Day 136! I’ve officially been on Koh Tao for a week! I’m starting to really feel my stride with working at Taco Shack. Also I feel super comfortable with the staff as well. I’m thoroughly enjoying my time on Koh Tao and I’m looking forward to more days like today.

I woke up this morning around 8:30am after sleeping like a rock! I think working out and then playing volleyball last night has been really helping me sleep.

But since I had some time in the morning before I needed to be at the hostel, I watched some TV in bed. This has been a great addition to the daily morning routine, I’ve missed watching a show.

10:30am rolled around and I wandered to the hostel lobby. I enjoyed another wonderful muesli bowl before starting my regular morning duties!

It was another morning with a lot of new arrivals, also some travelers heading out. It’s always an interesting feeling seeing someone leave after getting to know them… but they’re always replaced with new people.

I played some pool, chatted with a number of different solo travelers and groups, one of them was even a juggler and had her juggling rings strapped to her bag.

A couple hours later, lunch time rolled around and I got myself a spicy chicken burrito.

While I ate, I chatted with two travelers who had just started their journey the day before. I really enjoy sharing my suggestions on things to do in places I’ve been and also share some of my crazy travel stories. Later in the day I even had someone tell me that they had done two of my suggestions on the island (the John Suwan viewpoint and a sunset bar) and loved them!

A crack came out of the sky and then another heavy rainfall came. This dampened most of people’s day plans, so there were a lot of people hanging out in the lobby this morning.

After I finished eating, I joined some of my friends in a card game. The game we played is a mix of old maid and BS. Where you have to pass around cards till someone has 4 of a kind… while also avoiding the joker. It’s a fun mix of lying, piecing together a puzzle, and also navigating what cards are where.

After two games, I was ready for a nap. So I went back to my dorm and had a very good power nap.

I woke up 27 minutes later feeling refreshed, but a bit anti-social. So I laid in bed and watched more of my TV show in peace…

Until my friend Nicole came barging into the room and started chatting with me.

It was an incredibly nice conversation ranging from books to life, but I was looking forward to my alone time.

I then decided it was time to get out of bed and go to the gym.

I had a great workout at the gym down the road. I ran into two travelers who had moved out of Taco Shack while working out as well. It’s a nice feeling going places and constantly running into people you know. Kind of feels like I’m back in Kansas City.

On my walk home, I realized I hadn’t taken many pictures of me the past couple days… so here’s me walking back to the hostel.

I went back to my room and showered, before heading back to the hostel lobby to eat and start the night shift.

I got the chicken with chili and rice, and it was exceptionally delicious this time around.

Over the next hour I hung out with a lot of travelers who had been at the hostel for a bit. I also made my rounds to most tables to chat with new travelers as well. Tonight was one of the more packed nights at the hostel. I’m not sure why, but it was nice.

My friend Jaz also came by! It’s too bad the hostel she works at isn’t as social. But it’s nice that I can hang out with a friend not at the hostel even when I’m working.

Tonight’s hostel activity was a smashball tournament. I believe I explained this game the other day… but it’s a game where you try to smash the white ball into the eight ball to get the eight ball into a pocket. There’s lives involved and some other rules, but it’s a lot of fun and gets everyone excited.

I had no plans on going out tonight, so when 11pm rolled around I made sure everyone had plans and were going out to have some fun. I on the other hand wandered down the street with my friends Jaz and Albert to enjoy some street food.

I devoured this messy chicken sandwich and then called it a night.

Today was a pretty laid back day working at Taco Shack. This was something I was looking forward to by coming to volunteer at Koh Tao. I’ve been go go go on my traveling so far, so it’s nice to be able to sit in one spot for longer and for cheap!

Tomorrow night is another karaoke night. So I’m excited to host that again and get more people on the microphone.

– Elie