On the morning of Wednesday, November 18, 2015, I checked out of Grandmom’s Place in Krabi Town, took my pre-arranged pickup truck to the main pier, and boarded the ferry to Ko Lanta. But I would get off the ferry at the halfway point, at an “open-sea stop.”  A long-tail boat would pull up beside us and I would hop onto that boat, which would take me to shore.  It sounded like something out of a James Bond movie.

Sure enough, that’s about how it went down, but in slow motion, and minus a tuxedo, a British accent, a beautiful woman, and bad guys chasing us.

After I boarded the long-tail boat, we untied the line, and the ferry continued on.  We made a sharp turn to port and headed to shore.  I hopped out, into the breaking waves, with my backpack snug on my back and my flip flops in my hand.  I turned and waved to my smiling captain and crew.  “Thank you!”

I walked about 200 meters up the beach and there it was:  Uza Beach Residence, with its bungalows, hilltop villa, bright orange restaurant, and westward-facing beach with umbrellas, chairs, hammocks, and kayaks.  

This was going to be my home for the next several weeks.

Ben, the property manager, promptly came out to greet me.  He was a young German man who has only been managing the place for a few months, but has been living on Ko Jum for a few years.  He is quickly trying to make renovations and improvements before the high tourism season in December-March. 

And I’m here to help!

Stay tuned to hear about my projects and experiences as we turn this fixer-upper into the resort it was born to be.