I started out on the beautiful island of Ko Phanang for my birthday then a week later made my way down to the tsunami torn island of Ko Phi Phi planning to spend a day or two... been here a week.

My Birthday Sunset (Ko Phanang
Demolished Sunset Beach (Ko Phi Phi)
The Thai boxing gym I'm helping to build
Had to get the paints out
The crew of Americans with the looted ATM
About 300 bodies were found in this resevoir
A sunset at one spot where the tsunami came in

After the whirlwind tour covering many-a-miles with Hobb's, I was tired as a dog and needed a little island time, plus my 25th (yeah, that's pretty old) birthday was on the 17th of May making an island headquarters a must.

I got off the boat in Ko Phanang feeling bad and went to a nurse to get some medecine. Turned out the nurses brother owns 10 bungalows on the beach near the "exciting" part of the island. Feeling bad, I didn't feel like searching around for anywhere else. I told her to "sign me up." I asked how I could get there, and she offered me a motorbike for rent. I said "sign me up." Off I went with bags everywhere, delecatly balanced on top of a 150CC monster. My "ride" for the rest of my Ko Phanang time. The island isn't that big , but I think I put about 1000 miles on that thing in 5 days.

Ko Phanang is known for it's monster "Full Moon Parties." Each month the island makes the transition from being a quiet tropical paradise to a thumping beach fiesta paradise. My birthday fell on the "Half Moon," which as you could imagine after seeing the success of "full Moon" parties, this island celebrates ANY moon. Although my birthday night was not full of "slapping the planks" or breaking out a worm/robot combo on the dance floor, the day was sweet.

The island is based on these all out parties that run all through the night until the sun comes up. So the culture during the day has become a very lazy existance. All of the restaurants and bars shows movies from about 10 AM on and serve fresh fruit shakes and munchies. May 17th, for me, was spent lounging around on the ultra-comfy seating, sipping fruit shakes with a couple of my closest kanine buddies (there are wild dogs everywhere that have come to enjoy the movies more than the humans and are more than welcome to walk into any reataurant to check things out) catching a showing of The Incredibles and Old School.

The picture I've posted up was on my birthday night. I crawled up on a big rock that overlooks one side of the island and watched the coolest sunset I've ever seen. This after a day spent hauling ass around the island on my motorbike checking out a fishing village with thousands of squid drying in the hot sun- meanwhile spoiling myself with several ice creams and if I could have spoiled myself with a Scandanavian... I would have.

I planned to come to Ko Phi Phi "just to check things out" and see an island that was more-or-less wiped-out during the Dec. 26th Tsunami. On that day the island had 10,000 people on it- a lot of Scandanavians and Europeans vacationing for Christmas. There were 5 star beach resorts right on the water with beautiful bungalows perched within the coconut palms. At around 9:30 in the morning the tide went out almost 500 yards into the ocean. Many people grabbed their cameras to record the moment, which 30 seconds later was followed by a 30 foot surge of Andaman Sea water chasing the camera toting tourists, the bungalows, and anything else in its way.

Chaos ensued after these frightful moments. It was later tallied that 20% of the people on the island died. I posted a picture of the resevoir that sits about 400 yards off the beach that I also included a picture of. 300 bodies were found in this resevoir alone. 700 bodies in total were found, almost 2,000 were never found. I took a tour offered free every morning by some local guys. One of them pointed out the place where his Mom was killed. They pointed out a resort that's owner lost his wife, both children and 20 relatives. This place was devastated. There are more stories like this than you can shake a stick at.

The good thing is that the island has become a project for a group set-up called Hi Phi Phi. There are a few hundred volunteers slaving away each day trying to reconstruct this place. The 5 star resorts and bungalows I mentioned earlier are completely wiped-out. The most you'll see as a memory of them are a twisted peice of rebar or a mangled stilt sticking out of the rubbled laidened sand. Everything is done by hand on the island. Each rock, mattress, tree, etc. is lifted by hand into piles for burning or moving to a barge.

I was eating lunch when I first got to the island and noticed some American guys talking about their work for the day. I struck up a conversation with them and offered to help on what they were working on. They are building a muay thai boxing gym for the local people and fighters to train at. The building is on the opposite side of the isthmus from the devastated side. The side we're working on was no less wiped out, but enjoyed the benefit of only a 6-10 foot tsunami.

The building was an old massage parlor- all but the structure swept out of the building and into the ocean. We hand mixed concrete for 2 days to pour a new slab in the building. I offered up the skills to paint the mural of a thai boxer holding up Ko Phi Phi (Greek Style) with the water hitting it from both sides, as it did on Dec. 26th (there's actually a little Santa Claus and some Christmas lights out by the front door of the gym.... never made it back to the Christmas box). The mural has become a big favorite among the locals and volunteers and people have been stopping by to take their picture with it. Sweet.

We're putting up mirrors, fans, speakers and all the actual gym equipment comes in 2 weeks from Bangkok. This guy from California has taken this project on himself. He's been here for 3 months and is loved by the local people near the gym. He's a big dude and they call him "King Kong."

The local people here are amazing. They've been through a lot of crap, each with a dreadful story of how their life changed the day after Christmas. Many of them living each day without the company of loved ones that didn't make it through the "wave." It's been a good feeling to help these people out in anyway. You quickly become "one" of the group here, as everybody is sharing the same goals. You pick-out "your shake lady," "your banana pancake lady," "your curry guy-" your go-to locals that you try to give your business to. They get so excited when you turn the corner and are ready to purchase.

I've been here a week and will try and pull myself away and get back to the homeland before my bank account runs dry- but it ain't easy