THAI BOXING AND BAMBOO TATTOOS! Ep 21

Jamie has arranged to sail to Phi Phi for a 24 hour excursion with our surfer friend, Brendon. This means nipping into town, taking a taxi to drop off the washing and pick up the provisions, grab one of those pink buses back to the main Ao Chalong jetty and loading up the dinghy via the rusty municipal ramp…(con’t below)

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The boys spend a bit of time on Brendon’s generator and take it in turns to troubleshoot the problem. Brendon consults his electrics bible whilst Jamie has a look, but they conclude that it’s going to take more time than they have right now.

Instead they hop on board Esper and take her out of Ao Chalong. It doesn’t take long before the sails are out.

They anchor on the NE corner of Phi Phi but the next morning the lads decide to take the boat around to Ton Sai Bay in the south of the island.

The boys take the dinghy ashore to the busy dock. First stop is the police station. You may remember from an earlier episode, that we made an agreement with the skipper involved in Esper’s collision that he would pay 50,000 bhat towards the damages. But after receiving the first couple of installments we decided to waiver the balance.

Brendon and Jamie decide to go for a walk through the back-streets of Phiphi where the locals live. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 had devastated much of the island. With a combined local and tourist population of 10,000, local tour guides estimate that 4,000 people lost their lives. The island was closed and reconstruction began with the help of the government, locals and volunteers. Within 12 months nearly 1500 hotel rooms opened. The recovery of the island is impressive but now it is prone to mass tourism and there has been talk of capping the number of visitors in order to protect its natural beauty. More than a thousand tourists visit the island daily, and that’s not including those by chartered or private yacht. Up to 40 tonnes of solid waste is produced every day.

One of the tourist attractions on Phi Phi is Thai boxing, or ‘mwoy thai’, where tourists can take on the local boxing champ. Going a round with him wins you a pitcher of drink.

It dates back to the 16th century and is known as The Art of Eight Limbs: the hands act as sword and dagger, the shins and forearms as armour, the elbow is used like a hammer, and the legs and knees become the axe and staff.

It’s a fast, full-contact sport and on Phi Phi, like many other popular places in Thailand, attracts every kind of tourist, from backpackers to holiday makers to couples on a romantic evening out.

Jamie declined the offer of getting in the ring. His covert training in all martial arts prevents him from injuring anyone.

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This episode features some of the best music so far in our sailing series. All music is given away for free under the Creative Commons license so please support these musicians any way you can.

00:04 Followtheboat theme tune – “Suddenly” – Otis MacDonanld
https://soundcloud.com/otis-mcdonald/10-suddenly

02:30 “Black Ops” – The Fisherman
https://www.twine.is/TheFisherman/cppm10/black-ops

04:29 “Bad Attraction” – Mac Nyce

08:43 “Witness” – Tryad
http://www.tryad.org/

14:54 “Falling Backwards” – Stefan Kartenberg
http://ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/52335