My view of paradise quickly shattered as I disembarqued the boat and made my way through the crowd of greeters, "where you stay tonight?," "cheap room for you," into the streets packed with trinket stalls, internet cafes, massage rooms ("massage for you"), pizza shops, burger stands, English pubs, and a travel service on every corner. We found a modest room in a guesthouse to call home with the idea to sleep cheap and eat well! And well we did eat. For those Thai food lovers out there, if you have never tried panang or massaman curries, I highly recommend them.

The effects of the tsunami are still quite evident. I experienced a sense of sadness being here to begin, imagining what it might have been like. I see foundations of what were once buildings and wonder whose shop or house each piece of debris might have come from. The tides wash up more debris each day. hotels and guesthouses are half salvaged and open, the other half in shambles. Sounds of saws and hammers abound from sun up to sun down. It has been interesting to speak with a few locals to hear their experiences. A woman we met while climbing was on her way to the beach, stopped in a shop to use the toilet and when she came out there was water everywhere. She ran to her second story brick apartment which still wasn't high enough to escape the water so she climbed to the roof. She says the island is a completely different shape now. Her husband, who had lived in Ko Phi Phi for 15 years went looking for her and couldn't figure out where he was or where their apartment was. They say the government is harnessing the money from relief funds to rebuild the island into a ritzy resort town rather than doleing the money out to the people. As a result, the people are left to do the work themselves, hence the hammering day in and day out. Rebuilding their paradise.