Sink or Swim

 Songkat Village, Koh Rong, Cambodia -- Day 5

Today started out the same as always.  Kylie, Louis, Arno, Mathilde and I did homework, and with Dad’s assistance, I’m beginning to learn algebra.  It’s real confusing, but I’m starting to get the hang of it.  When we finished, Sarah, the lodge owner, told us our local boat was at the dock.  I suggested we bring the cards so we could teach the Pfyffer’s our card trick.  Mom said no because she thought it would be too windy, but we brought the cards anyway.  On our way to the boat, we found a puppy and pet it a little, but had to keep moving. Aww, dang.

Guesthouse common area

Sarah and little Kiel

When we got on the boat, we were all happy and high-spirited. A minute after leaving, some big waves splashed on the deck, which I thought was crazy. Louis, Kylie and I were excited, but Mathilde started to cry.  Little did we know that we would be soaked by the time we got to land again. We went over more waves and the boat rocked like a teeter-totter.  Each time we went over a wave, mist and water flew into our faces and pretty soon the boat was soaked. I had fun joking that we should play cards because between the water and the wind, there was no chance of that!  Finally, to everyone’s delight, we rounded a corner and the waves died down at last.  Now, you might be thinking these were big waves, but they were only about 3-4 feet tall. 

An hour later, after making our way along the coast of the island, our captain pulled up at a lovely white sand beach.  We all got off and swam a little bit while Dad and Etienne took the boat a couple more miles down the beach to check out a new place to stay for the following week. When we were done swimming, Anne and I made sand castles that actually looked like castles. Anne’s looked kind of like the Taj Mahal and mine was a walled fortress, three stories high that Mom and I decorated with creepy crawlers.  Sadly, there are no pictures of this.  Meanwhile, Kylie, Arno, Louis and Mathilde buried each other, but I had no interest in getting covered in sand.  I found some quicksand however and sank to my knees.

 

When Dad and Etienne came back, they said “all systems go for next week,” so we got on the boat and went back to Koh Touch, the main tourist place, for lunch.  We found a nice place to eat called Chi Family and had a good meal.  Dad went to a medical clinic and got some medicine for his ear, which had been bothering him for a while.  (Dad’s note: Nothing like a good ear cleaning. All good now.)  When we were done with lunch, we decided to walk around a little bit.  The sewage and waste from the bungalows must have drained into the ocean cause it smelled really bad.  I was so glad we weren’t staying there!  (Dad’s note: Koh Touch is the main tourist/backpack area.  Great place to go if you want to over imbibe and get a an unintended tattoo.)

Restaurant kitchen

View along Koh Touch Beach

When we got back on the boat again, the wind had picked up and the waves were even rougher.  I was in front and every time we went over a wave, water splashed and sprayed mist everywhere.  Our young captain singlehandedly manned the boat and was really good at judging the waves.  He knew when to slow down and when to speed up and when to tinker with the two motors.  About 10 minutes away from the pier at Coconut Beach, we went too fast over a big wave and a bathtub load of water spilled over the front deck of the boat.  I joked that when our boat sank, at least it wouldn’t be a long swim to shore.  From then on, we all had to sit squished up in the back to keep the bow up. 

Our boat, just after disembarking

Back at the pier and beach, everyone was happy to be on land again.  I played with Josh, a nice Australian boy who is now living in Cambodia, until going into the water and playing in the big waves with everyone else.  Later, as we all walked back up and over the hill on our way back to the lodge, Mom said she could have kissed the ground once when we got off the boat if it weren’t so sandy.  I say it was a good day.