I almost died

We booked the night boat going from Ko Tau to Phi Phi. It was a boat to bus to boat ride. The first boat was to leave at pm and we were to get into Phi Phi at noon the next day... all for about 30 bucks.

We were told to get there at 7:30 for a good spot. We did ... but before I get to the accomodations...

The boat. Oh my god. It was a big old wooden fishing boat. The weather was turning on us. It had been drizzling all day, but it seemed like a storm was headed our way. Please note earlier blog entries- you will recall the rain comes down with great force. The ramp to get on the boat was a 1 foot wide piece of wood with no grips. We got there first and were handed tickets with numbers on it. We went upstairs, where we could not stand tall- we had to remain bent over. There were 3 inch thin mattresses along side both sides of the boat, all the way down. The numbers handed to us were the sleeping assignments. Please keep in my mind it was like two gigantically long beds and we were to sleep next to each other. I have never seen anything like this. We did however get the corner which was slightly more room and there were fans above us. There were windows all the way down too.

We grabbed some dinner and made it back to the boat about 15 minutes till departure. When we got back the boat was packed. So much so, they put mats down on the wooden floor in the luggage floor and had people sleep there too. Thank goodness we came early! As we were getting ready to go the waves were picking up as the weather was getting worse. I thought the Whitsundays were bad, that was nothing. For most of our journey the boat was not only rocking up and down but from side to side as well. Every time there was a big wave, the boat would come crashing down and you could hear the wood make creaking noises- it sounded like it was going to split in two. Before we even made it off the dock, the current was so bad, they couldn't get the boat away from the dock. We kept on crashing into it over and over again with a bunch of Thai guys yelling as loud as they could. When we finally made it out of the dock we hit another boat before we made it out to see.

There were a group of three across from us. There was this one guy John, with a tattoo sleeve, massive silver earrings with big holes, more tattoos and just a tough looking big guy... he was holding on for dear life with the biggest look of fear in his eyes. The two with him, Danielle and Kris (brother sister travelers from Toronto) gave me props for downing a Smirnoff ice in one sip. I was scared to say the very least.

Nick stayed downstairs he was loving this. Carolina and I slept holding hands and my other hand was bolted to my life vest. I kid you not, I slept with my hand clenched to the vest! I woke up at some point during the night to the sound of the rain down pouring next to me. There was a leak and the area of the bed next to me was drenched. Nick was supposed to be sleeping there but he was talking to some girl, still downstairs. People had closed there windows to not let the rain in and it got quite hot. I managed to fall back asleep and once again woke up. This time I grabbed my heart when I woke up in a panic. My heart hurt. I thought I was having a heart attack. It was awful I was in terrible pain and the boat was still rocking but now terribly hot as well. They had turned the fans off for some crazy reason! As if the conditions needed to get any worse?! Kris saw me gasp as I woke up and thought I was crazy! Apparently John had nightmares of being in an earth quake. I think every one's fears were manifesting in a different way.... but it was crystal clear none of us felt safe on this boat.

The weather conditions were really bad and I have never seen a boat rock as much as this one... huge amounts of water splashed over the front of the boat as smashed down on waves... it was crazy.

We thankfully made it to the port in one piece- though with a lack of sleep and an overwhelming amount of pain! There were a bunch of Thai people trying to sort out who booked through what company and where we were to go next. We got split up from Carl as he booked elsewhere. He got his tuk tuk to a mini van right away which brought him to the next port to get the ferry to Phi Phi.

We on the other hand were ushered with our bags through the streets of wherever we were on a 15 minute walk. We waited there for our tuk tuks which then brought us to another place to wait a pointless half an hour till our bus took us on many stops till we finally for to another travel agency type place- who then told us we missed the ferry by an hour (which Carl made it there an hour early). It was 11 and we had to be back there at 2:30. Thankfully Carolina has done this before and was able to lead Nick and I, and the three Canadians to town.

We stumbled upon a corner restaurant with the cutest kids working it. All six of us got an entree and a soft drink for about 450 baht. That is less than 15 US dollars. It was worth the experience just to go to this place. It was a restaurant that had no walls on the two exterior sides. There were carts on different ends of the corners to cook the food. It was half street food half restaurant. I don't think they get many non Asians as diners at this place.

It started to rain (why not make matters worse?!) on the walk back to the agency thing. We stopped for coffee to kill time and to wait for the rain to die down. The coffee was more expensive than the meal we had just eaten! We couldn't out wait the rain, we just accepted our crappy situation and were slowly beginning to laugh about this crazy journey! We did play my favorite game... the at least game. Whenever in a crappy condition, play the at least game... like at least I am not dead in an alley way with vultures pecking away at me or at least I am not stuck in a room with no windows with both Mickey Mouse and Goofy for 24 hours with no sleep allowed... it puts everything into perspective.

We got back and quickly got into more tuk tuk's and off we were to the ferry. The ferry was a bit nicer of a boat... but it is always complete chaos trying to find seats. People take up more seats than they need and the employees do not help. I managed to get some sleep on the boat before finally making it to Phi Phi with practically 24 hours of travel time on our belts!

We befriended the Canadians and we all decided to stay in the same hotel...