Back to Phi Phi Don for Christmas
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Fri 24 Dec 2010 06:43
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07:43.858N 098:46.210E
Friday 24th December
For a moment it looked like we'd be
spending Christmas day all alone in the Yacht Haven marina. The first reason
being because the muffler on the exhaust for the generator had blown a hole so
two parts were sent away to be welded, only when they were returned and fitted
Paul discovered that there was still a hole in one. We were going to send them
back to be re-done, but decided that we'd sort it out further down the line. The
second reason was due to the teak work on the bow. Thailand was supposed to be
the place to get any woodwork done, in terms of varnishing and teak work anyway,
but it turns out that that isn't so, or perhaps we just picked the wrong person!
I won't go into it too much but I'll just say he has done a very poor job and it
will have to be put right by Fantasi when we finish the rally. So, right at the
death, an hour after high tide, Paul finally stopped the guys working and we
left with the boat looking a little untidy to say the least. This was mainly due
to the week of jobs that had (almost) been completed.
It was 40 miles over to Phi Phi Don
and it would have been a great day to sail had we got the mainsail but instead
it is at the sail makers being repaired, typical! The journey was much quicker
than expected though as we had tide with us all the way and we picked up a
mooring buoy around 5 o'clock. We arranged to meet ashore with everyone at 5:30
for happy hour, it has been an incredibly stressful few weeks!
  Phi Phi Don to
port.........Phi Phi Le to starboard
  Getting into the
Christmas spirit with Miss Tippy
After a couple of drinks in a reggae
bar each family split up to eat alone as the restaurants here just can't cope
with big groups of people. We found a side street with food stalls where you
select what you want and they cook it on the barbeque for you in minutes. After
starters of spring rolls and a selection of different skewers we moved on to
barbequed squid, chicken legs, chicken kebabs and our favourite 'morning glory'
(water spinach fried in oyster sauce) - yum yum!
  The restaurant
  The menu
Most bars have a fire show starting at
either 9 or 10pm and the kids have now seen two, one on the quieter side of the
island and one on the Loh Dalam side which they highly recommended and so the
next rendezvous point was Hippies bar at 10pm. En route to the bar I decided to
dangle my feet in one of the fish tanks where the fish nibble all the dead skin
off your feet. It sounds disgusting but it really works and it tickles like mad!
  The fish were scared away
whenever Amy tried to take a picture
The fire show was incredible! It
started off slowly with all the performers warming up but after around half an
hour each one took turns to show us their routine. You obviously can't tell by
the pictures what they were actually doing so you'll have to take my word for it
but it was so fast and some were even throwing the burning sticks 40 feet up in
the air and catching them when they returned. One of the fire throwers even used
his mouth to do a trick, it was very impressive! After the show had finished the
dancefloor filled up and fireworks were set off on the beach, just a few metres
away from the crowds. One firework exploded whilst still on the ground and we
felt the blast through the crowd as everyone started to move back but luckily
no-one was hurt. Before long, everyone from the rally had left and it was just
the four of us. Paul had finished his bucket (vodka & coke served in a beach
bucket, minus the spade) and Jack was buying us blue/green coloured cocktails,
the night was bound to end badly!
  Fire throwing
  Fireworks in amongst the
crowds
  Family outing to Hippies
Bar
Although we were having a lot of fun
people watching, I think I was the first to give in and we made our way home
around 1am. On the walk back to the dinghy we bumped in Fai Tira who we had been
looking for all night. It seems we'd been playing cat and mouse as they'd also
been searching for us. On the walk back to the dinghies Amy and Jack found a
trolley belonging to a hotel and decided it'd be silly not to have a little
ride. Amy was soon turfed out and Paul, Jeremy and myself climbed in, Jack and
Pete then pushed us around under the watchful eye of the hotel's security guard.
It was then back to Jackamy for a night cap - not a wise move on Christmas Eve!
  The trolley
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