Koh Rung Island...

We decided to head over to a an Island off Shinaouke Ville for an overnight stay, Monkey Island Resort on Koh Rung, the "resort" is part of the back-paper guest house on the mainland, Monkey Republic.  It turned out to not be anywhere near enough time, with the "This is Cambodia" attitude seeing the Ferry leave 90 mins late

Ferry to Koh Rung

 and slower going because of the heavier seas, we didn't get there until 4pm.

Wow, what a beautiful spot, spoiled by the usual rubbish and detritus the Cambodians throw into the Ocean with apparent disregard, just not as bad over there.  What other Island can you go to that has the impoverished villagers leading working Water Buffalo around,

Water Buffalo being taken to work

as well as having small Monkeys that Toni fell instantly in love with, albeit only seeing the single pet of a local villager.

A monkey with playmante

Apparently the Island has a heavy population of them, we just never had the opportunity to explore the Island.  The accommodation was beach front, as in 30m from the breaking surf line, thatched roof and walls, minimal facilities, a light in the main room, the "en suite" and on the balcony being the only nod to modern conveniences, we had our own non flush toilet (pour a jug of water in) and cold shower for $30 a night, ($18 for the rooms with shared facilities) the huts were designed to be "rough"  but suited the environment. perfectly,

Our room, complete with mozzie net

the only let down for the "Eco" tag is the generator running from 6 pm until midnight and that they outsource ice operations to the main land, bringing over large quantities every day in the once a day ferry.

They invented the term "laid back" to suit this sort of set up, no powered or un-powered resort craft, lots of nice food, alcohol and softdrinks are available

In formal evening attire, enjoying a beverage after a late afternoon swim

Enjoying dinner, a drink and a book at the pub come restaurant

but the only real thing to do is lay back in the many hammocks, walk the gorgeous beaches and swim.  Idyllic it most certainly was and we needed another day or two to explore a little more.  We were entertained for a short time at night by a fire juggler, unfortunately, like the stay itself, it didn't go on anywhere near long enough.

Playing with fire !

Playing with fire !

You need to stay at minimum 2 nights, dive charters are available as about the only tourist based enterprise on the Island.  There where three "resorts",  the Tree Top huts looked interesting, three rickety stories high built right IN the trees on the beach.

Tree House Accommodation

As ever, the juxtaposition between western hedonism and the realities of the poverty of the local population abound, pretty female tourists sun baking in bikini's on the end of a jetty barley able to hold itself up while the locals toil at the other end and live in shacks the big bad wolf would have no problem demolishing with a single small puff.

Villagers Houses

Only the adventurous need apply, if you're looking for salubrious accommodation masked as eco tourism, this is not it, the ferry is slow, very slow, and rickety, the jetty's are typical of the third world, rickety and you have to be made of stern stuff just to jump across to get on or off, all in all a truly wonderful experience

Sunrise !