Day 132! Today is day 3 of being a volunteer at Taco Shack on Koh Tao. And I gotta say, I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I also got switched to a bottom bunk bed which will be way nicer to stay in long term! Also it’s much darker in it too, so hopefully that means I can sleep in a bit more.

Gooooood morninggggg Koh Tao!

I don’t think waking up on this beautiful island will ever get old. This morning was a bit cloudy, but the sea air and the vibes were all still there.

I walked over to the hostel around 9:30am and sat down to enjoy another muesli bowl for breakfast. The combination of fresh Thai fruit, yogurt, and granola is a great way to start the day!

As my daily morning duties go, I need to be around the hostel from 11am to around 1 or 2pm. So instead of leaving and coming back, I stayed around to chit chat with old and new friends. There were also a lot of people arriving on the earlier side from a ferry, so I made sure to get to know them as well.

I even made a new furry friend. Everyone say hello to the hostel dog, Taco!

The first two days, Taco was a bit nervous around me. But today, he showed his full energy and wanted love and to play. It could have been the food on the table… but I’m going to think he was warming up to me.

While I was sitting in the hostel lobby, I could feel the humidity rising and the clouds getting darker.

The wind started to pick up too as a giant rain storm was building. I guess the south gets rainy season first. Which is why I wasn’t expecting it so soon.

As the storm kept building, I dove into a number of pool games with my British friend Jack.

I think after a month of staying at this hostel, my pool game skills will drastically increase.

And then finally, after an hour of buildup, the sky opened up and it started to downpour. So much so that the power went off in the hostel and across a lot of the island.

The majority of the hostel was hanging out in the lobby at this point and it was kind of a mad house. It was super packed and I hadn’t seen so many people in the lobby since I had arrived!

I stayed in the lobby for another couple of hours, mingling with everyone there. Even with the lobby being a little claustrophobic, I had a blast meeting all the new arrivals and people I hadn’t seen over the past two days.

I also had a chicken pad gra pow at the hostel… but I was so intent on eating it that I forgot to take a picture.

Eventually I had been there long enough and I was craving a nap. So I said see you later to my friends and went to sleep for a 27 minute Power Nap (for those of you who wonder why I take the short power naps, if you Google “NASA Power Nap” you’ll understand).

After waking up feeling rested and ready to take on the rest of the day, I got dressed for the gym!

It’s been a little under a month since my last visit to the gym… and a couple months since I “consistently” gone. But now that I’m plopped down in one spot for a while, I decided to get a gym membership for the month.

Conveniently, there’s one just down the road from the hostel. A lot of the other long term travelers go here too, so eventually we’ll go together!

The gym was a bit crowded but the equipment was exactly what I needed. I had a really solid workout and it felt very nice being back in the gym. I look forward to having this as part of my routine for the next few weeks!

The walk back to the hostel is a gorgeous one… it’s hard to believe I’m living on an island.

When I got back to the hostel, I met up with my friends who were playing some cards. I hopped in for a couple hands and then they wanted to go get food. So I tagged along even though I was planning to eat at the hostel later.

The restaurant we went to also had a friend from the ferry to a Koh Tao in it. They recognized me first as I was walking in and it was nice to see them again.

My friends all enjoyed some noodle soup and wantons. I will definitely be trying this place in the future, it looked very good! I then went back and showered before heading back over to the hostel to eat and then start my evening shift.

I played a bit more pool against Mew, one of the hostel employees, while I waited for my food.

Somehow they forgot it so it took a while. But when I did, I got a ginormous burrito for only 80 Baht! I can get used to this 50% off food deal as a volunteer (some do free food, but I can’t complain with the price they’re giving me).

The hours ticked on as I mingled with everyone in the lobby. Tonight we had our quiz night and I was hosting it all by myself. So I was going around and seeing if people would be playing or not.

We ended up having 9 teams of various sizes and around 35 people playing!

I had a blast hosting and I received positive feedback from the travelers and the hostel staff. I even was told by a guy that works in radio, that I have a great radio voice!

The quiz had 4 rounds: Thailand, general knowledge, pictures (making celebrities), and a music round. It was a fun and goofy time and I got to improvise a lot when bantering with players or riffing on the question. I really feel in my element in this role!

In the end one of the teams got 30 of the 40 questions right, which won them the trivia night. It was a very successful night and boosted me up after an unsuccessful beer pong tournament.

To be honest though, I didn’t take the beer pong tournament falling apart to heart. If people don’t want to play, I don’t think they should have to (some hostels like to force people to do things… I’ve experienced it and it doesn’t make for the most fun environment).

After the quiz was over, I played some Shithead with my friends. We then fell into a couple rounds of competitive smash ball (the pool table game) before calling it a night!

Tomorrow night is another karaoke night! So I’m excited to bust out the singing chops again and have a blast dancing and singing the night away.

I’m curious to see when I start fully losing my voice form all this talking… it’s already slowly begun, but only time will fully tell!

– Elie