Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The island
Whilst travelling you pick up lots of tips and stories on where to go and what to do, what to eat, where to sleep, telephone numbers for this, websites for that. Sometimes it's over whelming information over load, or sometimes it's just not to our taste. But this one time we were told about an island off the coast of Cambodia and we were not let down.
On the advise of our friends this island took some planning. Contrary to our usual just turn up somewhere and hunt down a place to stay, we needed to book. Accommodation was very limited, and boats to the island sparse.
We got the bus to Sihanoukville- also known to many as 'Stuckville'. It's the party capital of Cambodia and many backpackers that come through here often get bar work and stay for a while. It's also a vital organ to Cambodia's array of islands. Placed perfectly central on the mainland between all the islands Cambodia has to offer. We were planning on visiting Sihanoukville to party as the standard person visiting would do but we had a date somewhere else first.
As soon as we jumped out the mini bus and before we had even set eyes on Sihanoukville we grabbed a Tuk Tuk and made our way about 20 mins drive from the main strip of bars and restaurants along the beach and towards heaven. Otres beach was where the people from the island sent there boat to collect new visitors so we wanted to spend the afternoon and evening there before setting off. It was also a get away for those wanting to escape the hustle and bustle of the main town and the beach here was incredible with only basic huts for accomadation lining it. It felt unspoilt. We found the place I had been back and forth emailing to book and I've got to say even now 5 months into our trip and god knows how many hostels, huts, home stays and so on. Looking back at all the places we have stayed this has got to be my absolute favourite.
Shanti Shanti bungalows was a collection of 5 tree house style huts and a small bar/kitchen with toilet and shower attached.
We had a wooden hut set high on stilts as close to the sea as you can physically get without sharing the space with the fish. It had a set of stairs to the decking and a role down front like a large set of blinds made out of leaves for a front door. Once rolled up all that lie inside was a bed. You could lift up the mattress and it revealed a compartment for which you could securely keep your bags. Underneath the hut suspended from the exterior were whicker sofas with cushions on, and directly in front were 2 sun loungers. We spent the day on the beach and watched the sunset from our front garden. We were then made a BBQ by our French hosts, and went to bed to the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. As gay as it all sounds, before I came away when I was nervous and having sleepless nights, i would always envisage a sky full of stars and the sound of the sea to relax me and get me to sleep. It worked every time and for the first time since we left I was living my actual dream.
The next morning we had breakfast and awaited our boat to Koh Ta Kiev. Although we were both really looking forward to the island life for a few days, having had to pre book accommodation came with its set backs. Ideally we would have loved to stay in the bungalow another night but then again thinking about it Chris's tolerance to beach bumming and doing nothing on a beach only really stretches a few hours, so I bet he was secretly pleased!
The boat arrived and a man with dreads jumped off and came to shore, he was collecting there daily supply of fresh food and water. He then helped me carry my bag through the water which was up to my waist until I reached the boat. The boat took about 1 hour and half to arrive at Coral Beach. When we got off the boat it was like a scene from the film 'The Beach'. There were bungalows spread out across the beach and hammocks amongst palm trees. A washing line filled with clothing of all sizes that stretched out along the far right side where the coral in the sea began. A French lady with long dark curly hair came up to us as we walked up the stairs to the bar over hanging the sea. 'You must be Bella, come with me your staying in monkey bungalow' I was quite relived she approached us quickly as it was actually fairly intimidating walking up from the beach as everyone was staring at us like WHY ARE YOU ON MY ISLAND. There was a real sense of community here. Children in cots and toddlers running around. Everyone was taking care of everyone no matter your age or where you were from if you were part of the Coral beach family you were looked after.
After showing us our bungalow. We were told about the restaurant, 'I don't cook all day' she said. 'There are 3 options for lunch and dinner, a meat dish, a fish fish and a veggie dish. It changes every day depending on what I fancy. I collect your choice in food at 12.30pm for lunch or 7pm for dinner- if your late you won't get fed' I let out a bit of laughter. It was like she was the mother of the whole thing. Like if your late home I'll throw your dinner in the bin young lady. Haha.
We knew there was no electricity on the island, back to basics, but we weren't aware there were no shower facilities until the following day. Wash in the ocean it is!
The day we arrived we grabbed some snorkel gear and set out to take a look at what was lurking below. The hotel had flippers, masks and snorkels as well as a few harpoons if you wanted to catch your tea! We figured we would have a look first before we grabbed the basic bow and arrow type harpoon. I reminded Chris he wasn't actually Leonardo Di'caprio.
Off the beach there was a wooden raft attached to a rope that went out about 100 meters. We jumped on and detached the raft from the rope and started pulling. If we had let go of the rope the raft would have just floated wherever the sea wanted us to go, so we treated it with military precision - making sure we weren't going to end up like destiny's child's survivor music video. When we got to the end we re wrapped the rope around the raft on both ends. I rambled on about my time in the sea cadets, and all the knots I learnt. However it became quite obvious I couldn't remember a thing. After snorkelling a while, we opted to have a diving competition. Chris did a penguin dive. He won. That takes skill man! I tried a roley poley but belly flopped and ended up choking on the sea water up my nose. So glamerous!
Just before sunset we headed back and got ready for dinner. I'm no food critic, but I love food. And the French woman smoking weed all day in her bikini and ankle bracelets was cooking Michelin star restaurant food. The cost $5 for a meal worth attest 10 times that. Huge portions. Fresh ingredients. Perfect.
The following day we woke up to yoga on the beach at sunrise. Whilst I don't do yoga it was so peaceful to watch. This literally is the most hippy cult place I've ever seen. We asked for a map of the island. They had a hand drawn map on the wall, we took a photo of it and had a look at what there was to explore. Koh ta Kiev had about 2 other hotels, well beach hut style beds similar to where we were staying. It wasn't resorts or massive crowds of people. If you knew about this place it would have purely been on recommendation. In fact we had heard stories of people just hiring a boat and going to the island only to be told there was no where for them to stay. Plus it was a budget place. No luxury. So wealthy holiday makers would probably be horrified. There was also Cambodia's Absinthe distillery for there own brand of absinthe on the island. Pretty random but there was no way we weren't visiting that. Also on the other side of the island were 2 more beaches and a fishing village. We were told the fishing village sold amazing seafood so we set out to explore with the hope of arriving at the village in time for lunch.
We came out of our bungalow and followed the beach round past a corner of rocks with tons of huge sea urchins all over the sea bed. We had already reached the main beach, this was where the local boats took people for day trips. About 50 meters along you took a right turn into the jungle where you could already smell absinthe. I was heaving. Then another 50 meters in there it was. A tiny wooden structure with what looked like a lab below it. With pipes and bubbles and smoke going into test tubes. Dexter's Laboratory. Where's my white coat? Round the corner were a set of stairs going up to the top of the distillery. These were huge stairs. Like one step was double your normal one, and very steep. More like a giant ladder. It made me laugh that they did absinthe tasting days up here. In a space no bigger then your average UK lounge size up a 10 meter climb on basically a ladder. Wonder how many people had broken bones trying to get back down after trying it all!
Next stop was the fishing village. We followed the jungle up a hill to the Center of the island. Then there was the first reminder. The reminder that nothing stays natural and dessert island secret for long. A MASSIVE concrete road, ploughing through the jungle. It wasn't finished, it was like crossing over a building site. Then we remembered what Yumi and Matt had told us. A Chinese man had bought the island and was planning on building a casino at the top. WHY? This is a tiny island. There's no need. WHY DO HUMANS DESTROY EVERYTHING? And do you know what whilst I'm on this rant I'm going to say it. A massive swooping generalisation here. But I do not like the Chinese. Throughout our trip we have heard stories, we have visited beautiful places, we have spoken to locals. And each one sings the same tune. I'll give you some quick examples of the Chinese population single handily destroying the earth.
Laos - the gibbon experience. The gibbons are endangered monkeys, nearly extinct. Why? There was a demand for the animal for Chinese medicine.
The bear sanctuary- bears rescued from being kept in cages the size of shoe boxes their whole life with a wound being continually opened to drain out their stomach bile, whilst they eat, sleep and urinate in the same spot. Why? Chinese medicine needs it.
Vang vieng- once a sleepy town with nothing but huts along the river. Now a scene from Tekeshi's castle with 5 star resorts, pollution, waste and selfie sticks. Why? Because the people of Laos were tricked into thinking this would help there economy. Instead- its destroying there homes. Taking there land, and making them live amongst even more poverty.
Vietnam- Ha Long Bay- over fished with no more oysters, and a population of floating villages multiplied by 100 when the Chinese suddenly wanted all the oysters. But then after coxing the men from the land to move to the ocean to get them there oysters, and clean out there ocean, decided they had there own method. So dropped them all and left them penniless with no more oysters for even them to eat themselves.
These few examples are bad enough, and for those that don't give a damn about animals, and the land the Chinese are taking. How about the humans there stealing? With the Chinese population reaching a dangerously high level, and laws only permitting them to have one child. Most families discarded the girls they had believing the boy was more powerful. This dreadful decision made by millions of Chinese not only left God knows how many little girls dead, or in orphanages but made a bed for them selves when it came to the future and how they would ever continue as a race if there were 10 men to 1 woman. With that all in mind the next horror story we learnt was still the most shocking and disgusting we had heard. We met a very nice man. On first impressions he looked like a backpacker, but after continually bumping into him and getting talking to him he told us he was a journalist living in Phnom Penh. He was trying to tackle the human trafficking problem Cambodia was facing. Chinese men, of rich and wealthy status would come to Cambodia, befriend a girl and her family. Tell the family that they wanted to marry the girl and bring her to China for a better life, and in return for there daughters hand in marriage he would pay the family every month so they needn't worry about money in Cambodia. In reality they were taking the young girl, bringing her back to China and sharing her amongst there friends, family, colleagues. Using her as a slave. Stealing poor vulnerable families child's for there own greed and grain. With no regard of emotions. And the reason it's such a problem, is because the Cambodian embassy in China is paid off. There's no help for these girls. They go for help, if they can escape, and there turned away.
Before coming away I had no opinion on China or the Chinese. I liked the food. I knew there was a problem with sharks being over fished for the fin to make there delicacy shark fin soup but I figured every race or country has something that isn't agreed with in other places. In China they eat dogs and cats. But in Malta they eat rabbits. So what makes one race any better then another when they all eat animals of some description. Unfortunately my option however has completely changed. The Chinese is the common denominator in every single problem we have heard about in all 4 countries visited so far. Whilst I'm not about to start a Chinese hate campaign, I'm entitled to my opinion and I no longer care for visiting the Great Wall of China or going to the streets of Hong Kong. China is well and truly off my list and I've even gone off the food.
Back to the island, that I was now thankful for visiting before it becomes another hub for the super rich to over populate, over fish, and pollute in there thousands. We had crossed back into the jungle again and were told to follow the blue paint spots on the trees for the fishing village. There were also red spots going to another beach but we ignored them and ventured deeper and deeper into the jungle. According to the map, we had to walk the same distance from our hotel to the distillery - probably about 30 minutes. Well the map wasn't drawn to scale. And we learnt that the hard way. 1 and half hours in, we had run out of water, and run out of blue dots. There were no paths or obvious ways to go. And whilst we love exploring, we hadn't seen a single other person the entire way and I was bloody hungry, tired and hot. It was nearly lunch and I was promised a beach day. Instead we had a Chris day. We had been up exploring since 9am. We decided to turn around. Which annoyed Chris as he hates to be defeated by anything but I just wanted the beautiful beach that we had passed on the way in.
After finally making back I ran into the sea like I'd been lost for weeks. We made friends with another couple. Chloe who was Canadian and Matt who was from Essex. They came and had lunch with us at our kitchen as we had gone on so much about it and then we took them on our raft and showed them the coral. After which we got drinks and watched the sunset. Another day in paradise was over and the next morning it was time to head to Sihanoukville to meet up with our Canadian friends we had met in Koh Tao.
My advise to anyone wanting to visit this magical place. Get there, enjoy the food, and the beach, and the people of coral bay before there all kicked off to make way for resorts.
Koh ta Kiev was a true slice of heaven, full of people living a simple life, where money and fashion and 'things' are not important. Outdoor fires and incredible food served to you by once wandering souls who found a home here.
There's a Bob Marley quote that was written on the wall which was perfectly suited to Coral Bay:
"I wish we were all hippies and we did yoga, lived in cottages, smoked weed, accepted people for who they are and listened to wonderful music. I wish money didn't make us who we are. I just wish we could 're-do' society"
Should of found coral beach Bob!
- comments