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We slept in and got our things packed and ready for our flights. We had some time to spend in the city before needing to get to the airport, so leisurely enjoyed our day walking around and eating food from the street stalls. We had a couple amazing Thai pancakes which are different from American pancakes. These are small bite-sized…thin crepe-like and filled with fresh coconut cream and chewy pieces of young coconut…oh so good, I would love the recipe. We also stopped at a small Muslim stand which were making little falafel balls served in cone like paper and smothered in a sweet and spicy sauce. Right across from that stand was a fruit smoothie place so we ordered a berry smoothie to wash everything down. Oh and we also saw a small bakery with a line of people ordering cookies…why should they have cookies and we don’t? We stood in line too and bought a whole box of them.
After tasting our way through the streets, we went back to the busy street near our place and resisted the temptation to order our freshly grilled fish. This time we chose a different vendor and ordered a few Thai dishes to snack on before getting to the airport. It was good but not as good as that fish!!
With our full bellies, we grabbed our luggage at the hotel and took a taxi first to the post-office. We needed to ship another box home…the post office was surprisingly modern and organized which made it nice and simple. The taxi then took us to the airport where we checked in and then boarded our 1 hour flight down south to Krabi.
The flight was nice and short and once we landed, we took another taxi to a nearby hotel on the water. There is only one set time to arrive on the island where our resort is and we missed the boat for the day so will stay in Krabi for one night. As the taxi drove down the street, he pointed out the festival currently going on due to the New Year’s celebration. There were various vendors with goods and food lined up on the street and many people walking around outside, eating at restaurants and listening to the live music they had playing over the amplifier. We checked into the hotel and after seeing our room…realized this place was at best a 2 star. But it is only for one night and we will be leaving right after breakfast in the morning to go to our resort.
We strolled around outside looking at the vendors but not really buying much besides more mangosteen. We did see one stall who had all kinds of bugs to eat…we opted to skip that cuisine. The area was very touristy and the restaurants were pretty bad…both from a food and service standpoint. After sitting at one place and waiting for over 20 minutes, we walked out and sat at a family owned Italian place. We ordered a pizza and pasta as well as the last tiramisu.
After dinner we walked back to our hotel and got to bed at a decent time since we need to be up early in order to catch the boat to our island in the morning!
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Published by Giff Kabat
I grew up in Ohio as a kid, so of course I went to college at “THE” Ohio State University. I graduated in 2001 with a major in business finance. A month after graduation, I moved out to California with my college girlfriend (whom I married in 2005)…and started my career in sales (industrial sales for 5 years…then moved into medical laser sales for 4 years).
In 2009 I was 31 years old. I had a great job, a new house, and a beautiful wife. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better…my wife and I found out we were going to have a baby. Everything was going according to plan…and I couldn’t have scripted a better life for myself.
Then in the same year…everything changed. My wife, Brandey, called me when I was on my way to work and told me over the phone, something I never thought could be possible in a million years. My beautiful 30-year old pregnant wife was just told that she had breast cancer. At that moment, everything stopped all at once. I immediately went to her…and learned of our new plan…which began with her needing surgery immediately…and the rest we would find out later.
The day we returned from the hospital after Brandey’s surgery…my father died. He had been battling an aggressive cancer of his own…and although he was the one person I wanted to speak with about Brandey having cancer…I never told him. My sister, Brooke, had just gotten married a few months ago, and although he was weak, he was able to walk his little girl down the aisle of her wedding. On the night before my sister’s wedding, Brandey and I told him that we were pregnant and about to make him a grandfather. It made no sense to tell him that everything had changed for us…so he died in peace knowing everything was “the way it should be” for his only 2 children.
2010 was the worst year of my life. We had lost our baby…and for 12 months I watched my wife fight cancer with multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and drug therapy. It was a difficult year for us…but we made it. When you go through something like this in life, you learn a lot about yourself and the people around you. I was amazed at the strength and courage of my wife…and how many good people there are in this world. I will be forever grateful for the ones who never ceased to amaze me with their kindness during this hard time. Family, friends, and sometimes complete strangers…helped us make it through this. I am, and will always be especially grateful to my mother, who was with my dad at the very end, when I couldn’t be there, and when things were at their worst. She has been so supportive throughout all of this, and without her everything would have been so much harder for me.
It’s 2011 now…and the plan we have for our life this year…is to make it the best year of our lives. Brandey is officially in remission from breast cancer and she has a 95% chance the cancer will never come back. Besides the love that I have for my wife and family, the loves of my life are food, wine, and adventure travel. My wife and I love traveling to new places, seeing natural wonders, and meeting new people from different parts of the world. So for the next 400 days…we’ve decided to travel the world…and celebrate our lives. There are so many things I took for granted in life that I will never take for granted again. My father worked for over 30 years at the same job with the same company…rarely took time off…and died at 64 years old right after his retirement. For me, this trip is a combination of a tribute to him, along with wanting to spend the time of my life with the “love of my life.”
* The only thing I will miss while we are gone is our family and friends (who we hope will meet us somewhere throughout our trip) and especially our 3 little kitties we left with my mom in Ohio to catsit for the next 400 days. I will also miss watching “American Football” over the weekend…but I’ll do my best to check the scores in the middle of the night.
GIFF
View all posts by Giff Kabat
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