Koh Rong

We are back from paradise. We have just spent 8 days on the most beautiful island 40 kilometres from the mainland. We travelled there and back on a boat used by the locals to get supplies. The journey took about 2 and a half to 3 hours and upon arriving at our destination we were collected from our boat by the boy/cook in what can only be described as a giant wicker basket that is more commonly used as a boat in these parts. From our bungalow set on the edge of the jungle we had a huge stretch of uninterrupted

white sand, and crystal clear waters.


As you can see from the pictures, the island was was absolutely gorgeous.

And the best bit was that for the majority of the time, we had it all to ourselves..... For only a few days where there any other guests around. The nearest fishing village was about 6 kilometres away and there no cars, roads or shops in sight. There was also no electricity, no piped fresh water and our accommodations toilet was an "Eco-toilet (basically a bucket and some wood chippings)There where however plenty of animals..

We saw many different types of gecko, a monitor lizard (climbing a tree), gibbons (in the trees), fireflies, butterflies, sea eagles, hornbills, rats (in our room raiding our left out packet of crackers during the night), frogs, toads, starfish, crabs, jellyfish, plankton (that momentarily glow in the dark when you disturb the sea), tropical fish, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, coral, a squid (that I caught with my fishing rod and we ate), a snake on a bush (try and spot it in the picture below) and an uninvited 1.7 metre long king cobra in the kitchen (Many attempts were made to coax it out of the kitchen but it did not want to leave and eventually at paid with its life and we ate it later that evening).

Find the snake in this picture:

We spent most of the week lazing around in our hammocks and swimming in the sea to cool down. The waters were very shallow in the bay and you could go out quite far before your feet left the floor. We also took the chance to borrow some snorkeling equipment and went along some of the rocky coastline observing the many fish and in some places coral! That is the first time we have ever been snorkeling (that's because I live in the UK I guess and there isn't much to see off of southend!!!) but i really liked it. At one point I was being circled by a group of inquisitive barracuda fish about 6 foot away from me. Bizarre!

It wasn't all rest and play though. I did decide to go for a run along the beach which I guess was about 6 kilometres in length. Probably a mistake though as I haven't run for over 3 months and although I managed to run there and back (in sand and sea), I did so barefoot which gave me blisters on both big toes, in my swimming shorts which chaffed my groin (ouch!!!) and I got bitten to death by sandflies..Oh, and my legs really ached the next day!!! Nice to exercise again though lol...... I also went fishing. I walked into the see up to my shoulders and tried to see what I could catch. I was trying for a nice Barracuda but had to settle for a squid instead. I think he was quite annoyed as he inked the sea numerous times in his attempt to get away..Luckily it didn't ink on me and he was served up with some nice fried rice later that evening..Yum yum.....



Erika also got in the swing of things by lazing in her hammock of choice and reading 4 books (one of them being 533 pages long). We also had no idea of when Easter is/was and mistakenly thought that it occurred last weekend when we where on the island instead of when it actually is...Today!!!!! More chocolate Toblerone for us then (there's no such thing as Easter or Easter eggs where we are here!!!!!) and more showering with water for Eri tomorrow (its a Hungarian thing..)

All in all we had a great week although by the end of it we were getting a little restless..As gorgeous as it is, we both became a little restless for something to do. And here we are...online!!!

Also the bad news about the place is that although the place where we stayed is very quiet and so is the island, it is not going to stay like that. Plans are already in place to turn the island into a luxury resort destination with an airport, hotels, multiple resorts, casinos and a golf course :-( an absolute tragedy for such a beautiful place. I'm glad we got the chance to enjoy the place when we did before it gets ruined.....if you want to go to then contact Mr Jones via www.bhgh.info