Krabi, Thailand
After rushing from Myanmar to the only country that remained open in Asia, we landed in Bangkok without any real issues and made our way onto Krabi. We spent two weeks in Krabi, making friends, exercising on the beach, playing frisbee, swimming, seeing temples, kayaking and exploring some of the area. This is also where we also met Anna, a girl from Czech who ended up becoming one of our closest friends during our time in Thailand. The three of us did try and paddle a three person kayak across to an island off the coast. We got a long way out but less than halfway before the kayak decided it would rather sink than float. A very stressful half an hour saw us turn back towards land and battle a half submerged kayak towards land before it decided to become a submarine.
The Krabi area was quite touristy and we didn’t find the food all that amazing in terms of what we knew Thai food could be so we started considering options of where else in Thailand to wait out what could potentially be a long lockdown. Thailand was closing borders between provinces so when Anna said Koh Phangan was the place to be and we had an opening to cross the country and get there, we packed up and crossed the country to end up on the eastern coast at KP.
Koh Phangan turned out to be the best decision we could have made. The island is big enough to always have plenty to do and explore and has a large enough community to always be meeting new people. The island is mostly known for its infamous full moon parties at Haad Rin beach but given that we ended up being there for 7 months, we found that this island had so much more to offer than just the party side. Once you move away from the southern tip of the island, you quickly find a thriving conscious community of various spiritual practices including yoga, tantra, plant medicine, ecstatic dance, nonviolent communication, radical honesty, and many other rituals and ceremonies. Jay and I partook in various workshops and courses during our time on the island, learning a lot and creating unforgettable memories.
Some of the other highlights included discovering tokay geckos (geckos that grow to 30cm long), swimming in bioluminescent plankton, collecting and cracking coconuts and pretending to be on castaway, making friends with our favourite local iced coffee lady, eating absolutely everything in the local markets, incredible sunsets and sunrises, diving in the local marine park, evening card games, hiking through the rainforest to secluded beaches, fresh tropical fruits, getting mega sweaty in Muay Thai classes, lessons on frisbee technique from “master”, birthday parties and homemade cocktails, pools with a view, mushroom and brownie adventures, Jays first tattoo, lots of new friends including Mayke, Gii, Greg, Nick, Monika and Domi. Overall, this has to be one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had and Jay and I had an unforgettable 7 month adventure together.
So after around 7 months in Thailand and 2 months before that in Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, I felt like it was time to finally head back to London. I packed up my belongings and said goodbye to Jay and everyone else who was left and took the train to Bangkok. I spent a few days in Bangkok eating as many dumplings as possible and exploring the city before flying back to London.
