Oh boy, where to begin.

I remember when I was a kid, maybe around 8ish years old, my great grandmother died. And that was pretty much my only experience with death. There had been people that I had met, here and there, but that was the only one that really impacted me. But recently I've had to get especially used to it - from grandparents, acquaintances, and friends. But I don't need to harp on about that again. We unfortunately are adding another, King Rama IX.

I don't mean to compare one to the other. They are all impactful in their own way. And I know that by itself may sound odd to people back home, as I am of course a foreigner. But it's a really sad situation over here. Thailand really, really loves their king, and for good reason. He was a great leader, who even I in my short time here will miss. I have seen people compare the love Thais have for King Rama IX to how North Koreans feel about Kim Il Sung, which I think is very incorrect. Perhaps on the outside, that's how people appear. But the feelings Thais have are legitimate, and the people here have been dealt a great blow. It reminds me of how everyone felt following September 11th. Everyone looked gutted, and maybe even felt a little guilty if something made them laugh. Thailand is going through that right now, and I really feel for them. The government has declared a one year mourning period, and all the videos I see online of people gathering en masse to sing the royal anthem are really touching. And where does Thailand go from here? Nobody has any idea. King Rama IX has been the monarch since the 1940s, only but the very elderly even remember another king. Plus with the military rule right now, everyone is kind of holding their breath.

So, let's try to move on to more happy things. This is a travel/personal blog, after all. So let's talk about Koh Samet.

Koh Samet is an island towards the east of Thailand, about halfway towards Cambodia. I had been there once before, with Ella and four other friends. It's a beautiful place, with white sandy beaches, clear blue-green water, nightly fire shows, and amazing food. It's the sort of place when you imagine yourself giving up on your job, and moving away to live on some tropical island - Koh Samet is that island. It's not really overrun with tourists, it's easy to get around, and feels like it has everything you need.

Last time, I feel we didn't have much time and we just sort of squandered it by sitting on the beach outside our hotel. I was eager to find out what was on the island, and if there was some big temple at the top of some mountain I could climb. Well, Ella and I went back for 4 days to see what we could find. Welllllll, not so much. Koh Samet is not a place you go to do things, it's a place you go to not do things. It also rained for 2 of those days, so we spent a lot of time sitting on the beach, eating, and drinking. Not that there's anything wrong with that. After how much work I've been subject to recently, it was a very welcome change. But I think if I had to do it for a few more days, I would've gone crazy. Sorry, beach. You're really nice. But I need to live around skyscrapers, trains, and reliable internet. Beautiful nonetheless, here's some stuff to look at:

In other followup, we've made some new friends. Elana, Seya, Art, and Aeh are sort of becoming one of the regular group you can always count on being available on Saturday nights to get into trouble with. That trouble involved going to the train night market, which is fast becoming my favorite place to party. It's cheap, has tons of food, bars, and is right on the metro. Aaaaand, this time I found a soju bar. A bar entirely devoted to soju, that magical Korean liquor that I have yet to get a hangover from, no matter how much I drink. It was amazing, and looking at my camera roll, I do not remember taking any of these photos. So, that's a good sign.