Koh Jum & Koh Siboya - Top article
The Urban Café in Koh Jum
 Rarely does anyone move faster than a snail’s pace on the sleepy island of Koh Jum, but recently the pace has picked up. Tourists have been seen sprinting down the beach in a race for homemade cinnamon rolls at the Urban Café at Koh Jum Beach Villas. The chef, Somchai, and his wife Malee lure customers with artisan bread, thin crust pizzas, bagels, carrot muffins and outstanding Thai food. Prior to the great tsunami of 2004, Somchai and his wife Malee worked in restaurants on Koh Phi Phi, leaving their two children, Corina and Saman, under the care of grandparents. Working away from home was necessitated by limited employment opportunities on their sleepy home island of Koh Jum. Malee and Somchai escaped the tsunami on Koh Phi Phi and returned home unharmed, except for the grip of fear…
 To make ends meet without leaving Koh Jum, this industrious couple began selling grilled chicken in front of their home in the village of Ting Rai. Somchai’s skills as a chef and Malee’s excellent customer service and command of the English language were brought to the attention of Canadians Ken and Julie Seibt of the Build-a-Boat fund (a grassroots tsunami relief fund with no administration costs or overhead.) Meanwhile, in Chiang Mai, the owner of the Bake and Bite cafés, Gai was eager to reach out to her friend who lost his resort to the tsunami on Koh Phi Phi. She wanted to share her baking expertise with ‘Bau’ as he rebuilt the Garden Home Cafe from salvaged materials, volunteer efforts and sheer determination. Neither Gai nor Bau had the financial means to fund equipment and supplies required to start up a bakery.
 Serendipity played its role in introducing Khun Gai to Ken and Julie. The Build-a-Boat fund flew Gai to Krabi to work with Bau, Malee and Somchai. Bau’s business quickly took off on Koh Phi Phi, as relief workers refueled themselves with baguettes, bagels, cinnamon buns and sandwiches on homemade bread. Malee and Somchai’s tiny restaurant (named after Urban Systems Inc. of Calgary, Canada - one of the donors to the Build-a-Boat fund) was off to a much slower start simply due to the lack of tourists in little Ting Rai.
In 2007, Koh Jum Beach Villas, a socially and environmentally responsible development of beachfront houses, handed their newly constructed restaurant over to Malee and Somchai. In line with Koh Jum Beach Villa’s vision of creating sustainable businesses for locals, all profits go to the operators, Malee and Somchai, who retain the name of their first restaurant, The Urban Café.
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Koh Jum & Koh Siboya