I had to get up early, I was going to be picked up for a day tour of the Kho Phi Phi islands. I heard Timo getting up before me, we both thought we might be on the same bus, or same tour but we were not sure. Timo's tour was including 3 days on Phi Phi, so he was checking out of the hostel that morning. I got up and went downstairs, but I didn't see Timo anywhere. I decided to run to the ATM to get some money before the tour, but as I headed back I noticed my bus was already there waiting for me. I figured Timo had been picked up early, we had made plans to meet up during Songran in Bangkok anyway. My bus was full of older Italian men, I could tell they were making comments about all the women as we were driving along, but they referred to me as Bella, so I knew that was a good sign. Two other girls my age came on the bus, I was relieved not to be alone and stuck with all these older men. Right away the girls didn't seem impressed as they could tell the men were continuing to make nasty comments in Italian. They dropped us off at this dock full of people getting on different boats for different tours. We were given our bus number and 15 minutes or so to go to the bathroom or get whatever food or snacks we wanted.
The girls that had gotten in the bus after me tried to get out of our boat tour not wanting to be with the rowdy Italians, but in the end they stuck it out. As we got on the boat, there was a divide between buses. Our bus sat on one side of the boat, while I guess another bus sat on the other. The girls, which turned out to be Canadians brought beer and the Italians shared some of the food they had and things went form being tense to pleasant. Next thing you know, we were all having a merry time, despite the extreme bumpiness of the trip. By the time we reached Kho Phi Phi (The island "The beach" was filmed on) everyone was friendly with each other. After going to Kho Phi Phi, we stopped by this place called Monkey beach, I was out of the boat for about 2 minutes taking pictures when three monkeys came at me. As I turned around to run off, one of them bit me hard on the back of the leg. I was in total shock, I went back on the bat and inspected the damage, the wound was huge and throbbing. I couldn't help but be annoyed that our guides had not given us any food to give them and that they were just free to run onto people. I had to remind myself that it was Thailand, and that safety rules were not strict. After everyone got on the boat, we stopped by a place where we could go snorkeling, but I wasn't in the mood after my bite I was feeling ill and decided to sit it out. Our next stop would be an island where we would be having our buffet lunch. My spirits were lifting, I didn't want to let the bite get to me. The lunch buffet was great, they had a bit of everything, and the other Canadian girls refilled on booze. After the lunch buffet we headed to our last stop, this really pretty island where we could lounge and go snorkeling. By that time I was over my monkey bite and went snorkeling with Kim and Brooke.
When I got back to the hostel, my room was filled with entire new cast members, a couple of Americans, a Japanese guy and a German. I talked to the German guy for a while, his accent sounded like Arnold Swarchenegger so it was hard to contain my laughter. I went downstairs to speak to one of the employees about what I should do about my money bite. He told me to go visit the Chemist around the corner. I went to see the Chemist to ask her if she thought I was okay, she cleaned my wound and told me I had to go to the Emergency room right away to get some shots. I asked her if it was necessary, but she stressed it and hailed a motorbike taxi for me. At that point I was more scared about going on the motorbike for the first time then my actual wound. The ride wasn't as scary as I thought and it only cost 40 baht. I was really impressed as soon as I walked in the emergency room, everything was super clean, and the employees wore cute little nurse outfits. I had to fill out some paper work so that I could get a hospital card, and then I was brought to a room where they had hospital beds and nurses. She told me that she would be giving me one shot for rabies and another shot for tetanus. I had not had a shot in a while so I was feeling a bit nervous, the nurse seemed to think that was funny because she started to giggle and told the others I was scared (I'm assuming) in Thai.After that was over I was told I needed to wait by the chemist window so that I could get some antibiotics and also the schedule I would be on for the rest of my shots. I spoke to this Australian lady who was there with her son who had gotten knocked off a jet ski and broken his arm, let's just say he was lucky to escape just with that.
Once I got my stuff and was all paid up, I managed to find another motorbike taxi to take me back to the hostel. The only bad part was that this guy was skinny so holding on to him felt a lot less secure then my last driver. As I pulled up to the hostel I noticed a group of people sitting around the front having a chat, I went up to the hostel employee Ra and told him what had happened at the Chemist and the Emergency room. One of the guys that was in the group of people talking invited me to come out to dinner with them. I went up to my room and got changed, before we headed out to find a restaurant. Most of the girls in the group were English, the guy was Philippino-Australian (Noel) and the girl (Kai) he was travelling with was from the Philippines. We found an Egyptian restaurant to eat at, it was kind of cool to be back there, it was the first time I had really thought of Cairo since I had left because I had been so immersed in Thai culture. After dinner We headed back to the hostel while Noel and I decided to go to the market. After the market, Noel and I went to the bar that Timo and I had been the night before except the band that was on wasn't nearly as good. After that bar we went to another one where some Thai girls were playing this game where you had to try to hammer the nail in wood with the least swings possible. Noel and I gave it a go, but we were not very good at it in comparison to the locals. While we were at the bar a very young (maybe 2 years old) Thai girl came in to try and sell us some flowers, I couldn't believe she was up doing this in a bar at 1 in the morning. It didn't take long for one of the employees to pick her up and put her outside, it was definitely a heartbreaking scene.
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