By James

At the end of the last post you left Jess, David, Chloe and myself on our way to Siem Reap’s tiny airport. We boarded an old school 100 seater plane, complete with propellers and travelled South to the small seaside town of Sihanoukville. Upon arrival we headed into the city and decamped at the simple, affordable hotel we had booked.

It was only when the hotel owner returned from a shop-run with wet talcum powder plastered on his bald head, grumbling about ‘drunks and hookers’, did we realise we had chosen to stay in the city’s Red Light district on the last night of Cambodian New Year! So it was with some trepidation that we headed into the district in search of dinner.

Luckily for us, the local working girls and their late-middle aged clientele had finally tired after three days and nights of drinking, water fights and talcum powder bombings, so that all that remained of the long weekend’s festivities were white streaks on the pavement, glazed eyes and a sense of an area laying low to recover.

The following morning we boarded our chartered boat and headed to Palm Beach resort on the island of Koh Rong, our private paradise for the next few days. We were welcomed by the Dutch couple who ran the place with a delicious home-concocted brew similar to Baileys. We had sprung for an upgrade and we all stayed in our own secluded hill side bamboo bungalow.

The following days were filled with very little – and it was glorious! The beautiful blue, 29 degrees (bath temperature) water surrounding the bay was so sheltered that sand had built up to the point where we could walk out for at least 200 meters and have the water only lap at our knees. Apart from a brief solo kayaking trip, we drank cocktails, ate food, read books and precious little else. …bliss!

A highlight, however, was the snorkelling trip made with our very chilled out guide, Craig. Twenty of us set off in a two small boats at 4.30pm on Wednesday (or was it Thursday? Days of the week are so meaningless on a tropical island!) After some rather disappointing reef snorkelling, in which we saw only one Parrot Fish and lots of very spiky anemones, we sat and fished somewhat despondently over the sides using coke cans and a line. Neither Chloe or I caught anything and I was beginning to wonder whether the amazing experience we had on Tioman Island (see previous blog post) had rather spoilt us. Both Jessica and David managed to catch a fish, but were pretty saddened by the fact that the fish couldn’t be thrown back : /

However, once the sun went down we cruised to the darkest patch of sea I had ever seen. I saw more stars there than I had anywhere else in my life and it was beautiful. When we stopped Craig told us to put on our masks and snorkels, and jump off the boat into the pitch black sea, promising bioluminescent plankton. We couldn’t see anything at all, let alone the promised plankton, but trusting as we are, jumped over the side anyway into pitch blackness. It was very daunting and a quite unpleasant situation to be in that tapped into a very primal fear- bobbing around in the dark there we all felt very exposed and more than a little foolish. Then Craig told us to dip our heads under water and move our hands in front of our face.

Bioluminescent plankton, as a defense mechanism, excretes a bright turquoise chemical trail when they move to confuse predators. I only realised I was surrounded by these little things when I opened my hand and out came a burst of swirling light! It is difficult to express how amazing it looked under the water and totally impossible to get any footage on our GoPro. The only thing I can say is that I felt like a wizard! With a flick of the wrist I could send out magical sparks in all directions. It was utterly wonderful and a real highlight of our time on the island.

 

After three days of rest and recuperation, we headed back to the mainland and then onwards to Phnom Penh, where we said our goodbyes to Jessica and David, after having shared two weeks of Cambodian delight.

Early the following morning, we headed back to Siem Reap in preparation for our flight to Hanoi. In the morning before our flight left we were joined by a French couple for a market tour and cooking class with ‘Ben’. The market visit was fascinating! Ben really knew his stuff and showed us things we never would have noticed or known, had we gone alone.

For example, he showed us a small family processing a coconut. We learned that the most valuable part is the cream, then the husk (ropes) and finally the desiccated coconut. This part is considered so worthless that it is only kept to feed the pigs. Bear that in mind the next time you shell out for a bag at your local supermarket for £1 per 100 grams!

 

 

 

 

After the market visit, we were driven out to the covered hut that served as our cooking school and, as we later found out, the sleeping quarters for 40 local boys. The course funded the clothing, food, accommodation and schooling for these boys and as many girls, who were either orphans or from local families who could no longer afford to keep them. The food itself was delicious, nutritious and was doing some social good- what more can you ask for?

That evening we went back to Siem Reap airport for our flight to Hanoi.

Until next time, all our love- The Backpack Duo