Koh Phi Phi Don

The first evening I step onto the island of Phi Phi Don, there is a giant phallus welcoming me. It is planted in the sand--like a piece of playground equipment. We take the opportunity to procure some curious selfies before starting along the beachfront pathway that weaves its way through Ton Sai Village. Strings of lights, lanterns and flags crisscross between the make-shift markets. Long-tail boat engines hum in the background.

Thai music blares from various boom boxes on the market stall floors. A man thrusts a fuzzy, long-limbed monkey into my arms. His little black face is ringed with white and he is donning a striped t-shirt with denim overalls. Well-trained to work for tips, the primate wraps his lanky arm around my neck and rests his head on my shoulder. I gratefully turn over a handful of baht to the monkey’s owner. The crowd ushers us along the stone pathway. Market stalls line both sides and are brimming with colorful produce, fresh-caught fish with staring eyes, vibrant embroidered bags, flowy textiles, knock-off sunglasses, whimsical jewelry, and resin Buddha’s.

Weary looking locals offer massages (and other services), pedicures and cooking classes. Young brits have set up multiple shops selling dive tours. And youthful Thai men sit all day in stalls perfectly painting hundreds of reproductions of iconic art work. Koh Phi Phi Don is an extraordinary world unlike any I have experienced. We sit in zebra print recliners while chatty islanders rub our hands and feet with coconut oil, lavender and lemongrass. We visit a fish spa where fish suck dead skin cells from our feet in huge tanks of water. We try mango sticky rice at the Mango Garden where the rice is colored sapphire blue from the butterfly pea flower—well known, we are told, for treating eye-infections and for its aphrodisiac properties.

Locals guide us towards Anna’s for a remarkable Thai meal. We leave our sandals in a large collection of shoes by the front door. The décor is simple with bamboo placemats, dark wood tables, and huge prints of stunning Thai faces –young and female. We feast on Phad Thai, spring rolls, curry, and pineapple fried rice. It is late in the evening when we finish our meal—and the streets are still packed with people. Most of them are Western European travelers in their early twenties. The heat and humidity of the tropical night air demand light, casual attire. Fruit markets transform into shops pushing plastic sand buckets filled with liquor bottles and soda for a “special price”. The music gets louder, the bars fill up, and the Thai boxing rings lure contestants with prizes of free booze. We meander along towards the other side of the island and discover that the thin strip of land that separates Ton Sai Bay from Loh Dalum Bay abounds with myriad aisles of shops offering food, drinks, tattoos, t-shirts that blatantly disregard trademarks, pharmaceuticals, souvenirs, currency exchange, textiles and cheaply constructed crafts. Toddlers play by the entrances and babies sleep on the floors. Waves lap the beach along Loh Dalum Bay, and as we near, the pulsating rhythms of electronic club music grows louder. Just feet from the water, Ibiza House, Slinky Bar, and Apache Beach Bar host inebriated tourists. Beach chairs and Christmas lights are abundant. Cheap drinks and loud music fuel the party. Young, muscled Thai boys dance to throbbing tones equipped with flaming torches and balls of fire.

There is beauty, magic and trepidation in their routine. Imprecise timing—or a hand in the wrong place results in hot pain and scorched flesh. The crowd is awed by their dance and by their skill. Tourists blanket the beach; dancing barefoot in the sand with a drink in hand. The performers throw their torches ridiculous heights and narrowly miss the throng of partiers below. They balance on tight-ropes and perform unbelievable stunts with their fiery props. Some of the dancers are children—boys of ten or twelve—who dull their fear and pain with swigs of rice whiskey. Thailand is a land of puzzling contradictions: unusually kind people and a grim history of human trafficking. Beautiful and bizarre (even gruesome) festivals (do not google images of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival). Peaceful Buddhist values and Bangkok’s perpetual civil unrest. Pristine beaches with cobalt water and devastating tsunamis. Floating in the Andaman Sea, Koh Phi Phi Don, with its sheer limestone cliffs and beach-fronted jungles, embodies these contradictions—celebrating the beauty, conflict, nobility, adversity and magic that is Thailand.

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