Job 2 Do Island Tour

Trip Start Feb 23, 2006

160

Trip End Jun 24, 2009

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Where I stayed

Smile Hut

Flag of Thailand Sister Island, Thailand
Saturday, January 19, 2008

With the exception of the 2 parties I mentioned, Koh Z was pretty quiet. Days were filled with long strolls to the bakery for brownies, focaccia bread and real coffee, marathon hammock sitting, horizon gazing, reading and my own island soundtrack playing from my balcony. After a month of peace and quiet on Koh Z though, it was time to try and break orbit once again. I had tried to leave the island a few times before, but the island's gravity was just too strong. Just when I thought I out, they pull me back in. This time though I ran completely out of money and a good Thai Reggae band from Bangkok, Job 2 Do, was playing on an island just next door. I was talking to everyone about the concert and convinced the people from my guest house to just close down for the day and go to the concert with me. I didn't think that they'd actually do it, but everyone showed up that night including the guests and the owners. In fact, there were 3 full boats of people from my island that came over just for the concert, but they had to go back around 2am

Dusk Sky on Fire

. The concert was great! The band started around 9pm and played until after 3am. They had this Rasta Man from Okinawa there with the band that was hilarious. During a set break, he sang a really funny version of Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World. I sat around and shared a peace pipe with the Japanese Dread after the show. If you thought I was chilled out, this dude was Ice Cold.

It was pretty crazy going from the ultra mellow island to this party island where there were no fewer than 6 bars on the main beach. I'm not really sure exactly what is different about this island that attracts such a different crowd, but it is definitely different and definitely a crowd. Their beach isn't as long, but it has bigger waves that weren't big enough to surf, but you can certainly boogie board or body surf them. The biggest detractor from this island is that there are motorbikes all over the place and not a minute goes by that you don't see one driving down the sand running dangerously close to the tourists baking themselves in the sun. The best part of this island though is that they have some of the best random beach volleyball that I've ever seen. The volleyball crew included a volleyball coach, a tournament player and a few other people that could hit, dig and set including myself. The best part was that even if new players didn't know how to play they were willing to learn with the help of the other players

Sunset Surf

. Compared to the "volleyball" on the other island, I was in heaven. To give you an idea, we used to play with a giant tennis ball until one of the dogs got a hold of it. Although jungle ball can be entertaining and make you get off your hammock before sunset, there just isn't anything like good competitive volleyball. The other great thing about good volleyball is that it creates a good community and is a great way to meet people. Although I do knock islands with a lot of people, I have a good time on them when I get there. I guess without them I wouldn't fully appreciate the real gems when I find them. I met some pretty kewl people here. Some I'll probably see again very soon. I really didn't think that I was gonna go back to Koh Z, but on our way out of town, I saw the owner of the dive shop and he mentioned to me that they only had 5 people signed up for the next liveaboard and he gave me an offer that I couldn't refuse. Billa wanted to go on the previous trip, but I think she was having too much fun on the island to go all by herself. So this was perfect we could go together and I'd get another chance to see a whale shark. The boat didn't leave for 2 days so in the mean time, I took her back to see my island and chill out for another couple days.

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