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Published: June 12th 2007
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We got our motorcycle taxis 5 km north to catch the noon boat to Koh Kong from the quayside which was a lined with wooden fisherman's families huts on stilts where the wave of garbage below ebbed and flowed with the tides. Not the nicest part of town; only then did I realise that they must have went to some lengths to keep the tourist beaches as clean as they were, although I had never seen anyone collecting litter. $15 each, foreigner price, but the boat was full of Khmer families. We had been forewarned by the Meathman, who owned the Emerald Bar, that this mode of transport is a risky business. Apparently the boat is only meant for river cruises and I soon registered upon entering there is only one entance/exit, so if she goes down you go down with her. Despite all this and also reading reports on the lonely planet thorn tree of rough seas and extremely sick travellers puking their way on to the dock at their destination, the day looked calm and we decided to chance it. The journey was without note except for a few kids who were curious or afraid of the big
white man, whose head stuck up above the seats and whose ears fanned out (like a lot of Cambodians I should add!).
Billed on the Koh Kong newsletter as the next big tourist destination in SEA, this border town, littered with rubbish and home to packs of aggressive dogs, has a long way to go to fulfill it's promise. We stayed at the Koh Kong Guesthouse near the boat quay, but really the town has very little to offer apart from a worrying nip on the leg by a mutt possibly carrying rabies. We headed around the dark muddy streets looking for some decent restaurant, but after several dog attacks ended up back at our guesthouse for a bite to eat. In all businesses everything was calculated in Thai Baht, so it already felt that we were back in the land of Siam - monetarily at least. We had only really been to 3 places in our 3 weeks in the Kingdom of Cambodia - Phnom Penh (appropriately decadent and sophisticated capital), Siem Reap (tourist central) and Sihanoukville (westernized resort). Koh Kong was the first real Khmer town and I sort of regretted that we hadn't made the effort to
go more off the well worn path. Maybe the next time, but I'll be bringing a big stick to show the mongrels who is boss. This part of Cambodia was as heavily mined as other parts and I wondered was it safe to wander around if it seemed so underdeveloped. It really shouldn't be so close to Thailand, except if you look at the map that the Thai's have eventually managed to extend a thin sliver of land from Trat all the way down to Hat Lek. Fortunately, the Khmer have recently taken advantage of this gradual invasion and have built a casino right beside the border to profit from the Thai penchant for gambling (banned in their homeland). Fear of Thai and even more so Vietnamese land grabbing of their country is still very prevalent among the Khmer and understandably so. At more than one time in their turbulent history the whole country was nearly swallowed up by the tiger from the west and the dragon from the east. Ironically, it was the desire to reclaim old Khmer territories in the Mekong Delta that was the undoing of the Pol Pot's crew and led to the Vietnamese "liberation" in
The Cambodian Peoples Party
Hun Sen's crowd, who have basically being running the kingdom since the Vietnamese liberated the Khmer from the KR. 1979 and the beginning of the end of the Khmer Rouge.
The next day we hired a moped for a half day to explore the environs of Koh Kong, since the town itself was so unpromising. We had heard of a waterfall on the road to PP, 20 km from the town, so off we motored, delighted to have our own wheels again and reassured by our hosts that the local cops would not be looking for kickbacks. The countryside was one of rolling hills with green and lush foliage, in total contrast to the dusty border town we had left behind. We eventually found a river with cascades, paid the 10 baht parking and headed up expecting to witness some unspoilt wonder of nature. What we discovered was no waterfall, just a few cascades and lots and lots of rubbish along the pathways and banks. A few Khmer were enjoying themselves in the water, butthe state of the place really was atrocious. It reminded me of Ireland in the 70's with 20 degrees more heat. We sped off back towards town and popped into the Oasis Resort for a G&T (purely for anti-malarial purposes). Then we headed off west
of the town
to a fishing village which had a mosque and with some of the most impoverished people we had seen in SEA, they were very friendly though. We brought back the moped to the guesthouse and the owner and his mate brought us to the Thai border for $3 each. Refusing the great deals offered by the cigarette vendors we filled out our exit cards, got stamped out and walked across to the Thai side where suddenly everything was organized, spick and span and everyone was clean and well groomed. What a difference over just a 100 metres!
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