Phi Phi Phil

Usually pronounced Pi Pi.  I know, as I have to get up and do one about 4 times a night.  By the third time I’m wide awake and its only a matter of time before my i-pad comes out.  I have it on the dimmest setting but its still quite bright when its really dark in the night, especially as there is so little light pollution over here.  I feel guilty, as Claire wakes up more easily; but then again, not so easily as if I switched the light on and read my book.  This morning it was 3.45am when I couldn’t sleep any more and by 4am I was reading and responding to my email and comments, which was the inspiration for the title of this blog.

 Last night we did pop out for a light dinner and Claire asked me to order for us both and surprise her.  I like doing this as it allows me to be totally selfish and try things that I wouldn’t normally as we usually share (unless Claire doesn’t like one dish).  I spotted a dish called “Morning Glory”, which sounded appropriate somehow, and asked the waiter what it was.  He said that it was a stir fried fresh water lilly.  I wouldn’t normally try that in England, so here was my chance.  Taking the side of caution, I also ordered a chicken fried rice as I know Claire likes that.  When the dishes arrived, Claire first tried the morning glory and to my amazement she loved it.  It was lightly stir fried with lots of garlic.  My problem changed from eating water lilies with no rice, to eating rice with no water lilies.  Even though Claire loves chicken fried rice, I had trouble getting my share of vegetables.  Upon further investigation through my favorite wiki site, morning glory consists of the vegetable Ipomoea aquatica. Or more precisely, Plantae, Angiosperms, Eudicots, Asterids, Solanales, Convolvulaceae, Ipomoer, I.aquatica.  That’s why an anorak like me like wiki so much; you can go from knowing nothing about a subject one minute, to being an expert the next. At least now, Alfy will know what Ive been eating.  In chinese it literally means “hollow vegetable” and grows as a weed throughout south east asia.  Boy, I wish we had weeds like that back in England.  Apparently it was taken and grown in Florida and, because of its growth rate, has gone onto becoming an environmental problem in Texas and Florida.  A bit like the vegetable version of the rabbit in Australia.  That seems to happen quite allot; something is taken to another country and it grows or reproduces out of control.  Its because, as it evolved in its natural environment, other species evolved alongside it, eating it and keeping it under control.  No other species have had this chance when its moved; it has no natural enemies.  If its possible for plants to have enemies.

 I was right; we went on a boat trip today.  Before deciding which trip to make, I looked back at our first blog, when we were last here, to find out which islands we had already visited so we didn’t duplicate them all.  I was surprised to find how many we had seen; Koh Chauk, Koh Mook - emerald cave, Koh Kradan, Koh Ma, Klong Dao beach, monkey beach, along with Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta.  Then there were the ones on the other side of Thailand, Koh Samui, Koh Phang Yang and Koh Tao; and that’s not including the ones we didn’t know the name of when we visited them.  For this reason, we chose this day trip which includes lunch.  There were two versions, one on a fast speed boat costing 1300 Baht (£26) and one on a slow boat costing 600 Baht (£12).  There’s the dilemma, boys toys verses cost.  The slow one had a bar and toilets whereas the speed boat didn’t.  That tipped the balance for Claire.  The trip didn’t start well for lack of organization. We hoped that they were better sailers than they were organizers.  We finally got going but the boat had about twice as many people than would have been comfortable; I guess around 80.  Koh Phi Phi actually consists of 2 islands, the main one where all the tourists are called Koh Phi Phi Don and the much quieter but more dramatic one called Koh Phi Phi Lay, made cult by the film, “The Beach”.  We headed straight over to Koh Phi Phi Lay and curcumnavigated the island slowing for picture opportunities and then anchored up off shore of Loh Samah Bay and one of the crew swam with a thick rope to shore where he attached it near some ropes and wooden steps.  This bay was a little choppy so we needed the rope to pull ourselves to shore.  They put all our cameras inside a double layered bin bag which remarkably stayed dry.  Being the oldest and fattest, didn’t stop me being first to shore and I started the hike through the trails to the Famous Maya Beach.  However it is far from the deserted paradise that it was before the film and has become Thailand’s version of Benidorm beach.  If you get off the beaten track though it really is a beautiful spot.  We continued our way around the island sailing back to the ferry port where we dropped off the half day passengers and picked up lunch.  This is the point we wished tat we were one of them.  They had lied to us regarding the toilet and the bar; this was a dry ship containing only warm water, tea and coffee.  Our journey continued around Koh Phi Phi Don now but we stopped off at Bamboo Island (where’s the Koh?) and snorkeled to shore.  This was surprisingly difficult as the current made you take one stroke forwards two strokes backwards and to the left.  This time the crew didnt do the bib bag trick so I only have photos from the boat but the sand was white and find and was probably mainly made from corral that lined the shoreline.  The coral looked prettey mush shot but there were plenty of very colourful fish chasing you around.  Steve, an Australian guy from Newcastle, New South Wales, had one nibbling at his legs.

 We then continued around Bamboo Island and also circumnavigated Mosquito Island without stopping.  We continued our journey around Phi Phi Don stopping off at Monkey bay and shark bay for more snorkeling.  I didn’t swim to Monkey bay as we had been there last time we were here and I got loads of photo’s then but was disappointed not to have seen any monkeys.  I asked the skipper how long he had been running the trip and was surprised that he had been doing it daily for 10 years.  I said that he must have been there when the tsunami struck.  They were just coming out of Maya Bay full of punters when the wave came past them.  I asked if it had hit sideways or if he had managed to turn into it but he said that although the wave was large it wasn't severe out at sea so the boat just gently rose over it.  Although it hadn't caused them any problem he knew that it would have done when it hit shore but he hadn’t anticipated the total destruction that he saw when he returned to the point where the ferry terminal used to be.  Not only had it gone but all the shops and hotels in the area where all the tourist lived, leaving only rubble and corpses.  Having nowhere to land and nothing for any of the passengers to recover, he sailed over to the mainland at Krabi where they disembarked.  Unbelievable, the island recovered in no time and soon there was little trace of this disaster.

 We ended our trip by maneuvering close to shore where about 20 of the passengers swam to shore and climbed some rocks and started diving and jumping off.  Parkway Drive would have been proud of them.  We finished the trip and Claire was pleased to be able to get a cold beer down her throat.  The Australian, Steve and his wife Jenny joined us for a few and we all ate dinner together.  Of course, this included our new favorite hollow vegetable.  Steve said that this weed is also a terrible problem in Orange county where they live.  They are on this trip celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary so congratulations guys!  We came home after a quite exhausting day so tat Claire could finish the rest of her red wine off.  I managed to take 138 photos whilst on this trip but have only published a few of these.

 The unusual landscape of this area with huge vertical rocks thrusting out of the sea covered in vegetation (mainly I. aquatica, I guess) are made from limestone.  When you first look at the rocks, it looks like the sedimentary layers are all vertical.  How could that be.  how could they form all vertical over such a large area; maybe parts here and there would be vertical where folding had taken place.  If you look more closely, you can see that the sedimentary layers are actually mostly horizontal, like you would expect.  They look vertical because of the way that the rock has been split downwards.  Limestone, and most sedimentary rocks, partially dissolve in water, especially acidic water.  As droplets of rain, form and fall they dissolve carbon dioxide which makes it slightly acidic.  Thats what we cll acid rain.  It land on the plants and vegetation, seeps through the soil making it much more acidic when it reaches the bedrock.  The slightly acidic water runs down the rock and seeps through any natural crack in the rock.  An acid in solution has more positive hydrogen ions than pure water.  As hydrogen consists of a single proton balanced by an electron, a positive ion has lost this electron which makes it positively charged.  In other words, its a proton.  These electrically charged protons, strongly attract electrons from the rock molecules which breaks their chemical bonds.  The positive and negative ions left behind, dissolve in the water and are carried away with it in solution thus enlarging the natural crack.  The larger crack has more surface area for the acidic water to react with so the quicker the rock dissolves.  Over long periods of time, the rock between these enlarged vertical cracks fall away.  Helped by weathering of the sea below, the rocks are left thrusting out of the water in giant vertical columns.  The original cracks are left visible which makes it look like vertical layers of rock.  Problem solved, by my good old friend wiki!  For this reason, there are lots of cave formations and other karst features left in limestone rocks.  Also lots of stalagmites and stalagmites; the old favorite of young boys.  Do you remember how to remember which ones attach to the ceiling and which to the ground?  Tites come down as mites go up.  See you in Koh Lanta for our next holiday!