A lonely death, a haunted hotel and the charm of the morbid

Life on such an open-ended journey certainly has many parallels with life at home. There are sometimes any kind of problems everywhere, even if they are not as significant under the tropical sun and the light-heartedness of the local people as, for example, on a gloomy November day in our home region.

It is easier to ignore or overlook problems. 

However, one thing is unavoidable even in the most beautiful place in the world...and that is death! However, the thought of the inevitable end only ever occurs when it has happened to someone in your acquaintance or circle of friends. 

You take note of the whole thing, drink to your health in the evening in company and remember shared experiences. The end. The person himself remains as a memory. 

Thomas was a Swedish single-handed sailor. Alone and without crew and money, he somehow managed to make it around the world more or less. We met him on his small yacht in 2020 during the pandemic on Palawan. 

We kept crossing paths... until a few weeks ago we received news that Thomas had been found dead by a sailing friend in the cockpit of his yacht at anchor in Labuan. 

He actually wanted to return to Sweden as his health was very poor. At under 50 years old he was already a bit of a wreck, but the fact that he died so suddenly and alone on his boat was a shock for everyone who knew him. 

We have just arrived on the Isalnd of Labuan from Brunei and right next to Odin is Thomas's somewhat run-down yacht, still decorated with crime scene tape of the Malaysian police.

It's a strange feeling as if someone from the afterlife wanted to remind us of themselves. No idea what is going to happen to the ship now or what exactly happened to Thomas. As always, inquiries with the local authorities yielded no results as the officials here in the whole of SE Asia are quite..."knowledge-neutral". We clear in with the authorities, stock up on provisions and have a last drink to our sailing friend in the evening.

 Labuan is a duty-free island and this is our third visit here. You get the feeling that this island is somehow rotting away despite the hustle and bustle of the numerous oil rigs. The marina has been dying a miserable death for years, everything is run down, nothing is being repaired, and in the nearby Billionairs Resort, rats and frogs have taken over the once great 5-star hotel. 

We certainly won't be staying here for long.