Koh Jum is a small island off the coast of Thailand on the Andaman Sea, not the first place someone thinks of when you talk about Thailand. This turned out to be my wife and my zen, our happy place. The place we now think about when we want to find our inner peace or patience. How we found this place is an adventure in itself.

Rewind to December 2015 after going over dozens of places we wanted to travel too we land on Thailand. We begin by booking our flights including in-country to different areas. Booking flights and accommodations this far in advance is extremely cost efficient. The accommodation we book is a wooden bungalow in Koh Jum which my wife finds online after hours of searching of island getaways. The flight that we book from Chiang Mai to Krabi the closest airport is around 25 US dollars for both tickets!

Flash forward to June 2016. We board our 25 dollar flight, which includes a strange tasting sandwich, and before we know it we have landed in Krabi. As we walk off the runway and into the small airport the overwhelming fear of how are we going to get to this remote small island kicks in. This is the uncomfortable part of travel; it forces you to grow. I find a taxi line, and with map in hand explain to a Thai man where we are going. I don’t know what he says, but gestures lead us to loading our bags in his car. We are off, again. Normally in the United States I would not do anything like this, but this is the land of smiles.

Eventually we reached a small fishing village. The taxi driver smiles and tells us we are here in broken english. We walk to the end of the pier, where we are the only two people here. It is 9 in the morning, what are we doing? About 15 minutes later, two fishermen come to the end of the pier and join us. We communicate with them enough to understand a boat will be coming in the next hour. Feeling slightly worried and skeptical we crack open some Thai beer I had in my bag and pass the time watching the fishermen. Eventually a long tail boat appears. The driver goes away on a small 100 cc motorbike with a large basket off of it and drives into town. He returns with produce, eggs, and raw chicken. I help him load the supplies on the long tail boat he arrived on. We then explain the best we can where we want to go. He has a flip phone, calls someone on the Island, talks in Thai for a couple minutes, and says we are good to go. And we are off, again.

Around a hour later after passing through mangroves and small islands we arrive at a pier, we have arrived to the island of Koh Jum. A man smiling is waiting outside an older black pickup truck. We tip the boat driver and throw our bags in the back of the truck. We are off down one of the few paved roads in Koh Jum that quickly turns to dirt. Koh Jum has around 1500 residents in the peak of the high season. However, we are here in the low season, with around 500 residents. About half the island's residents are muslim, and we pass a mosque with women wearing hijabs. We climb in elevation our final stretch is made up of very rocky terrain and overlooking the Andean Sea. We have arrived at our bungalow resort.

As we check in we our overly excited at the paradise we have entered. The view of a small pool overlooks beach with swings on trees. We eat our first meal, of many, since there are close to no restaurants open this time of year on the Island. We enter our room and the teak wood is glistening. There's no air conditioning, but a small fridge full of snacks you can purchase. Electricity is a recent luxury here; the Island just got electricity in 2008. There are no ATMs available so plan in advance. Surprisingly there is wifi available, but not surprisingly, it is spotty. But I don’t care; this place is perfect. It's paradise.

As we walk around the beach and bungalow grounds it is easy to realize there are few guests here. Just a small group of Chinese and German tourists. We might be the only Americans on the Island, or even the only Americans that have been to the Island this month. We jump in the small pool and join a South African couple. They invite us to join them the following day on a boat ride to the nearby Ko Phi Phi Islands to go snorkeling.

The weather is perfect; the boat ride across the sea takes over an hour. We arrive in a bay in between large limestone cliffs. The water is clear and feels like bath water. As soon as we get comfortable many more boats join in the bay. It is a cluttered overpopulated mess. We move to the outside area of the island and feed apples to the fish. We then take a break and move onto a beach. Hundreds of tourists are crowded here; it is culture shock from our small island across the sea. Much of Thailand has been this way, even in low season. I cannot believe how packed with tourists this place is.

We move to a different spot to snorkel some more. My wife and I both spot parrot and clown fish. It is shallow water and I am a terrible swimmer so I look for a spot to land my feet. My wife, a swimmer, goes underwater grabs and pulls me away. As I adjust my goggles and look in the water, I see that I am surround by hundreds of purple sea urchins. Bumping into a sea urchin could quite possibly ruin our trip. As the boat approaches, the sea rocks it towards us. Long tail boats have long exposed propellers. This time it is my turn to save her. I grab and move her out of the way before the blade hits her head. That is enough excitement for the day, as we head back to Koh Jum.

We join the South African couple for dinner at our resort. Conversation turns to politics as they along with many others are in fear Trump is running for president. I was surprised particularly by a taxi driver in Bangkok who was concerned for our safety, living in a country with so many guns. It’s always interesting hearing others perspectives and world views. Our meal arrives. I cannot remember what I had, but all the fish is caught daily and delicious. I look across the table at my wife she has barely touched her plate. We ask her what is wrong she quietly responds with nothing. She then says that her green curry is too spicy. I laugh, having a fairly confident level in my ability in handling spice. After having a red curry earlier in the trip I take a big bite without hesitation. My mouth explodes; this is the hottest shit I have tasted in a long time. Taking a huge drink of Thai beer, I realize a part of the pepper is stuck in my retainer. Our new found friends also try a bite and wine up coughing. We all share a laugh and head in for the evening.

As we put down our bug net around the bed, we go to sleep to the sounds of bugs and animals surrounding our room.

The next morning we walk down to breakfast and fresh fruit as we make plans for our day. A table has just finished and before the staff can clean of their plates a monkey jumps down from a tree and steals there food. I walk over to the railing and looking up in the tree and see over 13 faces looking at me waiting for my breakfast remains.

Following breakfast we pay a resort staff member to drive us down to the main strip of small shacks and buildings near the main pier we arrived on. As we walk around we talk with the local people about life and drink strawberry Fanta, which is quite popular here. We even stop to sit with a welcoming woman and her daughter, after their warm welcome to join them. I check out a small restaurant that had high reviews, but unfortunately, it is closed like many other things for the low season. We grab a few snacks from small convenience stores and head to the beach to walk the coast back to the bungalow. As we approach the beach the sound of monkeys fills the air. As we look up at a coconut tree there are quite a few monkeys looking down dropping coconuts and they don't appear happy. When I was in Costa Rica, in 2015, I had a couple run ins with monkeys in national parks that threw their own feces at me. I knew we needed to move quick. As we found the beach our relief was far from over. What seemed like a nice walk turned into a nightmare as groups of hungry aggressive feral dogs approach us seeing if we had anything. I swore and threw rocks at them to keep them away. Knowing there was likely zero medical facilities for miles, I did not want a dog bite. Finally two hours later we made it back to our bungalow and retired for the rest of the day.

The following day was spent relaxing as we body surfed in the ocean. It was amazing how many new animals I was seeing as I saw a large monitor lizard, about three feet long, run in a group of rocks near the shore. My wife, scolding me for curiosity, screamed as I followed perhaps too closely near its home to get another view. As we returned to our resort I ask the concierge about booking a guide to climb the highest point on the Island Mt. Pu. Yes that really is the name. Mt. Pu is the largest point on Koh Jum at about 1300 feet but the rise in elevation is extreme compared to the rest of the island. Our concierge informs us that he has arranged a local guide for us tomorrow. We go to bed awaiting tomorrow's excitement as my wife screams about the cockroach visitors who have crawled out of our sink in the bungaloo. My wife remembers me going in to get it with an umbrella, coming out unsuccessfully, but placing the umbrella through the door handles so it wouldn't attack. This place is truly wild.

In the off season and non tourist season, Thailand is generally rainy. As we awake we are beyond happy to see bright sun in the sky. A happiness that is short lived as we arrive at the base of the mountain on the bike. Our guide drives a 150cc moped that has been converted with a side basket care to accommodate more people. He is a happy, optimistic man that coaches youth soccer at the local school. As we approach the bottom of the mountain's base we are in for an awakening. There are no trails or foot paths on this mountain. Literally just a path that our guide knows from hiking Mt. Pu in the past. He hands us both a walking stick found on the forest floor and we begin hiking. The downpour is so intense the rain has limited my visibility to just a few feet in front of me. I know my wife is not thrilled, and I promise to make it up to her as she slips in the mud and slides down the hill. After about the tenth fall, her thin elephant pants which are a very popular tourist purchase spilt down the seams. My feet slip and and sink into the mud. This is awful. I reach for a vine to help support my balance, and it pierces and punctures my hand. I curse loudly and take off my shirt and wrap it around my hand to stop the bleeding. As we continue our climb the rain doesn't let up. My wife has fallen over a dozen more times, she would be covered in bruises the next day. It takes us about three hours to reach the top. Our guide is in top spirits and takes a selfie with us. I assumed that this photo was for us, but we never received it. Probably just to show his friends that these Americans paid him money to do this. The view at the top is magnificent you can see tiny islands for miles and miles the rain has cleared briefly. Our guide then boldly proclaims time for the adventure side of the mountain.

At this point, we really did not know what we signed up for. He reaches in the back of his bag and pulls out a thin rope that he ties around our waists. He then climbs down ahead of us and ties them to different points and helps us repel down the rock cliffs. This is probably one of the most unsafe things I have done in my life. My wife's pants are now completely ripped open between the legs and the guide apologizes to me as he supports her muddy butt as she repels down the mountain. We continue downward, stopping only for breaks to catch our breath. At this time I was training for a marathon, and this shit was kicking my ass. Finally we reach the bottom base of the mountain. We clean up our hands with fresh water as our guide prepares to take us back to the bungalow. We head back in the moped with the sidecar addition to a concrete building with three Thai guys who almost appear Rastafarian as they smoke joints. Our guide explains because of the rain we cannot get us up the hill to the bungalow so we have to take turns riding on the back of his friend's moped to get back to our bungalow. We crash for the rest of the afternoon exhausted.

As we have a our last dinner overlooking the sunset, I swear I see a large flying fox a large species of bat flying by. Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I don’t care. I love this place. It is a bittersweet last night as we have arrangements in the morning to head back to Krabi. I hope that Koh Jum never changes to become the full moon party destination, similar to other Islands in Thailand. However, a year and a half later, it might already be too late.

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Tattoo of Mt. Pu I got after returning to the United States.

South African friends!