Koh Kong 26/06

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After our extremely uncomfortable but less hair raising 4 hour taxi ride in a 5 seater car with 8 people (including baby) we arrived in Koh Kong. Our first impression of it was the that it was a bit of a dive. We hadn't planned on staying here but figured we wouldn't have enough time to hitchhike to Sihanoukville so went out to explore.

We did find some delicious street food - BBQ sticky pork, pickled vegetables, soup and rice (standard) all for £1 which perked up our spirits. After our feast we then got a tuk tuk to take us to the Mangrove Forest. This place was definitely worth the visit. It was eerily quiet aside from the popping of air bubbles through the marsh. With hundreds of thousands of crabs all shapes and sizes scurrying around and diving into their burrows when they heard us coming. The tide was out when we arrived, revealing the extent of the tangling roots but as we climbed to a viewpoint the tide turned and in the couple of hours we were there we could see the water filling up again.

The rest of the day was spent in our room trying to de-stain our bodies and attempt to scrub out the Osaom dirt from our nails (we weren't as tanned as we thought). Char also had a go at playing hairdresser trimming Jacks hair with pen knife scissors which actually turned out quite well!

The following day our hitchhiking plan worked like clockwork. We got picked up 100 metres from our hotel by a couple taking their fruit to market in Phom Penh. They couldn't speak a word of English so conversation consisted of charades and laughing at each other's lack of understanding. However the generosity of Cambodians came through again with regular fruit snacks and even stopped off for cold beers and soft drinks for us! Jack the man enjoyed a beer whilst Char being the lady was handed a coke (a lady.... ha good one). We then swapped to a Lexus which was driven at break neck speed by a Russian and his girlfriend. Luckily this time language wasn't a problem and he took us all the way to the boat ticket office, all the while blaring out Russian rap music. Thanks to our two speedy drivers we managed to get to Koh Rong Sanloem with just enough time to spare for a pitcher of beer whilst watching the Lions tour.

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