"I'm going to the other side of the island! - You ain't going without me, Freckles"

After my last post, I attempted to organise a scuba diving trip. I decided to opt out because, though cheap, it wasn't worth the money to see a lack of interesting underwater life. Instead I decided to do a short trek across the small all but uninhabited island of Koh Kong off the coast of Sihanoukville with an Israeli guy who had lived there for the last two years as part of an investment project to turn it into a future scuba diving haven and mini resort for those wanting the remote island experience (without ever being too far from civilisation).

The seas on the boat ride there were almost sickeningly choppy. Unable to read, I had to sit forward facing, glued to the horizon, like one of the many statues I saw at Angkor, for two and a half hours. Upon arrival, it was clear that construction was still ongoing; the boathouse made from discarded semi-logs, the locals hard at work hammering and sawing while putting together precariously balancing frames for small huts.

The trek began by heading through an area that had clearly been deforested for building materials with lots of young and low bushes, but quickly sped up into an uphill climb into the jungle. At the peak, the jungle in front of us, we descended by climbing down boulders using a rope tied to a tree at the top. Vines wrapped around trees, wrapped around other trees, plants growing off anything and in any direction (some looked like potted plants that had been unpotted and thrown with a strong enough velocity as to make them stick to a vertical surface).

Each square inch was its own ecosystem. My Israeli guide told me about all the different plants and how the locals use different roots to make tapioca and jelly or woods to build their houses (which all end up crumbling to the ground after two years due to termite infestation), the environmental effects of the locals' deforestation and lack adequate waste system....as well as a few stories about Boa Constrictors and Vipers. I felt I was being guided by John Locke (no, not the political philosopher known for helping write the Constitution of North Carolina, but the conspicuously named character from Lost). For a moment I thought he would walk out the jungle with a boar on his back proclaiming lunch was ready.

The hour of climbing and descending to the other side of the island was followed by a boringly long walk along a beach (7km to be exact). We eventually stopped for lunch, then turned back.

Upon our return, I managed to sneak in a quick, refreshing and well-earned swim before jumping on the boat for another two and half hour boat ride. Luckily the seas had calmed and I managed to sleep.

I have plenty more to write, but unfortunately it's 2:00 am and I have a bus to catch in 5 hours...