Day 146! Sorry for another late post, but today was another great day! It starts off very wholesome with a FaceTime in on my cousins wedding. And finishes off with another amazing party! Enjoy!!

This morning started off with a major high note, my cousin was getting married! Even though I couldn’t be there in person, I was still able to attend from halfway across the world.

My mother FaceTimed me in and it was just like I was sitting there with my family. But… it was 6am here and 6pm the day before there.

The ceremony was absolutely amazing. I was smiling and crying while sitting by myself in the Taco Shack lobby. I’m so happy I was able to “attend” this special day!

I took a brief nap before waking up an hour later to FaceTime my family again and say hello to my extended family who were all at the wedding reception.

It was a great way to start my day but I fell right back to sleep for a couple more hours before fully starting my day.

I woke back up and made my way back to the Taco Shack lobby. This time there were plenty of people out and about. New arrivals, people waiting to scuba dive, and the hostel staff.

I devoured another great muesli bowl and then made my rounds chatting with new people and of course, playing some pool!

I played against my friend Albert (very poorly) but beat him a couple times… one of which led me to playing the owner of the hostel, Kai.

I’ve heard stories about Kai’s pool playing abilities, and they were all true. It was a fun game and a nice way to bond a little bit with the owner, but he did destroy me in the end.

But on a more positive note, a familiar face popped by to surprise me! My friend Immy from England, who I met in Hoi An, Vietnam a few months ago!

It was only a brief stop by to say hello, but it was so amazing to see her! Pretty crazy that she’s back in Thailand and she’ll also be here for a couple months volunteering at another hostel! So we’ll have plenty of time to hang and catch up.

I then sat down to enjoy some of Taco Shacks amazing quesadillas. While eating, a girl and her friends rolled up to the hostel on a motorbike. We looked at each other and were like, “have we met before?” Turns out we met in Vang Vieng at the Lagoon 3! We were sitting on a raft in the middle of the lagoon and actually exchanged numbers since we knew we’d both be on Koh Tao at the same time… Wild! Her name is Summer and she’s from England.

My morning shift ended, which meant it was time to go to the beach!

My friends and I decided to go to Aow Leuk again. We’ve gone a lot but it’s easily our favorite spot and we can’t really get bored of it.

The beach was just stunning as always. At first I just swam around in the water enjoying time with my friends and some time floating around by myself. I then went looking for my friends Maud and Emma who were snorkeling… but I couldn’t find them so I went out of the water and listened to music with my friends in the sand.

Maud finally came back and I ended up borrowing her snorkel and mask. I swam around by myself for a while bobbing and weaving through some vibrant colored coral. I also swam with baby sharks, massive schools of fish, and huge parrot fish (and fish I have no clue what they were).

I was snorkeling on the same side as last time, so I decided to check out the other. This is when my friend Emma snuck up on me and scared the crap out of me since I was so focused on the beautiful surroundings. We then snorkeled for around the next hour and I was super exhausted after that.

BUT… it’s gotten me absolutely game to do scuba diving soon. There’s a whole other world to explore in the ocean and I’m very excited to take a dip into this extreme activity!

I then drove back to the hostel and quickly showered and got ready for the night!

I started the evening with a fried vegetables with chicken from the hostel! This is still easily my favorite Thai food the hostel has to offer.

Tonight was another jungle party and also some of my friends last night in Koh Tao, so it was time to celebrate!

It was a super busy night in the lobby and I was bouncing around chatting with all the different groups. Even a guy who was here last week in my room, Kip from England, came back to the island and was hanging out with us again!

My friend Immy also came by and I surprised her Irish friends with her. They are the ones that recognized me because Immy told them about me on the ferry! They are the loveliest group of travelers I’ve met at the hostel and they gave a huge welcome to Immy when she showed up.

The rest of the night was great as well. I got to have one final hurrah with a lot of the Taco Shack travelers that have been here long term. It’s been amazing having them as a solid friend group, but I’m excited to see what new long term travelers come and the new people I’ll get to spend time with!

I ended up staying out and about till the sun rose. It was exhausting… but an absolutely incredible day all around.

Tomorrow night I’ll be heading on my first ever border run to Myanmar. Hopefully it will all go smoothly, but first I’ll need to brave a morning of tiredness as I still have to work the morning shift at 11am!

– Elie