Sunday, February 11, 2007







Mauy Thai, the beach and the Koh Phi Phi fire!!!!!!!!


Should one attempt to be a hero? Shoyuld one step into a certain cituation where you know there will be bllod, sweat and tears? Should you fight Muay Thai style????
Bloody of course you should and guess what I sodding did!!!!!!!
Yes your intrepid narrator steped into the ring to face a feirce opponent and wage war. Oh what a war it was! First round, the bell rang as I stepped from my corner, punches flew and bodies colided. What a fight, there was blood and the smell of man sweat in the air. I lost the first round as my weak nose exploded with an expertly landed hook. But then the second round came and whammy, I landed a quality haymaker that sent him spinning and gave him a bloody eye which lasted all night. What a punch I landed, I was so proud the poor sod has such a bruiesd and blood bruied eye!
The trouble with muay thai is that you forget that you should be kicking also and therefore its a bloody mess when suddenly from punching some poor mug in the face you knee him in the guts instead!!! So let me give you the run down of the second round....I had the sod, oh yes.
But the third and final round was not to be my fightng masterpeice as I wished it was. We met in a clinch and a knee hit me in the ribs, so I went to puch him away and instead in my rage, well in my haste I may say I reverted from boxing to wrestling and body slammed him into the canvas! Yes you guessed it, I lost my disqualification, bugger! But oh what a fight, its just a shame I disclocated a few toes and got a bloody nose in the process, oh and I have some bizarre scratches on my inner bicep!!!!! It was a fantastic expereince as the corwd chanted my name and we met in the ring, both fighters got a massive bucket of sangsome whickey to drink each afterwards. I just think that if I did it all again I would not drink two buckets and lots of chang beer before hand!!!!!!!
Now lets get away from the boxing for a while. Today Sunday 11th February there was a massive fire on Koh Phi Phi don island. Ally and I were sitting eating some street food when suddenly this commotion occurred. Lots of Thais running with buckets ands any old fire extinguishers came running towards the harbour. So we followed and there was at least 4 shops a bar and lots of huts blazing. The fire was spreading fast through the ramshackle wooden buildings and with no fire brigade on this island everyone was forming bucket lines from the beach into the blaze. Ally and I didnt stand there like all the other sods on 'holiday'. We got involved and were in the thick of it, in the bucket lines and runing big containers of water to and from the blaze. Suddenly a palm tree went up and the leaves went into the air sending embers all over. One bar sudenly had its palm leaf roof go up in flame. No one at first spotted it then suddenly soemone shouted. Hlaf of the people got oin the roof to fight the fire while Ally and I sterted to remove the gas canisters from the kitchens. Soon it was full scale evacuation of any thing valuable and we had to gut in ten minutes flat 22 reatsurants, evertything apart from the fish tanks were moved as the beach became a waet ground of debris. Many have a go heros in boarding shorts tried to climb trees to disconnect cables and stop the fire hitting the elcteric boxes but it was too no avail. By this time trhere muist have been about 300 people helping with a futher 400 standing in the way watching! Soon the fire receinded and it was just smoke but it had destroyed many buildings and a path of devistation lay in its wake.
The fire had destroyed many builkding but left shells and hulks of metal and charred wood stillstanding, perilously closde to collap[se. So loads of us conducted by a Thai man with a megaphone and the token one local copper attacked ropes after they had half sawn the beams and pulled the buildings down. Too many people took it for good fun by my liking but it had to be done as they would have collapse at amny time and killed soemone. So we heaved and pulled the ropes out into the sea as the buildings collapsed!
Two hours after the blaze the helicopters arrived and the speedboats with rich tourist which had fled came back. 2 hours rapid helicopter response!!!!!!!!!
We all must hoipe that there are no further incidents of fire anytime soon as I am sure all the fire extinguishers on the entire island were used up! It just so happened that as the fire hit its most ferocious was when the ferry came in brin gn hoards of backpackers, the island is full to tne brim at the moment anyway and now with lots of bungalow shacks destroyed it will be back to sleeping on the beach for many people again!
So let me fill everyone in with my lastest adventure apart from fuighting and being disqalified pissed and fighting a fire!!
It is now just Ally and myslef travelling as we left Francis and Mike back in Krabi. We therefore got a ferry from Krabi to Koh Phi phi don. There are two phi phi island. Koh phi phi don which is where we are staying and Koh phi phi leh. Phi phi ley is where the beach was filmed and we are going there tonighyt to see the sunset. But that place is a natinal p[ark and therefore none or very few buildings are there and so you cant stay unless you sneak onto it.
But here we are tanned (well I am tanned Ally is still milky boy white) and loving the fun.
The first night was legendary, Ally and I went out on the razzle I ended up fighting in mauy thai, we met some Irish girls who Mike abused back on the ferry to Krabi ages ago and we spent the evening wiht them getting right jollily plastered til about 6 am. I even after losing my fight refereed some others, guess what I refereed a girl fight. Bloody hell did they really go for it!!!!!!!!
The last night on the main land with the others we found a rasta bar and once again took over the music and soon I had nirvana plb;asting out from the rooftops. But when we left they stung usd with the bill. Apparantly we drank 32 bg bottles of chang beer between us!! 32, 8 each blody hell, did we? Chang is leathal stuff too 6.4 % but actuyally becase it is so badly made can be anything from 6 to 13%, rock on the chang. Chang means elephant coniceidently!
What else have we been up to.
Well Ally and I hired a canoe and went on a mission, first we cxanoe in the amazing azure sea to Monkey beach where one token monkey sat looking at someones ice cream longingly. We then deceided to go through the sea caves, the crabs ran everywhere scattering at the sight of our arrival. The jagged rocks loomed over us and it was like we were on some ancient lunar sea.
We have also had quite a few mad nights out on the razzle, as you do. We ended up always getting into bed at soem silly hours like 5 or 7 am and then we are up and in the sun running around doing bits and bobs again. This is the life!
I also had my first Thai massage and I was destroyed. The lady actually crucified me, yes she actually put her knees in my bank and got me in the crucifiction pose and bent me in positions I didnt think my body could go or ever will again. While I was having it I glaced over at Francis who was having one too (he refused point blacnk for the lady boy to do him) the masseuse couldnt do what she was doing to me to him so just walked up and down on him!!!
THE BEACH
You may all remember the brillantly written book by Alex Garland, the beach. You may also remember the awful film which was ruined by that soppy sod Leonardo DiCuntio, sorry di Caprio. Well that actual beach is called Ao Maya. Yes you have guessed it we went there.
Ko Phi phi lay which is where it is is like a giant sea fortress when you approach in a longtail boat with the driver swigging from a can of chang. The rocks shoot up from the aters and it looks both magestic and scary but wondrous at the same time.
The actual beach is part of the nationbal park which the island falls into and therefore if you land on it ypou have to pay some high tourist fee. So we sailed through it and then went to a more secluded bay where we dived off the boat over ana dover again. Then the coincidence of travel hit us as popping out of the water in another boat were the irish girls. But I think our drunken behavious including getting into moored up speedboats and drinking far too much and then singning I love you baby at every nice lady and shouting 'for she's a jolly good fellow' at all the passing ladyboys may have scared them off us. No worries, caring anyway!!!!!
I am so glad we went to the beach and we did it by not going on the tourist trail tour. I lke the word traveller much better and the word tourist makes me want to spit.
Well the plan now is to head to Ko Lanta tomorrow then get the train from Trang to Bangkok and go to the bridge over the river kwai and then on to Ayuthaya where the temples and ancient ruins are. I have 7 days before I have to do my VISA run into another country so I can stay in Thailand for another month. But I have a hankering to go and travel in Laos a bit, also Cambodia and try to get in to Burma as I have always wanted to go to Rangoon, sorry Yangon as it is now known.
Ally will leave on the 20th. He will fly to Oz and I will become Ben the solo traveller once again, then I will join him in Australia in a months time.
I remember one of the greatest peices of advice I ever gopt about tarvelling, 'try it all and talk to everyon'. Its true you suddenly before you know it are in a group of ten.
Rock on my dear readers, have fun and be merry.
Peace
Ben
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p.s. Vil du knulla as Henrik taught me!!!

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