Koh Kong Island

Here I sit on the south eastern end of Koh Khong Island. It is peace and tranquility personified. We got here after a 2 hour boat ride across the ocean from the mainland in a rickety boat that we will have to return on. We share this place with about a dozen others just like us. It is interetsting that we don't seem to communicate with each other, rather ignoring each other as if that will make everyone else invisible. I wonder what will happen when lunch gets served? I have already been swimming/snorkeling. The water temperature is warm to hot and it is glorious in. The visibility is dreadful and life on the bottom is sparse. It is very nice though. I just wish I had brought my sunglasses. Silly bugger me left them on the bed this morning in the rush to get out. The salt water and the sun are doing great things to my wounds. The knee is cleaning up nicely and the elbow has stopped hurting except when I bash it.....all too often!

What more can you say about an isolated beach on a far away island. It is  beautiful except for the ever present rubbish to be found in this part of the world. They really need to get thier act together. Hopefully sometime soon the light will go on and they will clean it up! It is really frustrating. When I talk to other tourists/backpackers they all agree the rubbish is bad. When I talk to expats and locals they say no no we do good things with the rubbish and it is not a problem. These two views are clearly incompatible. The reality seen through my eyes is that rubbish is everywhere and it is a big big problem, especially plastic bags and bottles. You see them strewn every where, in towns around the streets and in the gutters in the country you come across piles dumped in the most beautiful areas of bush. Yesterday Jacqui and I rode out to Tat tai waterfall, a really beautiful falls set in the jungle that takes a considerable effort to get to. There were shitty disposable nappies lying around giving off the most horrendous odours. It was so sad. A really really spectacular place trashed by sheer laziness. We still enjoyed the place but it was tinged with tragedy.

Koh Kong has been a magical place, great space to recharge after the marathon that was the Cardomoms. We rode around on the bike visiting places of interest. We went across the bridge in the middle of town to the other side of the river. We had lunch at an idyllic place on the beach lined with coconut trees and bamboo shadehouses with hammocks and sleeping tables. I had the most amazing crab that cost 5 bucks and Jacqui had calamari. More than we each could eat at one sitting. It was delicious and the atmosphere evocative of paradise or a civilised Gilligans Island.

Today we have taken a tour and we are on Koh Kong Island way out in the ocean. We have just had a lunch of fish and veggies that was very nice and now are waiting for the boat to be packed for our trip back. We will get to walk through mangroves on our return which I am really looking forward to. Tonight is
our last night in Koh Kong. Tomorrow we head to Sihanoukville and after that Kampot and Kep. We have heard that Sihanoukville is pretty aweful so I will hold my breath for that one. Anyway that is for tomorrow and the next post, this one is done. See youse later campers.