Krabi

After my amazing week on Koh Tao, three of my dive group members and myself headed to Krabi on the west coast of Thailand. The move from Koh Tao to Krabi involved a sketchy night boat and a bus driver who almost kicked myself and another passenger out of the van for false crimes. Yay for Southeast Asia travel! In Krabi we got incredibly lucky because even though both the guesthouse and hostel we wanted were booked we got an amazing room, right next to the beach for a very good price because it was “unfinished”.
While on Krabi I received some bad news about a friend I had met a couple of weeks ago on Koh Rong. I spent a majority of my time with him and another girl while on Koh Rong and we really bonded, always joking that we were a travel family.
I learned my friend had missed his flight home and was missing. We did some work to try and track his movements and the more we learned the more worried I became. Two days later we learned he had passed away. How are you supposed to act when a friend passes? I can’t seem to stop thinking about all the plans we made and all the goals he talked about. One of the most frustrating aspects of the whole situation is the general feeling of prevention. “This could have all be prevented”, is the mantra that keeps running through my head; combined with the worry and sadness I feel for him and his mom.
The same day we started looking for him I also learned a close family friend had relapsed in his brain cancer. Processing all this all while visiting picture- perfect island straight out of a dream was all a bit confusing. One minute I would forget it all and enjoy life in the moment, and the next I was brought back down to worry and sadness. I am very lucky I was traveling with good friends who loved and supported me even when it was a challenge.
While in Krabi a group of us went on an island tour that was pretty good. Some parts were very touristy but I got to try deep water soloing. This involves jumping out of a boat, swimming over to a ladder, climbing said ladder, and then free climbing as high as you can up a rock face. Props to the dad for making me go climbing all those years ago. We also got to visit a stunning island called Tub island where I could have stayed all day.