3) Knackerd!?!

Our trip out to Ko Phi Phi Don was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had on water. Skimming across the water there would appear giant limestone islands that looked like huge chia-pets. As we traveled the west side of Ko Phi Phi we could see Laa Nam Bay, which is "the" beach in the movie. I was struck by the fact that it didn't look like there was much damage. But as we turned the southern tip of the island we had a much clearer view of Tusani Bay and all the damage done by the tsunami.

From our first steps on the island we could tell that we were in another world. As we walked down the main strip we saw tons of damaged shops. There were several volunteers cleaning out street gutters. And walking right by them were tourists in bathing suites carrying towels to the beach. This frustrated me at first. I couldn't believe that people would be so insensitive to the needs of hurting people around them that they could go about their lovely day at the beach without picking up a rake, a shovel or a hammer. But later in the day one of the main volunteers told me life on the island had to be somewhat of a duality. Life on the island was going to be a "both/and" for some time to come. There needed to be both those that worked and those that spent money as tourists. As our time on the island went on I became more and more at ease with this seemingly contradiction of the human spirit.

We picked up our work assignments from Calisto's Bar. This small beach side bar serves as headquarters for the volunteer efforts during the day and as a gathering spot to unwind at night. Neil and Michael were asked to start work reconstructing vendor carts on a side street in town. Joe, Jake and I were asked to join a small army of people helping to clean up debris around the water treatment plant for the island.

While working on their first vendor cart, Neil and Michael were interrupted by an English bloke also named Neil. Neil was eating at J.J.'s like he does everyday on Phi Phi when he noticed Michael and Neil working hard on their project. He asked, "What made you choose to work on that one?"

They responded, "It was the worse looking one, why?"

He replied, "Well you maybe working on a dead persons cart. I know for sure that those two down there are owned by a woman that wants to start her business back up. Those should be a priority."

While at the water treatment center we meet a wonderful group of people in their 20's from around the world. Most were just taking time out of their lives to travel around the world and decided to stop in Ko Phi Phi to help with relief. One such person was a young British girl who was hanging around us during one of our break times. While standing there drinking water this girl said, "I'm feeling naked." I shook my head and said, "What? You're not naked." She said, "No naked." "No one is getting naked during this break time." She said, "No, knakerd. Like tired." I had never heard this word or term before in my life. Needless to say the word was used in its context multiple more times during the rest of the trip.

Michael had met some girls from Texas (who excitedly proclaimed to be in the 5% of the states population that did not vote for President George) who were running the tool shed for the HI Phi Phi organization out of a destroyed camera shop. After finding out we had a boat that was leaving the island and coming back the next day they asked if we could buy some much needed supplies for the efforts. So we pulled up shop a little early and headed back to the main land. While on our boat ride back, our guide Pat (pronounced pot) pointed out two islands that were about a hundred yards a part from each other. He told us that before the tsunami this had been a huge tourist spot because a small beach that you could walk across had connected the islands. The tsunami however had washed the majority of the sand away and tourist seldom ever came there anymore.

Our group got cleaned up after a short dip in the pool. I asked Sak and the staff where I could buy a hammer and they should be on a map where a mom and pop hardware store was near the hotel. Our trip to the hardware store had to be the worst case of a language barrier we had faced on our entire trip. The shop owner knew zero English. And when you are trying to locate three way electrical switches, knowing some Thai might help. We wound up spending any extra money we had collected before we left on buying all the supplies for the relief effort that we could. Having felt like we had accomplished a decent amount of work we retired back to our hotel for another night of rest and relaxation. It had been a good day!