Conflicting Feelings

Today we find ourselves in a beautiful tropical paradise with views and water the likes of which we have never seen. However, with all this beauty comes everything that we ever feared when tossing and turning at night thinking about Thailand. Yes we were scared. Scared of bugs and humidity and snakes and squatter toilets and heat and humidity...Just to give you a small taste of life for the next four days I'm fairly sure I (Whitney) just ate a bug, it flew in my mouth..or crawled there... Anyway we are in some crappy guest room on the side of a jungle hill. It is definitely not up to my Marriott standards and I will need to drug myself heavily before I can sleep, Alisha on the other hand killed the giant cockroach on our wall and is almost out cold. If only I could do that. Other scary things that have happened today include: a giant freakin monsoon that felt like heaven because its so hot/wet here that we just walk around dripping, squatter toilets on ferries (as if that isn't hard enough when you are not moving), bugs in our bed (little nasty ones that look like baby millipedes), a room like a sauna....Although a side note, the other three girls are staying in a legite bungalow which is furnished with mosquito nets because the ceiling doesn't necessarily connect to the wall, so if one happens to be in the shower during a monsoon then one gets leaves and other debris blowing into their bathroom, or so I have heard. I feel like I'm getting lice as I type this. What is the deal, this situation is ridiculous I feel like I'm a hobo in Asia but we still have wifi.

...I think someone just locked us in our sauna but I don't know, there was a click and then...Good thing I have water. Alisha just told me I will get lice and no one else will. That would go perfectly with the jellyfish sting. It is so frustrating to be the more prepared than Alisha but still be redder, more bitten, and probably have lice. Oh I forgot we can totally see the kitchen/bar from our half curtained window so when we stand in front of the fan in our underwear everyone can see us. I just waved. Laura pointed out we are like Amish people on this island with the amount of clothing we wear, I'm about ready to wear my bra hiking, Alisha almost stripped down mid hike today...its not really a bad plan. Gah....so anyway maybe I should explain where we are and all the good stuff that has happened so you don't think I'm an ingrate.



We left Phuket this morning via sketchy bus. The "bus" dropped us off at the dock? And we took a ferry to the Phi Phi Islands (particularly Ko Phi Phi). It's beautiful here, the water is a color that beach water should be and it pretty much feels like I could be on Lost. Last summer I watched it this summer I'm living it. So anyway we got to the dock and found the "pick a place to stay out of the five billion advertised" booth and made the mistake of letting Sarah negotiate by herself. This place is dirt cheap but it feels like it, though I suppose four days of what we were expecting all summer is doable...we are so spoiled. We can't decide if we're happy that we got the sauna prison room or if I want the mosquito net bungalow, won't lie I would love a mosquito net. Moving on, after we saw this exquisite palace we went to find lunch, I had french toast and it has never tasted more divine. Then on the way back we saw this sign that said Pee Pee Viewpoint. That sounded promising so we were like "oh lets walk up these stairs and see the viewpoint" (keep in mind it is about 1:00 in the afternoon). After 350 steps and half a mile of hill we got to the top of the freaking mountain. They should really tell you what the viewpoint is for at the bottom. Pee Pee doesn't help cause it is spelled wrong and everything here is Phi Phi something or other. So we get there and, unlike Utah were we always joke about there being ice cream on the top of the mountain, there was ice cream on the top of the mountain. We just got water though because we were all dying. Except Jenna who is much like a mountain goat when it comes to sweltering hills in the middle of the day on tropical islands.

The view was worth it though, we had to bask in it for at least twenty minutes before facing those stairs again. After we made it down the hill we went to the beach which was beautiful (very much like a postcard). After all the jellyfish research, however, I have been a little paranoid about so I watched the stuff. Everyone else walked like a block into the water and were still only up to their knees, bizarre I tell you. I laid out in my t-shirt and shorts to get a nice farmers tan. My goal is to not be crippled by then end of this vacation. We are excited to get to Phichit, I think we all need some stability. We have never done anything like this. It is surreal to wake up in one place and have no idea where you will be by the end of the day, evidently sometimes its better than others :)