Well well well. We’re back in our favourite country, and currently favourite island. Although, nothing stays the same and things have shifted with Relax House. Our oasis on Koh Kood since 2016, and home base for our last 6 vacations. We saw it coming, although we wanted to deny the inevitable. It’s closed, for good. We’ll get to that story shortly. For now, we’re posted up at Neverland, still our favourite beach, sub accommodation & typical rock hard beds – but that comes with the territory – plus we booked late, so options were limited. The bungalow is spacious, blasting near constant ac, nice hot shower with good pressure in the big airy outdoor bathroom, steps to the beach and $50ish bucks a night. But, like I said, very hard bed, so I must admit I am *kind of* glad we’re only staying 3 nights. We’re here with sister & her lovely boyfriend, which is a first for them/a first for SE Asia, and they’re on a limited time frame so we’re trying to cover most of the Thai bases. Bangkok night markets, best beaches & a bit of wildlife. We’ll be here a couple more nights, back to Bangkok then up to Khao Yai to hopefully see some elephants and stay in a posh resort to unwind a bit. Then they’re headed home and Thor & I are going AWOL for almost 3 weeks. No plan man! Might go south, might go Koh Chang/Koh Mak/Koh Rayang island hopping. Trying to find nice empty beaches, good food and comfortable (enough) beds. Aka trying to fill the void left by Relax House.

The story of Relax House, to my understanding. I don’t speak Thai.

We (Thor) found Koh Kood via google earth, as it had beautiful beaches and it was off the tourist trail. We had started our trip here and were only on island for a few days, but quickly found the Relax House Restaurant through google reviews & trip advisor as it was firmly number one with all rave reviews and comments. We toodled down, made a reservation and were blown away. The best. Everything Gop made was the best Thai food we’d tasted. The menu wasn’t huge, just one double sided sheet, with the same dish with various protein options. A few fried appetizers, a few dessert options, a few western options. But the stars were Thai. Best green curry, BEST (SPELL CHECK) tom ka, best pad se ew, best larb, best pad Thai. The odd night she’d make a beautiful massaman curry – the best. Everything was perfect. And if you booked in to stay in one of their (originally just 2) lovely bungalows, you had a shoe in for 2 meals a day.

Art & Gop started out working at one of the nice resorts on island, not sure what one. Gop was cooking and Art was doing god knows what. They fell in *love* and decided to start their own shop, “9 Shop”, mid island, and slaved away 15+ hours a day, 7 days a week, locking up and sleeping in the shop until it was time to start it all over again. Living the dream, until they both got burnt out. Also, they had a baby. Luckily, Art’s parents also lived on island and bankrolled a property on the southern end, built a shop for themselves while Art & Gop started the homestay & restaurant a few hundred meters away, and over the years built up 5 bungalows. As time went on, Arts parents needed to retire and move to the mainland and required Art to take over the shop as, on paper, it’s a more profitable business. Big sad.

So it appears things have gone full circle. The parents moved off and brought Art & Gops daughter with them to the mainland. The couple are running and upgrading the shop, but working nonstop, no days off since last April when they took over. Art has started supplying nearby resorts as well, so profits are assumably improving. The old restaurant is empty of tables and chairs, now dispersed among the bungalows. The big tree has been cut down and a lone pool table keeps space in the empty room. The silver lining is that they’re keeping the bungalows going, are having another built, and can hopefully have some relatively passive income through most of the year.

They’re both insanely hard working folks, sweetest humans, and would literally give you the shirts off their backs. Salt of the earth. And I’m incredibly lucky to have crossed paths with them in this lifetime.