Koh Rong, it happens to the best of us.. The initial plan of staying for only a few days turns into an invisible bind to the most capturing place I've been to yet! I had to drag myself away after 16 days.
I could easily get carried away explaining about my time in Koh Rong but I'm sure I'd end up with savvier finger cramps so I'm just going to reveal all the highlights.
This place brought me so much joy and I had the privilege to hang out with a lot of fascinating and cool people, one being a Argentinian guy who makes a living by hand crafting the most angelic jewellery to sell as he travels round the world. My eyes were drawn to the small set up he had placed on top of one of the wooden sun loungers, along the main beach.. We conversed over he's work and he shared with me that the stones he use for the pieces of jewellery are from Peru. After picking up and admiring a necklace that really stood out to me (which I then later on went to purchase) I then went my separate way. That evening Demi and I went and checked out a open air Thai restaurant, every dish produced by one man.. Zigi. The PadTai king! All orders would be prepared and cooked freshly in front of you, served up on top of your plate steaming hot! He really did know what he was doing and the food produced was perfect every time. On my way back to the hostel "the jewellery guy" Abel and he's other Argentinian friend were sitting having some dinner at a different restaurant when they noticed me and invited me over for a drink, we had a lovely time meeting each other properly so much so we decided to meet in the bar we were staying in for further alcoholic beverages, later on that evening. At 2pm every night on the island all power on the island is cut out so the whole place becomes pitch black, this is the perfect time to have a wade out into the water and experience the magic of phosphorus plankton that glows so vibrantly back at you. So me, Demi and the two Argentinians decided to go and have a dip... It was as pretty as ever! We returned to the shore with our minds running away with itself, dispersing off in all different directions we went and collected material for a bonfire we decided to create. Once up and running we sat there with the flames flickering in front of our face. A perfect end to such a fun evening!
The beaches on this island were something straight off a postcard, they are perfect. We spent one of our days on the island trekking to the other side through the jungle to then have the most beautiful thing I've ever laid my eyes on... "Long beach" The trek through the jungle with the intensity of the blazing heat powering down onto you, was challenging. At some points we even had to use the help of a rope to absail down the cliff face but it was well worth the sweat! The sand is so pure and white its like talcum power and the sea crystal clear, it is just stunning. The funny thing about the sand is that it's somewhat similar to halloumi cheese in the sense it squeaks, except for halloumi cheese squeaks when you eat it. This sand squeaks when you walk on it, it's that clean.. Squeaky clean! Ha. We stayed until sunset, so that ended up being a good 4/5 hours. I did find myself a young lady who camped out on the beach and then during the day she would educate people in mental and physical healing by the power of exploring your mind, the power of your mind and also doing this by using the help of spirits. She was fascinating and someone that had a very calm aura around her so I got sucked in for pretty much the whole day. I walked away with a sense of enlightenment floating through my body. To get back to the main beach you'd have to pay like $3 dollars and climb on board a long wooden, motor powered boat.. This took an hour but after the way I was feeling, the fresh breeze that brushed over me whilst we sailed back just added to the uplifting sensation. I felt very peaceful.
One of the many days on the island I came across a guy who just bobbing up and down in the water with a oxygen tank on he's back, equipped with full scuba diving gear! After going out to meet him and question what he was getting up to I was invited to do a 15 minute taster scuba diving lesson. We ended up going about 3ft under water where I ended up seeing these starfishes that look like they had been bang on the steroids, a octopus like creature that had a shell attached to its back and a cute little clown fish. It was a rather cool experience and I now feel comfortable using that sort of equipment as I do plan to Scubba dive in the Great Barrier Reef.
As you stand on the main beach looking out into the ocean there is a island towards the left hand side which I got into my head that I was determined to kayak to. So with this idea that kept niggling away at me I gathered up a troop, Demi and I and my friend Jostein who I became friends with on our travels to Lao and a friend of he's attacked the choppy waves. After 30 minutes of hard paddling we docked the rocky shore. I made a conscious effort to make sure I bought my snorkel set along with me and good job I did because what I saw that day within the depth of the sea was unforgettable. I must have witnessed at least about 20 different types of fish, all peculiar shapes, sizes and colours! Taken by surprise as I didn't expect to witness that much variety of sea life just by snorkelling, the coral was pretty impressive also. Yet another top class day on island!
One evening, early hours of the morning.. I bought Demi back a surprise (we shared a private room with a double bed and basically ended up nearly becoming permanent residents at TyTy's guesthouse) No. It wasn't a sloppy kebab. Aaand No. It wasn't even a boy! I bought back a black Labrador puppy who I found roaming around by himself after being abandoned. She was not impressed to say the least and got cross with me but I could not live with myself if I'd left it to fend for itself for the night. So after a rough nights sleep with "Rufus" star fishing between the both of us, I woke got up super early in search of he's mother because that is where he belonged. To cut a long story short I came across a very kind young chap who knew where the location of he's mother was, bingo! Mission accomplished. I walked away with peace in my mind that the dog was now safe until later on that day I came across this kind chap once more but this time he was swarmed by a fully grown dog and about 6 puppies, one being Rufus. After questioning he then went onto reveal that he found the mother with a Khmer family who stated they were going to eat them all. It was shocking to hear but I guess if I didn't raise awareness of this abandoned puppy then they'd all most probably been dished up in a portion of Loc Lac (traditional Khmer dish that would include meat) by now.
My last couple of days/nights on the island were leading up to the full moon and then my very last night I broke my full moon party virginity and I feel like I didn't hold back either. I stayed up all night to then have to jump onto the fast boat at 10 o'clock that morning back to the main land, the journey was hell! I must admit partying all night at the location that I was at, to the music that was and the people I was surrounded by was the perfect way to round up my time on Koh Rong.
From Sihanoukville, Demi and I jumped straight onto a mini van to Kampot. For the two nights we stayed at the most perfect location, boarding the river this place was made entirely out of wood. It was so quaint and had such a massive essence of calm. It was lovely! Our only day in Kampot was spent at a Crab Market. It is a 30 minute motorbike journey away from Kampot at a place called Kep. The Crab Market was so cool, we went with a group of 5 of us and that worked out nicely because we all chipped in a $1 and within no longer than 5 minutes we had a bag full of freshly cooked crabs. So when I say fresh, I'm not using the word lightly here.. We witness a basket load of them being caught by a bunch of fisher woman, then from the basket straight into the hot pot, cooked to perfection and then handed over to us in a carrier bag. It could be classed as fast food and they were delicious!
I flew back to Bangkok the next day and that's where I'm going to leave this blog entry.
Peace and love to you all always x