Cambodia: Koh Sdach

If I thought Koh Rong was remote feeling, that opinion changed quickly even before getting to our next destination. We spent an entire afternoon walking to various travel companies trying to figure out how to get to Koh Sdach from Sihanoukville. The language barrier had a lot to do with the difficulty we encountered, but I also realized that many of the people we asked weren't accustomed to using maps and even when we pointed to the place we wanted to go, they couldn't help us. Eventually, a woman was able to help us and we learned that we needed to take a bus in the direction of Koh Kong, but hop off at a cafe along the way and wait for a minibus to take us to Poi Yopon where we could hire a dingy to take us across to the island of Koh Sdach. It was a bit scary to think of doing this and know that the places we'd be going probably wouldn't have many English speakers to help if we got lost or ran into trouble. Luckily, we were seated near an English speaking German man who also spoke Khmer and he helped us make the connection to the minibus.

View from the road.

The minibus took us through what used to be a national park but has been bought up by some Chinese developers and now has a 4 lane road (dirt) from which you can see extensive deforestation and what Sam and I called Cambodian subdivisions. Rows of the same cookie cutter homes of the people who were displaced by the development of a resort, golf course and casino where they used to have farms.

Cookie cutter houses.

This part of the country was my first taste of what people talk about when they refer to Cambodian roads in the rainy season. Pot holes the size of small lakes dot the road and make what should be a 4-hour journey 8 hours long. Luckily, the bridges weren't underwater and we were able to get to our destination without too much fuss. We hopped into a small motorboat and arrived at the island of Koh Sdach after a bumpy ride and met Owen at Shallow Waters where we would spend the next two nights.

Dingy + Koh Sdach in the distance.

Shallow Waters - where the blue boat is parked.

The lodging is a stilted wooden structure just above the water on the pier - you had to be careful not to drop things through the cracks into the water. The village was very local without many people who spoke English and I took the opportunity to practice some basic Khmer - numbers/fried rice/egg/chicken.

Dog on table. Everyday.

Koh Sdach Customs + Excise.
Apparently they don't bother with it anymore.

One day, we waited for the rains to allow us to go out on a boat and were happy when the rain stopped long enough for us to go over to a neighboring island - Koh Totang (which doesn't seem to be on Google maps). We met Charlene and Kevin from Nomad's Land where they are completely off the grid - using solar power, filtering rain water to drink and composting waste, etc. There are only 3 families living on the island aside from Charlene and Kevin and it was cool to be in such a remote paradise. I asked them how they feel about the large Chinese development happening across the straight from them and they said they don't really know what's happening. These are so many rumors (the Chinese have bought certain islands, but no one knows which) that they just have to wait to see what happens.

Between buildings on the pier.

Fishing boats at sunset.