dance

The Faces of Holi

Holi is a vibrant festival of colour celebrating the victory of good over evil. It is a time to lift up love and mend broken relationships. This Hindu religious festival is celebrated all over the world but no location is known better than India for observing the colorful festivities. Attending Holi was on our must-do list when we left home to experience the world and when we arrived in New Delhi we could not have been more excited!  

We had been looking forward to Holi for months and hit the jackpot with our Airbnb host. He was hosting a Holi party on his rooftop where a group of his friends and their guests came over for a good time. As soon as his friends started to show up, the color came out and we began to play Holi by rubbing color on each other’s hair and face saying “Happy Holi.”

After about an hour, Brad and I decided to leave the safety of our rooftop and venture out into the neighborhood. It immediately felt like we were in the movie Purge Anarchy. We were constantly looking over our shoulders for people who were throwing water balloons at us and shooting super soakers full of colored water. It got our blood pumping. After only two blocks we already had so much more color on us.

We continued to explore the neighborhood, quickly becoming the target of everyone. It turns out that the locals love to bombard foreigners even more then each other. It is definitely a game for them, but we didn’t mind because it meant more color. At one point one guy basically attached Kevin’s face with green color, turning him into the jolly green giant.

When we got back to the roof, the dyes were still flying and everyone was drinking bhang, an intoxicating drink consumed during Holi. Everyone was in a good mood and it was, full-on, Holi magic.

Our next stop was at our host’s brother’s home. As we arrived, more Holi was played, adding shades of pink to the mix of other color. It was great to have some much-needed snacks and moments of uncontrollable laughter.

Our final stop of the day was to the Holi Moo (formally Holi Cow) festival. The festival is where locals and foreigners alike get together for food, song, dance, and playing Holi. With four music stages, we were would not get bored.

Kevin jumped head first into the crowd of dancers, feeling the music, and had a great time. The energy of the festival was rich and full of life. Everyone got involved and no one was left out. It was awesome to see a man in a wheel chair getting the opportunity to crowd surf!

After a few hours of up-beat, heart-pounding music, we decided to find the stage with the jazz and funk music and chill out. 

As the sun started to go down, we left the festival and headed home for the night. Looking back through our photos, it’s so fun to see how our faces changed throughout the day like the horse of many colors from The Wizard of Oz. 

Getting in touch with Indian culture was fantastic and we will never forget our Holi experience.

We are two en route for a more colorful life.

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Night out on Koh Phi Phi Island

Koh Phi Phi is an island paradise in the south of Thailand. During the day, Phi Phi is an island paradise, but when the sun goes down, the buckets come out and the party begins (we will talk about the buckets in detail later).

Sunset

We started the evening by watching the sunset over Loh Dalum Bay. Pause for a romantic moment…awwwe….now for the party, because, at night, Phi Phi is a no-holds-bard fun fest! Here was how our night played out.

Lights Over the Bay

Now that the sky turned dark, we couldn’t help but notice lights strobing all over the beach and across the bay. This dictated the mood for the night letting us know great music and dancing was a for sure thing happening later in the evening. We hung out a while with a beer and watching the beach come alive.

Fire Throwers

Like a moth to a flame, we were then drawn to the many fire throwers littering the beach. Each beach dance club had their own throwers with various skill levels. After picking our jaws up off the floor gawking at their talent, and 6-packs, we decided it was time to take some pics! Our favorites were the longer exposure ones showing the path of fire cutting through the air.

Buckets

We told you we would be back to talk about these. With our beers gone, time for something stronger, buckets. When we first saw stands all over the island selling “buckets,” our curiosity was peaked. Buckets are exactly that, buckets, much like ones you would see a child making sand castles with at the beach. The special thing about these buckets was they were filled to the brim with whatever mixed cocktail you could ever want; definitely not kid friends. We decided on long islands and headed to the beach clubs.

Jump Roping

We all know liquid courage makes everyone sultry dancers, but did you know it also makes you a champion jump roper? Not only are the beach clubs pawing for your business with great music and fire dancers, they are also offering various activities like beer pong, limbo and even massive illuminated jump ropes (our favorite). Kevin decided since he was the jump rope champion of his first-grade class, it was his time to show those skills again 23 years later!

Dancing

Blood pumping now, we joined in with the crowds of people and danced the night away. We love the fact that Phi Phi is an island full of love and acceptance. It seemed like most of the people here were like-minded, budget travelers with no prejudice towards us for being LGBT. Love is love! We didn’t take any photos of us dancing but here is one of Kevin doing cartwheels on the beach!

Snacking

Getting lost in hours of dancing, fire throwing and good times, it was time to call it a night, which means a much-needed snack before bed. The island is prepared for this most important time of the night with pizzas stalls, ice cream vendors and more serving up sweet and greasy goodness.  

Bed

The night ended a little hectic. Earlier in the day, Kevin had purchased a new pair of swim trunks, which he was still wearing for our night out. It turns out they had a hole in the pocket he had our hotel key in and the key could have fallen anywhere in the sand. Not the most fun end to the night, but fortunately the front desk had a spare. Not letting the little things get us down, we made it upstairs, brushed our teeth and let our heads hit the pillows hard and drifted off into the best sleep ever. 

 Thank you Phi Phi for showing us a good time!

We are two en route for more nights out