My Family of Koh Rong

After an average time in Sihanoukville we were now bound for Koh Rong. We took the speed boat for $18 ($2 discount from $20) which was pretty reasonable as it is an open return, in February the cost of this boat was $30. The sea was very rough so the journey was interesting to say the least. At least half a dozen people got really sea sick and some even threw up, but in just under an hour we were there. Upon arrival our first mission was finding a room, I had wanted to stay at Koh Lanta the pizza place I was before but it turns out he is no longer renting rooms. We ended staying for the first night in a dorm at 'Bunnas Place' which fine for $5 but it was way too loud as Bunnas is one of the main party bars on the island. We checked in the following day at the Elephant Guesthouse I got my own room shared bathroom for $10 an incredible price for the location. It was here that I would discover my Cambodian family, and little did I know at this point how much I would really get to love this island even more than I already did.

I spent just over 3 weeks on Koh Rong, the first 6 nights I paid, but from there on I paid for nothing at Elephant. The family recognised me from the last time I was on Koh Rong and I was initially asked if I would help them come up with a cocktail menu, something every other place had but they hadn't quite grasped. To give you a little bit of background to this family, as far as I could make out, 'Mr Elephant' the main elder and a couple of the others had lived on Koh Rong for just over 20 years (originally from Phnom Penh) and foreigners have only been coming to Koh Rong just over 4 years. I imagine they used to live in a small hut, with the sea being their source of food, they now have one of the biggest guesthouses on the island and one of the busiest, so a huge transformation has taken place and running a business, especially one taking in so much money is still very much a concept they haven't mastered. Overall, in the whole family of 20 or so only around 5 could speak English and only 2 or 3 of them to a good enough degree to communicate properly, it was actually the 16 year old girl (Nat) who spoke it best so it was kind of a curse for her in a way as she was expected to do almost all of the talking to the customers. My job description was very vague and I was given almost no real instruction other than to help make a cocktail menu, help fill the rooms, help sell their boat trip and help take out the furniture at night for the BBQ. In exchange for this I would get my room free, food free, and beer, well that was free too. I think what they mainly wanted was somebody who could speak English so they could learn from me just by me being there. In fact after a few days they actually told me I had to do less and I didn't have to help them until the evening which was of course fine by me. In the evenings I would also help 'Mod' with his homework, and any of the other family who wanted to sit in on it, Mod is a kid who stuck in my mind from last time, a very happy boy who always attended school and was very clever indeed, he spoke reasonable English and I dubbed him my little Cambodian bong (brother)

So, the whole cocktail menu thing, well this was going to be difficult for them, trust me on that. All they really needed was some spirit mixer drinks as not all girls like beer (this is all they had) I told them to just make up simple things like vodka & orange, Malibu & pineapple, gin & tonic etc. He got some gin in (they already had cans of tonic) and made up a strong mix for me to try, I told him it was good, just add a slice of lime and it would be perfect. It was then that he asked me if he should add beer to it, then it really kicked in that he had absolutely no idea! I gave him a list of things to order for the basic mixer drinks but after the 3 weeks this never transpired. What I was probably best at here was selling the boat trips and I went on three altogether, the price was $10 with possibility of a discount for bigger groups, we would first go snorkeling to the small island which had outstanding aquatic life and coral, we would then go fishing and whatever was caught would be cooked on the boat and we would eat it at 'Long Beach' the final stop on the trip, it was here we would stay until the sunset and then head back, part of the trip included swimming with the plankton but I would just tell people it can be seen anywhere in the water when it is dark and that they should head to the dark part of the beach when the power shut off (Koh Rong has no mains power and the generators normally shut off around 2AM) other trips would stop on the way back from Long Beach but would be charging more and its not really worth the extra money as it can be seen anywhere. The plankton I must say is pretty surreal, I had never encountered this before Koh Rong. My favourite thing of all was going on this trip, it would always be a fantastic day.

 

Apart from helping the Elephant family out, I also on occasion would help the 'Friends of Koh Rong' a group of people dedicated to helping the local community. This included the teachers at the school and some other people interested in giving back. At the school they are currently building a wall out of the old spirit bottles to show the Cambodian people that they can recycle things rather than just throw it on the floor or into the sea, if you have ever been to Cambodia you will know exactly what I'm talking about. They have no concept nor perhaps the means of properly disposing of rubbish so it is simply dumped anywhere and everywhere. One of the days I gave a few hours of my time to help mix the cement up for the wall, it was roasting hot and I very much enjoyed my beer after that. On another day I helped round up some kids to clean the beach, this is something they do every Saturday, afterwards we all went for a swim was was incredible fun, lots of chicken fights and back-flips off of my shoulders left me exhausted but it really was a great afternoon.

Apart from working at Elephant and helping the Friends of Koh Rong I of course did a whole lot of other things with my time here. One day, Dave, Chelsea and I took Kayaks to the small island and then continued to 4K beach where we had a nice chilled day at this near deserted spot, I also got to ride a water buffalo again (I managed to do this last time too simply by asking) another day we hiked to Long Beach, I did this in flip flops (the only time in 3 weeks that I actually needed to wear anything on my feet) shoes would have been more advisable though (mine were in Thailand), the last stint of it requires an abseil down some rocks which was actually pretty dam cool. Although it only took just over 45 mins to get there I must have sweated 2 litres, the cool refreshing clear water was pure bliss on arrival. One of the night there was a full moon party at 'Police Beach' which was nothing like Koh Pangan, this was a much more chilled environment with most people sitting around watching the fire shows. Most of our evenings we would go to Bunnas Place which was good but they did play the same music every single night, although I liked it. Other nights I would just spend with the family drinking whiskey, although I didn't understand much (in fact I didn't understand really anything) it was interesting, I tried some very odd food they offered which was very nice (some of it). The rest of my time I would spend relaxing on the balcony, in a hammock. I read a book (something I hadn't done in far too long) and done a whole lot of swimming in the sea which was just steps away from my room. I also helped try to fix one of the guitars at the school but unfortunately without success, I tried to salvage some old strings but it didn't work, when I return that will be something on my list to bring as well as some more pens, paper etc for the kids. I was on one day also mistaken for being a doctor as I rushed to aid an extremely intoxicated person who was being carried by two others on the beach, this was in the middle of the day and it appeared to be a mix of alcohol, Valium and sun stroke, his friends took him to bed and kept an eye on him and he was all ok in the end. The Elephant family from there on though now had a lot of questions about their health for me assuming I could help them. I felt the worst for Srue, the boat trip driver as he complained of having constant pain in his kidneys, he needs a real doctor who knows what he is doing and not so many of these exist in Cambodia, a visit to the doctors is also expensive for them. I hope this problem is not serious as he is one of my favourites in the family.

All in all it is safe to say Koh Rong is my favourite island of all those that I have been to, its not perhaps as beautiful as some of the Thai islands but it is simply down to the locals here that made my time complete, there is no hassle from anyone here. What was strange though about Koh Rong this time was the amount of Police carrying heavy machine guns, I had not seen police here before, I was told they were looking for western staff to extract 'fines' from them but I wasn't approached once by police, turns out the Elephant family had that covered and I needn't worry. I wondered why there were so many though and why the guns and I was told by the family that they couldn't tell me but everything was ok. They told me any problem I had was a problem of theirs and I was part of their family, that made me feel very warm indeed. When I finally had to leave I ended up getting all soppy and crying as I really did feel at home here. I would like to take this time to thank all of the Elephant family for showing me such kind heart, and wish you all the very best. I will see you again, that is certain!