the happiest day of my life

Woke up early and took a two hour ferry ride to Ko Phi Phi. We made some friends from NY and SF while waiting for the ferry. I cannot get over how many tourists are here (as compared to Cebu especially), not to mention it is the low season - they do discounts on everything! it's sweet! - and all of the issues in Thailand that discouraged travelers, it is surprising how many travelers are here despite all of that. Ko Phi Phi is more developed than Krabi/Railay (which was set in the jungle and very isolated... i really like that about Railay). We decided to stay at one of the bungalows on the less crowded beach a quick boat ride (or 45 minute walk) away from the main dock. It was afternoon by this point and we were determined to hike to the viewpoints that provide an incredible panorama of the area, including Phuket in the distance, and the island where they filmed the movie "The Beach". We first had to walk back to Phi Phi, then we began the ascent to the viewpoints. 344 stairs later (that is just the actual stair count, it doesn't factor in the steep sidewalk meandering to our destination), we had a view of both bays and the neighboring islands, so gorgeous!!

This is when I explain how fun comes in levels: Lo, Kor and I discussed ahead of time that we wanted our trip to be mostly level 1 fun (maybe some level 2). Level 1 fun means that you are having a good time in the moment, aka sitting on a beach sipping on a mango smoothie. Level 2 means that in the moment your experience is not necessarily fun, but immediately after you realize that it is totally amazingly fun (ex: cliff jumping). Level 3 fun is a little bit more difficult to appreciate and sometimes takes hours or days before you realize you enjoyed the experience (i.e. our time on monkey beach and our camping experience - see my next blog). Level 4 fun is like studying for the MCAT... you hate it at the time, you hate it when you take the test, you hate it after, you hate your score, but then you get into med school and you realize that taking the MCAT wasn't so bad after all. Get it? So climbing to the viewpoints, level 2 fun, as our "rough guide" and "lonely planet" (Lo's bible), predicted it would be. Walking up there you are sweating and on the verge of collapsing, you get to the top and you forget all the pain.

Viewpoints 2 and 3 were even more breathtaking and we made our descent feeling happy that we had endured the climb (level 2 fun all the way). Exhausted, we stopped at an internet cafe in Phi Phi to catch up on email. I wasn't really expecting anything new in my gmail, so I was hesitant to use the expensive internet, but since Kor and Lo both were, I caved and got on. I was sifting through some random emails, not really paying attention, until I had already clicked on an email from OHSU, and realized maybe I should start paying attention... I noticed that the email said something about application in the subject line, i saw that there was an attachment, I opened the attachment, the computer wouldn't let me, i tried again, i managed to get it open, English thank goodness (things on the computers here randomly show up in Thai - confusing!). I start reading the attachment... I see the words "congratulations" "acceptance" "OHSU School of Medicine"... I start to freak out. Lo thought Dakota had died when I said in a desperate voice "read this!!" (dont worry, dakota is still alive). In seconds her and Kor had scanned the letter, I was already on my feet screaming, they both consumed me in a huge hug, and then I was crying. The crying was weird because I have never actually been so happy before that it made me cry, but I was crying, and laughing, and the other people in the internet cafe were looking very concerned, and the lady running the internet cafe was bringing me tissue and asking Kor if I was ok, and I wished I knew how to say "never better!!" in Thai, because I was just accepted to Oregon Health and Science University and that was the happiest day of my entire life!!

We wandered around Ko Phi Phi as I tried to calm down, but I wasn't doing a very good job and sobs of joy would sneak out here and there and I couldn't stop shaking - yes, people were staring. We had a huge celebration dinner at a fancy restaurant that night and I called home to share the great news (my mom had the same sobbing response I did :) Then we watched the most extreme presentation of fire juggling I have ever seen. These guys twirled flaming batons so fast I could hardly believe it - wait for the video. And I swear, there were 6 year old boys that would come on stage and do an impressive job with the fiery batons. They would chuck them high into the air and somehow manage to catch them, without burning themselves, before they hit the ground. There were also fire balls attached to a string that one person would catapult across the beach and another would actually catch it, in the complete dark, I don't know how...

then for the finale, two of the guys got up on chairs with a piece of think fabric between them. At first I thought they were just twisting up a fishing net and the show was over, then they took the "net" and dunked it in the gasoline and I started to think the show might not be over after all. They each stood on a chair, the thick fabric hanging down between them, dripping with gasoline, and a third guy came up with a torch and did the obvious thing - he lit the rope on fire. The flames quickly spread up the gasoline-saturated material, right to the hands of the men holding each end. They started to spin the flaming rope like it was a jump rope - I mean, what would you do with a long, flaming piece of fabric, I think using it as a jump rope is really the only logical thing you can do with it. And the first to jump (i.e. be sacrificed), was the 6 year old fire juggler that should be playing gameboy. We should've known he'd be a pro... He hopped effortlessly into the twirling rope and jumped precisely each time the flames came around and grazed the ground below his feet. The video is funny because they start to speed up the jump rope and I say something like "oh my goodness, they're going faster!", and then I start to squeal with each jump for fear that the little boy will get burned. Next a white dude from the audience steps up to the burning rope (in the video you hear me say "I hope this is some random drunk dude who doesn't actually know how to jump rope") and then the guy makes a go at it. he immediately jumps too soon and gets taken down by the scorching rope when it hits his ankles and knocks him onto the ground, at which point he sort of rolls over the flames, gets up, realizes he is not on fire, and... get this... prepares to try it again!! the second time he does a little better, but a few jumps in and sure enough, the rope hits him in the ankles again - 2nd degree burn plus 2nd degree burn equals 4th degree burn right? after that he was done, thank goodness, though he might be wearing pants for the rest of his life. I mean really, the whole thing was just a wild end to the best day of my life. I went to sleep smiling and the next morning, seriously considered that the whole thing might have been a dream (if you'd seen the flaming jump rope you would have questioned the same thing). Fortunately I have Lo and Kor here to remind that it is real!! I was accepted!! Opening that email from OHSU: the epitome of LEVEL 1 FUN!!