi Phi Villas Resort, with its lovely pool, wireless Internet, great cabins and terrific restaurant – because it was far enough away from the craziness of Ton Sai Village yet close enough to walk to town if we wanted to take in the local color. The second thing we did was to walk across the narrow isthmus to Loh Dalam Beach after dinner to watch the sunset. But I think in this case a picture is worth a thousand words. Phuket, here we come!

Posted in SE Asia travel |

Tagged Around The World, Free Spirit, Haad Yao Beach, Koh Phi Phi, Loh Dalam Beach, Long Beach, longtail boats, photos, Phuket, Thailand, Ton Sai Village, Travel, woman |

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322 Steps

Published April 25, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

By 5:45 AM I was sitting on the dark beach, meditating while awaiting the sunrise. To my left a skinny young Thai man jogged the tide-washed shoreline. To my right another man, clad only in surfer trunks, lay on his back with his arm over his eyes, his long tangled hair splayed out behind him on the sand, passed out after a long night of partying. The sun peeked over the limestone cliffs at 6AM, slowly turning the ocean and sky vivid shades of pink, gold, and bronze.

Sunrise on the beach on Phi Phi Don, Thailand

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Posted in SE Asia travel |

Tagged Around The World, Food, Free Spirit, Koh Phi Phi, Loh Dalam Beach, longtail boats, Phi Phi Villas Resort, photos, Thailand, Ton Sai Village, Travel, tsunami, woman |

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What I Did Today

Published April 24, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

What did I do today? Nothing much, and it was absolutely delicious! I slept in, then enjoyed a leisurely brunch at the restaurant while watching the long tail boats motor back and forth with their passengers bound for Long Beach and points north on Phi Phi Don Island here in southern Thailand. I walked the dozen steps to the beach, taking only 17 photos, which turned out to be the only ones I took the entire day (this is no doubt a record – most days I take photos numbering in the hundreds). I then backtracked to the pool at the resort, where I whiled away the afternoon sipping fresh mango juice and iced lattes, dipping into the bath-water temperature pool whenever I got too hot. At 5 PM I walked along the shore to a nearby restaurant where I picked my dinner from the iced tray displaying the day’s fresh catch (Sea Bass), which was cooked over a charcoal grill and served with buttered rice. Deeeeelicious!! I’m turning brown as a berry, I fit into a swimsuit I haven’t been able to wear for a couple of years, and my hair has bleached out to almost white. I look ten years younger than when I left on this journey and I am happy as a clam.

The gorgeous beach on Phi Phi Don

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Posted in SE Asia travel |

Tagged A Fortune Teller Told Me, Around The World, Books, Free Spirit, Koh Phi Phi, photos, Thailand, Tiziano Terzani, Travel, woman |

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The Exquisite Phi Phi Islands

Published April 23, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

Despite the fact that the Phi Phi Islands have been discovered and prices here have doubled in the past few years, there is no denying the exquisite beauty of these islands. We are staying on Koh Phi Phi Don (Koh means island in Thai), at 28 square kilometers square the largest of the six islands that comprise this archipelago and the place where most tourists stay. Smaller, neighboring Koh Phi Phi Le is famous as the location where the movie “The Beach” featuring Leonardo Di Caprio was shot.