Working Girl Cooks!

Well this is my 100th post! And unfortunately instead of baking a cake or celebrating in some way I  came home from my wonderful vacation to some devastating news. While TDH and I were running around Thailand and Vietnam having a great time our sweet little Dog, DT was killed. It happened a week into our vacation and we didn’t find out until we got home. We are both pretty devastated and after spending a week mourning and doing nothing else we are trying to put our lives back together and figure out how to go on without our baby. We had revolved our whole life around him and he was the only reason we were excited to be coming home. So this 100th post is dedicated to my sweet little puppy. Although I am not religious, I desperately hope there is a heaven out there, for his sake.

D’artagnan Barlow December 1st 2006- January 9th, 2009. We miss you so much baby!

Our last week in Thailand was spent on Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee, yes, I’m serious. They also have a palace called Phuping (pooping) Palace… hehe). TDH had been to this island seven years ago, before it was developed, ruined by the tsunami, then developed again. When he went there was no one on the island and not nearly as many resorts, restaurants, and bars. This time, we took a large Yacht from Railey Beach to the island and docked at a pier to a beach lined with resorts, restaurants, and crazy crowded with people. For a map of Phi Phi Island go here.

 

It is high season in Thailand right now so Phi Phi Island is packed with tourists and we had a hard time finding a place to stay. We finally booked a room at the Andaman Legacy Resort. It was a little more than we wanted to pay but cheaper than the other options available on the island. As soon as we got off the boat their was a bag boy waiting to take our bags, and us to our hotel. The Island is unique in that it is two islands fused into one by a thin strip of land and because only a small part of the island is inhabitable there are no cars or scooters on the island at all. Everyone gets around by foot. Our hotel room was very nice and the hotel knew it was our honeymoon so they decorated our bed with these gorgeous flowers.

Of course since it is 90 degrees F outside and really humid, the ants found their way to the flowers in no time. They were all over the bed! But the hotel staff was very nice and promptly cleaned everything up for us.  The view from our hotel room looked almost like a painting. The Island is very pretty.   As soon as we got to the island we gandered on over to the main beach on Phi Phi, called Lo Dalam Bay. It was packed with people. TDH was shocked. When he was here last, him and his friends were the only ones on the beach. We decided Lo Dalam Bay was too crowded for us so we decided to take the hike over to Hat Yao (Long beach), a much less crowded and more beautiful beach further down along the island. The water  is so clear and warm. It’s a great place for swimming and snorkeling. Eddie wasn’t able to go in the water because of his tattoo and I was able to go in but only for a bit. So we spent most of our time sunbathing (in the shade because it’s too hot in the direct sun!) and enjoying the night life.

This island is insane at night! Everyone is out walking around and there are so many restaurants and bars it is easy to stay out all night! The weather is also so beautiful at night that it feels good to just wander around and people watch. Many of the bars have live bands and fire shows and offer crazy drink specials (especially for girls!) Beers are very cheap (less than a $1) and they also sell buckets that come with a fifth of alcohol (of your choice) and your choice of mixer (soda or red bull). So it’s very easy to get very wasted in a very short period of time!

During one of our nightly outings we met a couple of girls from London. One of them had a sister who had married a Thai man and moved to Phi Phi to run a bar. She unfortunately died in the tsunami so her sister came and spent six months helping with the rescue and restoration efforts. She went to all the planning meetings where they talked about how they were going to rebuild Phi Phi. Apparently before the tsunami Phi Phi was growing and being developed at a rate that the island couldn’t sustain. The government wanted to try to avoid this and they came up with all kinds of plans for rebuilding. One plan was to only build resorts on the two mountains and leave the strip uninhabited so that if another tsunami hit they would all be safe. Well, apparently the residents and business owners on Phi Phi were too impatient to wait for government approval and started building like crazy without it. So today, it is even more developed and crazy than it was before the tsunami. It is kind of sad really, such a beautiful island that is being completely trashed by tourists. There are two or three times more tourists than natives on the island! And it is not uncommon to see tourists working at the local dive, tattoo, or travel shop and living on the island.

On our last day on Phi Phi we went up to the viewpoint to view the sunset. You can see the strip of inhabited land from these pictures and the sunset was absolutely breathtaking.

Overall TDH was a little disappointed and sadden by how developed and touristy Phi Phi had become. I personally enjoyed the absolutely wild and craziness of the island. We had a wonderful time on our trip and can’t wait to go back!

Now for something completely unrelated, while I was off on my adventure I was tagged by Susan of Savoring Time in the Kitchen! 

Here are the rules:

Rule #1 ~ Link to the person that tagged you.
Rule #2 ~ Post the rules on your Blog.
Rule #3 ~ Write 6 random things about yourself.
Rule #4 ~ Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
Rule #5 ~ Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their Blog.
Rule #6 ~ Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Six random things about myself:

1. I have a B.S. degree in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics from UCLA and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a GPA of 3. 9

2. My first dog was a Doberman pinscher, I got it as a middle school graduation present when I was 14, the first of many dogs I have cared for and adored. I convince my mom ( a former dog hater) to buy me a dog and now she has two pit bulls that are her babies and is in training to be a dog trainer!

3. I have a brother, and step brother, and a step sister, all younger than me.

4. My mom was born and raised in Colombia, South America and moved to the states when she was 30 years old. I don’t speak spanish fluently :(

5. My love for cooking was sparked by my stepmom who also loves to cook and encouraged us to experiment in the kitchen at a young age

6. I love love love super spicy food!

Okay my turn to tag:

1. InnCuisine

2. Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes

3. Gary Soup

4. The hungry engineer

5. Zoe Bakes

6. eat real