Man-o-gram #24
Short blog tonight, full day spent scootering round the island with a couple of chums I’ve met staying on Koh Rong island. Tired out !
Fishing villages on a sunday are sleepy, nets stacked on the shore, no boats coming and going. A lot of sleepy hammock action for the adults, kids playing in the dirt.
Once you leave the main village I’m staying in, Koh Touch, things get less developed. The small villages today reminded me of time spent in Nuie and Vanuatu. Dwellings are basic.
I recall explaining to ‘Happy’, our driver on Tanna Island in Vanuatu, the habit of 20 or 30 yrs of full time work to pay off a house. The concept of a mortgage, a word with french origins – ‘mort’ meaning death, and ‘gage’ meaning grip.
He grinned, gave me the ‘more fool you’ look, explaining that in his village they construct dwellings together, diy, admittedly breeze block walls or a variation on the theme, tin roof no windows; more like a shelter, but given the climate, all good.
Both islands had had cyclones that tore apart even more solidly built houses, so housing was not seen as a permanent thing, like don’t go to town on it, it’s just a place to sleep, maybe cook inside on bad weather days. And that was 15 years ago, the game may have changed, but you know, different worlds.
In the south eastern point of the island lies the sleepy fishing village of Daem Thkov.
In a clearing, effectively a village square, men played volleyball and bowls with petanque balls. The women chilled, checking out the bowls, hanging and looking after the toddlers. We dined on steamed pork buns before hitting the track (literally) back.
En route today we spotted a snake crossing the road and a gross of millipedes. These guys are fab scuttlers, the leg action is something else.
No shortage of amazing butterflies, monkeys when they choose to appear, and frog chorus at the start and finish of each day.
Pics here of todays out n’ about, will likely leave this cool place tomorrow, having been here a week, and head for a small town called Kep, last stop before the Vietnamese border.
Till next time :)
