Ko Kong Island and the emerald green lagoon

---

Up early and ready to jump on the TutTut for the boat to Ko Kong Island. The boat is a traditional khmer long tailed boat but with 2 Honda tooengines with prop shafts fixed to them tied to special wooden blocks about 8 feet from the stern. the props are then lowered into the water, one either side and off you go. There are 7 of us - I'm the only single person and the only Brit! There is a young couoke from Holland, anothetr from Galicia and a slightly older couple from Quebec who are staying at Oasis too.
On the way I'm surprised to see several rusty old dredgers digging up sand from the floor of the Meking river and depositing it in huge sand barges - about the size of half a football pitch. When they are full they sit at least 8 feet lowere in the water than they do when they are full. Mr Hang Nee the Immigration officer I met yesterday told me they call the sand 'white gold'now. It is sold mainly to Singapore and Hong Kong who dump it in the sea Dubai style and extend their land mass - both are very short of space! Jason told me that this sand sale is worth approx 9 to 10 million dollars a month! By the time we get to the North end of Ko Kong Island (after 2 hours) it looks like preparations for D-Day as there are approx 40 sand barges with tug boats at various stages of being filled by the dredgers.
While I don't doubt that the Mekong needs dredging anyway I'm not sure that doing it right next a world heritage mangrove swamp is a good idea - I bet environmentalists haven't been allowed anywhere near let alone consulted about the effects on trhe mangroves and wildlife.

Anyway, we reach 'beach no 2 after 2.5 hours and it's a small strip of white sand with one house, some cocnut palms and a great emerald green lagoon behind it. The water is very warm and fairly shallow and it's off with my shirt, empty my trouser pockets and jump in! It's a good 32C and very little shade and I've got no sun bloc on! Sun burnt again! For lunch our guide Mark (from Southampton) does 2 barracudas wrapped in foil with lemongrass, ginger, garlic and lime leaves on a fire he's lit on the beach - lovely. We are surrounded by a jungle that stretches up into the hills/small mountains that form the backbone of the island - it is forbidden to go into the jungle as it's a desiganted military area. Ko Kong Island is of strategic importance should there be disputes with either Thailand or Vietnam which apparently is quite common.

at 14:30 we set off back but through the mangrove swamp. While passing a fishing village we snag an anchor of one of the fishing boats and lose a propeller. We tie up against the fishing boat, return the anchor, buy a new propellor blade and set off again but the engine is having trouble and we make an unscheduled stop in a small village on stilts on the water and fix it properly.

The mangroves are spectacular as the sun starts to set around 16:30 - the sunlight changes the colours of the leaves and casts spooky shadows under the branches and into small channels within the mangrove forest. These trees must be at least 70 feet tall and the 'roots'are the lower branches that grow downwards into the water instead in a tangled mass. I realise that I've seen more of the mangroves today than I did a few days ago when I paid $18 for an hour - the whole of today has cost me $25 with food and water included. Ripped off or what?

The boatman does his multi tasking trick for the 4th time today - this involves steering the boat with his kness whilst fishing a plastic oil container out from underneath the plank decking and siphoning out petrol into the engines fuel tanks without spilling a drop!

We get back at 18:15 the sun is already down - sunset is the same time all year round - it never varies. I shower and have a Ban Chow for dinner - this is a pancake filled with pork and beanshoots with a spicy dipping sauce - it's better than the one I had yesterday as the pancake is thicker and doesn't disintegrate in your fingers.

By 21:00 I think it's midnight because it's been dark for so long and head off to bed knackered. Another boat trip tomorrow to a waterfall at Koh Por which is totally surrounded by jungle and rainforest - supposed to be really stunning.

---

Comments

[davanna]

a good trip
sounds great nigel, please let us know which tour company you went with, sounds reasonable value at $25 per day. your food tourism is making me hungry!!