Freedom In Isolation

From Kampot we got a good nights sleep and the next morning we were on a long tail boat to Rabbit Island. Cambodia is a country I’d never associate with islands so the fact I was visiting a second island during my stay was quite shocking to me. Coco informed us in his own way, lots of roundabouts and repetitions, that Rabbit Island itself isn’t the most beautiful island but is secluded, and as natural as any island you’re likely to find in modern times yet can stay on in relative comfortability.
We stayed at a guesthouse on the island but it wasn’t a guesthouse per se. There were about twelve beach huts spread out along the grass verge above the sand of the beach, we stayed in one of these. Our day there wasn’t spent doing much. We explored as far up the beach as we thought we could, read books, and listened to music on the beach while watching the waves. Then I chilled out in a hammock while Christina went snorkelling.

At the centre of the beach huts was the main building, a beach hut bigger than the rest. We all surretipiously met outside the entrance late in the evening, as we congregated one by one to order food or drink beer. In my case you can substitute beer with Jim Beam. I’d ordered Jim Beam and coke but what I actually got was the reverse of what you’d expect, a large glass of Jim Beam with a shot of coke. I was definitely feeling it after.

We met Phil and Mim, an english couple who are just as cool as they sound. We spent the night chatting away with them, drinking, and eating barbecued fish. I was disappointed in myself that they were so much more experienced at eating their fish than me. They could have gotten twice as much fish off mine as I did. We exchanged hilarious stories and in the end it was a really great night. During said night I laid awake without electricity, in the dark, sweating, listening to the dogs barking and howling just wishing beyond everything I could sleep, charge my kindle, or jump into a bath of cool water.
After managing to sleep at around 5am, we were up at 6.30 getting breakfast before we left to Pnomh Penh. It was this morning that I had one of my favourite memories of travelling so far. Waking up in a hut on the beach, opening the door to an amazing view of the mainland framed by the harbour, I ran out into the sea, arms stretched wide in victory as well as to embrace the openness of the experience. I swam out until my feet couldn’t touch the bottom and floated, allowing myself to spin and drift, soaking in the views and the freedom I felt. Sadly that freedom only lasted so long as we did have a boat to catch.

Serendipity By Day, Indifferent By Night

Obviously I was horribly hungover. My hangovers are simply worse than anyone else’s. That or I’m weaker than everyone else. I prefer the first explanation. I’ve never seen anyone get afflicted as much as I. Anyway, the point is there was a long day ahead. Our first plan of action was to drive until lunchtime, where we stopped near a unique temple in Cambodia and some stupors. The temple was unique because all Buddhist temples usually face east but this one faces west, or some variation of that. Philosophically it has four facings and faces all directions at once but whatever.

I neglected to mention that the temple and stupors were on a hill, up a lot of steps. Thankfully I didn’t neglect to mention I was hungover so you can imagine the torture of walking up these steps in the vociferous heat. I was covered in bodily liquids, I couldn’t tell if it was sweat, tears, or alcohol anymore, in the end it was a devilish cocktail of the three. I named it the Devil’s Threeway. It’s copywrited for when I start my own club so don’t even think about it.

At the peak of the hill was a newly built stupor, made completely of white marble. It was the Minas Tirith of stupors. Even if Minas Tirith is made of rock. Even in my state I was able to appreciate the magnificence of it. Our guide told us it is apparently to hold the ashes of Guatama Buddha, he didn’t seem so sure though. It’s definitely bullshit. After taking some photos and trying Tamarind with some weird sauce, it was absolutely awful, we got back in the bus and headed for Sihanoukville and serendipity.

We arrived just after 6pm at Mick and Craig’s guesthouse, our home for the next three nights. We’d decided to hop off in Sihanoukville as there is the island of Koh Rong which one of Christina’s friends recommended to us. From the way it was described from reviews it seemed like something of a paradise. A beautiful island not too ruined by mass tourists yet. Hopping off left us five nights to play with so we decided to spend three in Sihanoukville and two in Koh Rong.

For our first night we had our first taste of Serendipity beach. You couldn’t see that much in the dark but it reminded me of a beach I once went to in Puerto Rico when I was maybe eleven. Across the top of the beach there were bars and restaurants lined up, then there were chairs spread out halfway across the beach with tables. I ordered a burger because it was relatively cheap and I was feeling something unhealthy. We shared a couple of beer towers between the table but after my food and a couple of drinks all I wanted to do was sleep for a week so I went to bed.

With our last day on Serendipity before Koh Rong we decided to just chill the F out. We’d not been in a place as visually stunning yet and we’d had some hard travelling so a day of recharging sounded nice. We headed out around 12pm after Christina had found accommodation for us on the island. We explored most of the beach and found a nice little bar that was out of the way. We ended up sitting there for a fair few hours eating, drinking beer, getting pedicures, massages, and having a lovely chat with an elderly English couple.

On the evening we went out with the rest of the group again, after a few games of pool of course. Or should I say Billiards! It was actually Billiards. We went to a bar near to where we went during the day but further down the beach. It was owned a pleasant but slightly awkward scouse man. I had a fish steak and it was so good. Even now over a month later it’s still one of the best meals I’ve had, and that’s a massive compliment. The night continued with more beers before I had my first taste of a Danish cigarette. It was tightly packed and pretty fucking thick. It wiped me out so I went back to bed after, it was a late 11.30 pm.

It seems early but Sihanoukville is really touristy and especially on Serendipity Beach quite the party town. That’s not really my scene if I’m honest. I just prefer drinking and chatting with my mates. Not having to shout to each other in a club and dancing awkwardly to songs I don’t like. If it’s a club that plays my sort of music I’m straight there but that was never going to happen in Cambodia. I think one of the things I miss from home the most is just chilling out with my mates and drinking before we get a bit rowdy and hyper in Duchess, even if it does get a bit monotonous. I also just miss the bromance and camaraderie you get with a group of mates. I’ve had it on a few occasions for small periods but it’s definitely not the same.

The next morning we would depart from Serendipity at 10am for our first taste of white sands and clear blue seas. I for one was just looking forward to being lazy on the beach for a day and resting my weary limbs, or as I like to say in real life, ‘doing fuck all’.

Been There Don Det

Travelling to Don Det I realised that all I really knew of our destination was that it was called the 4000 islands. I was therefore expecting something a lot more impressive than what my eyes came to witness. There are actually only three islands large enough to host human civilisation, the largest being 30 km long. The majority of the ‘islands’ are little bushes growing out of the water. Who really could be bothered to count all of those bushes? And who’s to say there isn’t only 3999 and they miscounted? I’m sure nobody in their right mind would care enough to verify.

As you know we weren’t particularly clued up on the island but had decided to hop off as we hadn’t been to an island yet, we just assumed it would be great! It turned out it was, just not in the way you’d expect. Personally my expectations were white beaches, clear turquoise water and palm trees. Don’t ask me why I suddenly fancied that the Mekong river would turn blue. What you actually got was a slightly grubby island with a heavy emphasis on drinks and drugs, with two streets worth of restaurants, bars, and guesthouses. It sounds slightly underwhelming but it had its charms.

It had one main beach, a disappointing 20 metres in length, with sand of a muddy golden shade, the streets were paths where the grass had been worn away to dusty sand by travellers walking up and down it all day, the restaurants and bars were wooden shacks lining the path on either side, as you walked down it you’d hear Friends playing in one restaurant, while a little further down there’d be a random film playing at Adam’s bar. People were content to settle down in one of these restaurants for hours at a time, occasionally ordering drinks and enjoying the entertainment on offer. You couldn’t help but notice as you walked along the island that the rules on drugs are very lax, if not non-existant. Everywhere you looked there would be an advertisement for a ‘happy shake, or a ‘happy cake’, meaning food or drink with either marijuana or mushrooms infused into the recipe, your preference. There was even a happy pizza with mushrooms.

We stayed there three nights instead of the one. The main activities, if you didn’t want to get high every night, were kayaking or cycling to see the waterfalls and the dolphins. We’d had a busy few days so for the first two on the island it was nice to settle in to the relaxed style of life and recharge our batteries. There were a lot of fruit juices and ice shakes consumed on these first two days as the heat was so oppressive. Our guide informed us that it had reached 40 degrees on one of the days! Any sort of movement brought forth a cascade of sweat onto your forehead, not to mention other places of the body. It was a drain of energy, the only life form on the island that seemed unaffected by the heat was the energetic little puppy at our guesthouse. He was a little black and white bundle of cuteness who was determined to nibble the whole island to smithereens, I spent many hours chilling in the guesthouse either playing with the little guy or just watching him scamp about as he lifted my spirits to ever soaring new heights.

On our last full day on the island we were ready to finally do some real exploring. We hired some bicycles, less than a pound for the day, and set forth. The bicycles we’re quite battered little things but compared to the bikes we rented in Ayuttaya they were like majestic steeds alongside a poor donkey. The journey was a simple one thankfully, we followed the river mostly straight down to a bridge where we crossed to another island. Here we had to take a break as we were already sweating like buffaloes, I was tempted to join them chilling in the water. While we had a break we attempted to play with a tiny Laos child in the shop but I’m not sure he enjoyed it, in fact the look of fear in his eyes would suggest anything but enjoyment.

With another twenty minutes cycling we made it to the entrance of the waterfalls. However, I wouldn’t really describe them as waterfalls. They were more like rapids, the different tributaries meeting each other with aggression churning out foamy white water. As I looked on I was wishing I could just ride the rapids like a water slide, one because the water would have been so nice on my overheated body, and two because it looked pretty damn fun. It’s a shame that if I tried the rivers would have left me a bruised, bloody, drowned mess.

After the waterfall we followed the signs to see the dolphins, sadly the signs were misplaced by a really lovely looking bar that were trying to coax visitors I believe. I was definitely tempted to stay there for a couple of hours and enjoy the lovely views of the beach behind the bar, as well as the lovely views of the HD football they had playing on the telly. Alas I purchased a big bottle of water and we left in the pursuit of Dolphins.

We eventually made it, the path ending in a narrow track sloping downhill leading onto a beach. At the bottleneck of the track there were two ‘restaurants’ situated on the left and the right, both awkwardly competing for business. As you approached they would both shout, remonstrate, and plea for you to enter their restaurant. Thankfully when we arrived only the restaurant on the right were on their game and therefore coaxed us over before we knew we had an option.

We walked onto the beach secluded by the restaurants and there were only 4 other people on the whole beach. I couldn’t resist, I whacked my shirt off and dived into the water. It was so refreshing and so required. After that we haggled down the price to see the Dolphin’s to a halfway reasonable one and set off. So I assumed you’d go out on the river in a boat and the dolphins would swim alongside you etc. What actually happened was the boat took you to a really wide peninsula in the river, sits there while you get barracked by the sun, and while the Dolphin’s come out of the water far enough for you to see the tips of their noses, which wasn’t easy as we were miles away. After getting fed up we ventured back to our guesthouse. The bike home was arduous, I was aching after the first leg of the journey, and the heat simply wasn’t letting up.

After a fitful sleep due to the heat (you’re going to understand it was incredibly hot by the end of this blog post okay?!) the Laos/Cambodia bordered awaited us. We had a frightful journey ahead.