i pour one out...

...for the memory of cocobar. we arrived in railey yesturday and were suprised again with how much things have changed in the last year and a half. it is getting a lot more resorts and stuff built so some places are definitely unfamiliar. the sadest part is that where my beloved cocobar once was there is now another resort being built (along with where a bunch of little bars were). with some searching though we found what we beloved was the cocobar hut thingy down the beach a little ways but it is now called jungle bar or something. and with some asking we found one of my friends who used to work at the cocobar so that lifted my spirits a bunch. then today to make thing even better we went with him (his name is kree) and another friend to his home in krabi, which was awsome. we were a little unsure about what all was going to happen when he asked us to go last night but we said we'd meet him for 10 the next morning and head out. of course since this is thailand we met at 10 and then he had to do a little bit of jobs (cleaning stuff up) and didnt' leave until 11:30 but it was still good. still unsure of what and where and all that me and clem left with them on the longtail boat. when we got to the port him and his friend jumped on a scooter and said they would be back, and 5 minutes later they returned with another scooter...so jon took a little crash course in scootering and away we were off (with clem on the back of mine). i was a little shakey (and a little worried if im honest) but i was happy to go on the adventure. after driving for about 25 minutes (which included driving on all sort of terrain including through a market type area where there were a bunch of thai people the just looked at us and smiled) we pulled up to a little house (among many) kinda in the country type area. i got to meet a bunch of his family (that i later learned was actually the woman he was going to marry next month's family) and me and his new to be brother in laws went out to some seafood restaurant way out in the middle of nowhere (but it was a nice looking restaurant so i dont' know what it was doing out there). then we drove to the pier that was nearby and there were some thai men fishing off the pier with rods and nets. all this was just a real cultural experience that im really glad i got to enjoy. riding through all the places i got to see how beautiful thailand really is...if only i brought my camera (i know, once again i really need to work on that), luckily clem brought his and we managed to take a couple photos at teh pier before his camera's batteries died. now we are back in railey (clem and his friend stayed there) and should be here for the next few days (which means this is where i spend christmas). im not sure what all the next few days with withhold...probably a little rock climbing and a bunch of beach sitting. well dinner is calling, until next time...