I will preface this by saying, right off the bat, that I hate airports. I just find the whole ordeal incredibly stressful and exhausting. However, after enduring 17 hours of flying together and experiencing four airports together, I believed Tinder Boy and I were invincible travellers. We were not. After singing our little naïve hearts out to Busted and Vanilla Ice in the car on the way to the airport, we were both blissfully unaware that our journey to Krabi would be anything but simple sailing.
Firstly, there were tears from both of us after Tinder Boy was a careless idiot and lost my stuff. Then, we joyously celebrated recovering it. Then, Thai Lion Air decided to be absolute arseholes that wouldn’t let us on the flight unless we coughed up an extra couple of hundred pounds which, to be honest, was ridiculous when we didn’t even have that much excess luggage. Also, their staff are so catty – don’t fly with them! Their flights may be cheaper, but they will try and charge you the money you save booking with them and not one of their competitors in luggage fees.
Thankfully, Air Asia, who I will later trash in another destination’s blog post because they tried to kill me, did come to our rescue and we basically ran hand-in-hand through the airport to make the new flight. With tear-stained cheeks and clenched jaws from arguing with airline staff, we were finally en route to our relaxing Krabi retreat!
Now, if it wasn’t already obvious by the fact I’d willingly jetted off around the world with a boy I had essentially known for a mere week, I had a lot of faith in my blonde travel companion. From Barcelona to Bangkok, he’d served me well thus far. With it being his overarching decision to swap Bangkok’s hustle and bustle for the idyllic islands, I trusted his judgement and naturally let him choose our Krabi hotel despite the fact the boy had never set foot there before. Oh, what a mistake that was.
Seconds after pulling up to the Krabi Front Bay Resort, we quickly realised that perhaps we should have read the blurb before booking. Tinder Boy somehow managed to place us miles and miles into halal country, booking a hotel in the most Muslim part of the island. Upon hearing that the resort didn’t permit alcohol, the least halal couple in Asia were out of there! After all, we couldn’t possibly go 24 hours without consuming at least one espresso martini – that would just be barbaric!
Finding a hotel within a fifty mile radius that a) wasn’t halal and b) understood what an espresso martini was proved to be an ordeal.
A very long drive later, in which Tinder Boy seranaded me with a glorious rendition of She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5, and your favourite travel aficionados had finally arrived in the far more suitable, far more tourist/alcoholic friendly Ao Nang.
We checked into Aonang Villa Resort which is situated in the heart of all Aonang Beach’s action. The resort is gorgeous, boasting a tropical backdrop of limestone cliffs that you can happily gaze at from the pool while sipping at your strawberry daiquiri.
You’ll quickly find that this is, unfortunately, another one of those posts which is all style and very little substance. You see, Krabi was simply a stop off point in between our different ventures. We flew here as it was easier to get to Phi Phi, a destination Tinder Boy had previously been, and we later returned to Krabi before swanning off to Malaysia.
That’s not to say that Krabi didn’t have anything going for it. The island was vibrant, visually breathtaking and most of our nights there were full of laughter. And while we never had any intruder monkeys in our room, we did spend many a countless evening sitting by the sea listening to some old expat creepily crooning along to love songs about his ‘little girl’. I shudder just thinking about it. Alas, he was not capable of belting out She Will Be Loved on request. 0/5 stars, would not book for my birthday party.
THE VIEW FROM AONANG VILLA‘S LOBBY:
AWARD-WINNING VIDEO CONTENT AKA ALL I HAVE OF ME SOLO IN THE VILLA (PLS IGNORE MY POOR BRUISED LEGS)
Editing this blog post has also been exceptionally infuriating because not only am I really waffling to pad out all the visuals, but it’s perhaps the first time that I’ve realised what little content I actually have of myself in Krabi.
All the photos and videos in this post have largely featured Tinder Boy and, while he’s mostly a good looking dude, I don’t want this to be all about him. Yes, these posts are essentially about recounting the adventures we’d had together on what was possibly the wildest fourth date in Tinder history. However, I feel guilty plastering his face every where and it also makes me feel like I spent all that time being googly-eyed over him and filming as much as I could and it wasn’t returned.
Now, that’s fine, but he did promise me before we fled Britain that he would get me so much good content for the blog. And he has, don’t get me wrong. The ‘Tinder Travels‘ series has really taken off and my stats are popping. But it’s content of his face. And not mine. And you know what, he may have greatly oversold his photography skills because, as you can see from the video above, the boy was no Emztography! Also RIP my new Samsung Galaxy. It’s a little frustrating, but in the words of the Love Islanders, “it is what it is”. I just feel like I have to do a lot of insisting to say that I was there too….because I was! Honestly, I was! Look, that mess in yellow is me!
WAITING ON THAT SUNSET FOR THE GRAM:
A friend recently asked if I was a sadist by doing these blog posts because “surely reliving happy times with someone you really, really liked, but had a bitter end with is a form of self-torture”. I can’t disagree with that as every time I go to start one of these posts I do get overwhelmed by the influx of memories that particular destination brings of me and of him. It doesn’t help that these vignettes that I write about consist of mostly good times where I couldn’t have been more lovestruck if I tried.
When reminiscing, I do get consumed by this odd warm feeling and I’ve refrained from saying and staunchly denied when asked if it was love, but I suppose I did really adore the person and I do miss the dizzying high of being around them. Actually, it sounds like maybe I was suffering from malaria after all…
I think I’ve said countless times before how writing is my go-to form of therapy and it’s been no different in the case of Tinder Boy, this trip and the tragic aftermath. Not only does it give me plenty of blog content during what was essentially a big blogging drought for me, but I also have this burning need to write about it. I feel like I have to write it down, to immortalise every memory in a blog post, in order for it to almost be real. I’m not sure if that makes sense to anyone who doesn’t write to release their emotions, but yeah, while it can be upsetting to have to look back and force yourself to remember all the joyous moments behind those photos and videos, it is cathartic.
By listing down the experiences along with my innermost thoughts and feelings, it almost feels final. Like I can close the door on that memory. The sadness still remains, but I know that I’ve exhausted the worst of it and at least the happy times will live forever in a blog post. It’s exonerating in a way and I find that once I’m done pouring my emotions into a post, I can’t queue it up and wait which is why I’ve been bombarding you with blog posts recently.
Anywho, back to Krabi…
After many days of trying unsuccessfully to catch a Thai sunset and missing it due to being preoccupied with other matters, we were incredibly determined to make it happen on our last night in Krabi. We were also aware that neither of us had got much work done on this trip. I had quite a few blog and work emails building up in my inbox as well as some general admin to do as did he, the then-unemployed businessman that he is.
So, armed with our laptops, we plonked ourselves in some comfortable seats by the sea and vowed to get some work done while we waited on the sun to set. As you can see, our first priority was to get strawberry daiquiris. What? It’s important to stay well hydrated when you’re working hard.
The sunset was pretty damn spectacular and while we didn’t stay there, I definitely recommend Phra Nang Inn. They were our resident espresso martini makers for both our Krabi visits and certainly did not disappoint. Specifically Toon. If Toon is reading this, no English espresso martini has hit me in quite the same way as the ones you made for us in Krabi. Still regretting not sneaking you in mine or Tinder Boy’s suitcase. Much love! ❤️
TIMELAPSE OF THE SUNSET:
I’ve also neglected to mention that we were in Thailand for Songkran, Thai New Year’s national holiday that falls on 13th April every year, but was extended to a five day holiday by the Thai cabinet so celebrations occur from 12th until 16th April.
Songkran is infamous for its water festival. This year alone saw 348 dead, 3,176 injured and 3,068 traffic accidents as a result of the tradition in which celebrants, young and old, splash water on each other. Major streets are closed to traffic, transformed into arenas for water fights.
Now, I am deathly afraid of water. Something that did not go down well with Tinder Boy. Perhaps, it was that moment, that I fully realised that we were probably two distinctly different people with varying ideas of fun. Thankfully, Krabi only dedicates one day to commemorating Songkran as opposed to the usual five day holiday and we managed to escape the worst of it by sheltering in a mini bus on our way to the pier to catch our ferry to Phi Phi. Thank God, because I didn’t fancy being one of those statistics.
SONGKRAN FESTIVITIES AT AONANG VILLA:
“I DON’T DANCE NOW, I MAKE MONEY MOVES”
While both our times in Krabi were quite brief and the limited content I do have from our visit doesn’t do the lively island justice, it was a reliable pit-stop between our travels to Phi Phi and Malaysia. Plus, I’ll always remember those espresso martinis – pure magic!
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