Good Time Sally

Reading back, the post yesterday was actually a bit of an explosion. My fault for leaving it so long and having so much to tell you all. I thought it best to start by describing my location, so when writing we all had a picture in mind as to where I am.

The next thing we need to talk about are the jobs I am currently doing here. You see I gave up my job with ADP for a few reasons, but the main reason was really the satisfaction of the job I was doing. I never felt like I was making people happy through my work or efforts, and certainly not myself. Then also the type of work that I was doing was fairly thankless, in consultancy and sales you achieve results. You beat targets, and you get paid. That is your thanks. But so rarely do you hear those words "Thank You". In order to sustain a healthy soul and to acknowledge any effort those simple words are the richest currency, that money will never be able to buy. So in understanding this, or at least in currently having this perspective It was important for me to find a job, or become part of a world where money did not take precedence but where putting your efforts are rewarded with a smile, a thank you, or perhaps even the saving of an endangered species....

Throughout Australia as you can appreciate this was not my focus, my focus there was to surf my ass off. To clear my mind of any dust and cobwebs. To let go. And I feel this was truly accomplished. I left Noosa and the points the happiest I have ever been able to remember, I had competed and done ok in a big surf festival and competition, and I had collected some great friends and tales. But I knew I was going to Cambodia with a job to do, and as I settled into Island life this widened my grin. What a job.

After a couple of days of settling in, work and life began. It started with the reading and tests required to begin diving, and while this was my focus I also began to stick my nose into the other jobs that were available on the Island. Fuck it, you know, it is awesome to be chilling horizontal in your hammock all day don't get me wrong, but as a bit of a geek I do love to work. I love to be learning and doing new things everyday, and it soon became apparent my life on the Island was going to provide just this.

So while studying the PADI Open Water stuff I got stuck into teaching English to the groms. The kids on the island as I briefly described before are a fantastic bunch, literally the most diverse pack of fruit-cakes you will ever meet. But they do all share a common bond, they love to learn. I think realistically they just love to be doing anything but fishing, but nevertheless these little dudes are always stoked, and you can literally be teaching them the most mundane shit, like names of fruits (now thats a story in itself), but they literally love it. They love it so much that you can't help but love it either. I sit there nowadays with 15 of them ages ranging from 6 to say 11, sweating my nuts off, and as we go through shout-repeating names I can't help but smile from ear to ear, there are kids literally hanging off you as we all sit on the mat looking at the board on the floor, clambering, wanting to just be close to you and so hearing them get it right, ask questions in English and scribble down the spellings has to be one of the most rewarding feelings you can have. Another element that makes it all worthwhile is that you too can be close to them. Quite a traditional relationship exists here on the Island, where kids are really kids. Adventurous, intrepid, explorers, a bunch of mini Indiana Jones' spending their days fishing, building, getting stuck into the jungle and truly enjoying childhood. Likewise there is absolutely no western prejudice over the relationship with the kids, it is perfectly normal it seems even as a stranger to be strolling around the village with a couple clambering all over you, a couple clinging to your clothes and holding the hands of several others. It's a great feeling and with being so close it keeps them coming to English everyday, and why not hey, for them it's another opportunity to learn something new, which is apparently their greatest passion in life, after all they are kids.

As a pausing note the Island is a truly innocent place, by no means naive, but with the combination of real traditionalism and a thorough commitment to Buddhism there just isn't any tension here. I mean most nights after the day at work the team will stroll into the village to one of the 2 bars / peoples front rooms acting as bars, and it seems everyone in the village just dances their asses off. Rain (and I mean rain) or (moon) shine the whole place just gets funky to the sound of Khmer beats. Everyone grinning like crazy and with either a Klang (beer) or cup of Mekong Whiskey in their hand, but not one drop of this heat that seems to exist when out in a western bar or club. By heat I mean that intense feeling of needing to either look your best, or have your best pulling strategy out, it just doesn't happen. Because all girlfriends are future wives, and normally chosen for you, it feels like there is no pressure between dudes and girls, everyone is literally there to party, and I mean party until everything is soaked in sweat.

It's quite funny, and I do appreciate we have digressed from the job chat, but when back on the mainland in the bars and clubs there, back with the global bar crawl posse, the atmosphere is completely different. You know what I mean, to look at or to touch someone means something completely different, to dance your ass off so hard you are literally liquid form is apparently frowned upon or must mean you are on something. Take last night as an example as a crew we had the whole dance floor to ourselves for most of the night, as everyone was not drunk enough to dance. Funny that because as soon as you are your also drunk enough to lose all coordination and standing is an issue let alone raving. Haha listening to this coming out it sounds a little bit mental, but I love the innocence of this island, I love the fact that life is for working hard and partying a lot harder, and certainly not for just latching on to some pissed blonde and laying down some smooth lines to try and get her on your moto. Fuck that lets party until we all pass out to the sound the waves.

Anyway, back to work. So yeh I started the teaching thing while reading for PADI, and also began to ehlp out where I could with the Clinic. My friend Anja was running the clinic at the time but her time on the Island was coming to end, in fact this week, and she asked if I could take over the Reigns. Now I do appreciate I am not by any means a trained nurse, or medic, but I do have some knowledge of this world (thanks mum, dad, pengy) as I have always been involved in the Pharms, and medical worlds. Not only that but I do enjoy patching up scabby kids, as similarly to the teaching, there is nothing better than seeing a grom smile, or seeing a parent bowing in thanks as the infection has disappeared. This is a part of my life here that has really really given me the sense of satisfaction I was looking for. So admittedly it does mean waking up at 6:30 / 7:00 everyday, even after not getting to bed sometimes until 4, but as I stroll into what is now my clinic, I guess, on the Pier of all places, there is normally a queue of 8 - 10 people who just beam at you as you take off the padlock and kick out the squatting teenagers (haha brilliant). It is truly the best way to wake up, I mean that is if opening your eyes and remembering that you live on one of the most beautiful islands in the world is not enough hey. It's pretty easy first aid work really, most of the time it just requires a bit of warm water cleaning, and good rub of antiseptic and a bandage or plaster, then a firm telling "leave the plaster on, don't go in the water, come and see me tomorrow", you have to say the last bit as I don't one patient so far who listens to the first 2 points. Especially the kids. This week I did have a good hole to work on one of the Island elders though, a real hardcore dude called Mr Ployt, who was bitten by one of dogs, I mean this thing was a real hole. But it just took a bit longer than normal to clean and patch up, and I decided the best thing for him to do was to get on the next longtail to the mainland and go get some stitches from Dr Kim. Seeing him smiling again as he got on the boat, was enough of a thank you for me, it just felt amazing to know that I had helped in getting him what he needed. Thats another cool point about working and running the clinic actually, getting to hang with Dr Kim. A really mellow old dude in Sihanoukville who always greats us with a smile. It's been really interesting learning from him actually, as for example this weekend I went to him after I had found worms in one of the kids poop which I knew I would need to get tablets for the whole village for. and then a couple of the kids have managed to contract a skin disease from one the dogs on the Island. So upon speaking with the Dr last weekend has asked me to get some pictures of the scabs and infected areas, and I sat with him yesterday while he taught me about the different diseases it could be and while we found the appropriate antibiotics. How sweet is that, literally dudes, I am smiling my ass off as I write this, just knowing that I had always wanted to be doing this, just this.

So 7:30 I am patching scabby kids, and poking through their poop, then in the evening I am teaching the little ones English, while others are teaching the teenagers and adults. So what the hell do I do all day.

Well now with my PADI OW completed I can dive (to a maximum of 18 meters), oooops, did a dive this week to 25.4 meters but don't tell anyone ok. It means I could start the conservation work I originally signed up for. The 2 main areas I am working in are Seahorse surveys, and reef clean ups. Diving is a whole other chapter to be honest guys, and I hope to be able to talk to you about that with some pictures so I will keep that for another day, but the main responsibilities are. In the Seahorse surveys we dive in groups of 3 and we normally get ourselves hooked into the current and lie really low, just a couple of inches max off the bottom (great buoyancy practice), then we move as slowly as possible across the sea bed investigating every urchin, rock, twig, to look for little sea-ponies who might be clinging on there. Its seriously fun work, and last week I managed to be the first to spot one, rather than just hovering over one someone has found to take its details, this time I found one just hidden in a dead clam shell, it was breathtaking, well actually too much breathtaking as I got so excited I blitzed about 10bar of air in a second but was a truly emotional moment, there I was hovering like an astronaut-apache helicopter over this little girl, as she was staring right back at me. The most beautiful pink and white creature I have ever seen. Her little fins and crown flapping frantically to stay on the rock, we shared a moment haha, I wrote down her vitals and bid her farewell. One day I thought as I continued we will get you and your family up to good numbers again, we will get a parameter in place to stop trawlers smashing your homes, and if that isn't a good enough reason to be here then I don't know what is. God I love this part of my jobs too.

The reef clean ups are slightly different to this really, they are truly wonderful too as you dive onto the corals armed with a knife and bag, you glide gently around picking up all the shit thats lying around, normally playing cards and for some reason pants??? But this is all a very very chilled experience, in fact diving is probably one of the most chilled things you can do, as you are in like this quite zen like place both physically and mentally, your efforts are on controlling every breath and moving as little as possible, being as slow as possible, and believe me I don't want to ruin the diving stories that will be coming, but when surrounded by a school of 42 big Batfish it is sometimes hard to control the breathing and not get excited. But again as you surface with you bag full and you feel like you have made a real difference, yeh of course, tomorrow there will be just as much trash on the reef, but you do feel for today anyway the fishies and life down there can breathe once again. Again a big smile on my face.

So you would think in between clinic, seahorse spotting, reef cleaning, teaching partying your ass off and lying in hammocks there would not be time for anything else. Well actually I have found a further job that has got me very much hooked, and also in with the project management.

But my internet time is very very nearly up I am afraid, haha, I actually have to get out of here as I have a longtail to catch. Fuck. Ok so next week I will tell you about the job that has truly captivated me, a job I never thought would be out there, but instead has found me and with a little help has become a real occupation prospect, wait, career prospect. Oh and of course I will tell you all about some of the diving that has been going on.......I don;t have my logbook this time and don't want to miss any of the detail.

Phew, glad I am back into writing these posts to you all actually, there was so much in my mind I just had to let you know what was going on out here. Apologies it may read a little scrambled but thats just my chilled little noggin trying to remember how to get all this across. God damn I wish you were all here to enjoy what can only be described as the one of the best existences I could have dreamed of. I hope all of you are well.

Hey guys.....

Ok, you know what I am going to put the Australia chapter down for a little while. No worries, no worries we will all be able to pick it up again when I have a little more time to use the internet and things like that, but for now I need to bring you all up to where we are today. I have the rest of the Oz trip documented in my travel bible so it will happen. But like I say, I need you all to close your eyes for a few moments and let me transport you to a very, VERY, different place.

Welcome to Cambodia.

More specifically let me welcome you to the Island of Koh Rung Samleom. K.R.S. hmmm how best to describe this place....This is actually a bit of a story in itself to be honest guys. I have tried to take a few pictures of the Island and of the views that I have, but still I cannot find the shot that would best describe where I am. Then I thought ok perhaps I will not achieve a true description by leaving it up to the hands of my Lumix, and so I have tried several tmes in my hammock to write or draw a sufficient description of the Island. Again failure as I realised that words also come short when trying to do this place justice. Why? Well it just has to be the emotions associated with what I am seeing and experiencing here.

As an ok National Geographic / Lonely Planet style summary of the Island, I can tell you it is a small Island off the coast of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The Island is fairly tucked away behind several other Islands as you enter the Gulf of Thailand, which provides a great amount of shelter, for both marine and land based ecosystems. With this positioning the Island is completely covered in very rich green Jungle, and the entire surrounding coastline drops onto all kinds of reefs and sandbars literally teeming with all kinds of fish, corals and small sea mammals. Perfect some might say, but it really really does not stop here. As you approach the Island on our standard form of travel (traditional Khmer longtail boat) the first thing you notice is the cooling breeze generated by being in the gulf, this is a great first impression as the temperature comes down to a cool 32 degrees on average. Then the cove opens, and as you drift slowly past the main blocking Island in you realise the impact all the colours are having on your senses. Brilliant greens, of all shades, the cool tasting turquoise of the sea, the deep purples of the reefs 20 metres down, and of the course the shimmering white of the sand as it surrounds the island. This is your very first impression of the Island.

Then the boat pulls up to the beach, and saying that it really does feel like a scene from the movie, in front of you there is a very small traditional fishing village. Houses comprised of local timbers and corrugated iron sheets. Tarpaulin as a major prevention from wet season flooding flaps in the cool sea breeze. The conservation village to the left (consisting of 7 bungalows/sheds) lies hidden behind a mask of palms and beach trees. You gather your bags slip off your flippy floppy's and jump into the water off the boat. First sense is that of the ridiculously hot water, in the shallows here I am not even joking when I say I would be comfortable in colder baths, then you are bundled by at least 10 gromets, freaking out with the prospect of another mystical westerner entering their community and their Island. They pull at your bags, and you, and at first perhaps it's hard to feel comfortable, but you can't help but smile and laugh with them, as they carry wider smiles than moon crescents. You gladly hand over your luggage as they run down the beach with it towards the conservations main bungalow, a rehearsed welcoming that relaxes you in an instant.

Upon entering the bungalow, no in fact even approaching the conservation village you are truly reminded of what it means when people say a natural and rustic existance. There is no sound other, than birds, kids squeals in the wind, and the sea. No generator hums, no vehicles, no "Tuk Tuk", "Moto", "Taxi" just the feeling of the sand crushing under your feet, and the odd crab sprinting across the burning surface. I arrived late in the afternoon, everyone had finished work for the day and was winding down when I met them, and this seemed to be a perfect time. I dumped my staff in bungalow, with a sigh. Luke who was showing me around, says "oh and if you play guitar we have one here, (a really Island looking 3/4), but no one plays it so feel free" Again a sigh and a grin at Luke (I had been waiting for a guitar for pretty much my whole time in OZ and to this point) "Oh im sure I'll find a use for that" I respond. "What a place hey man" I mention to Luke as we begin our tour, he replied "Dude, welcome to the Island, population us and about 200 others, and beyond that millions and millions of the best friends you can have." Random I think, what is this crazy Londoner chatting about???? Little did I know not only was this a beautiful place above the sea, only previously witnessed in dreams of tropical islands, but the true beauty of this place was to be found around 15-20 meters down, amongst that purpley shade in the turquoise glass surrounding us.

Hmmmm, reading back, does this best describe how I felt, and the things I saw that first day....It may do it some justice, but I think the moment I realised I was truly in a very special place. I was lying on my bunk in my net, and the moment I opened my eyes, i peeked through my square whole in the wall (window) and was greeted by cool pastel shades of pink, red, blue, green of the longtails in the bay, the sun as it had just popped up above the now sparkling green jungle. The rich blue and purple sea was waving back at me inviting me in, some sanctuary from the 30 degree heat already at 7am. I went outside onto the balcony brushing my teeth and had to pause, for their was no sound, nothing, other than the occasional horn-bill, a tear actually came to me, haha (@choppy - a small tear falls), I had never felt so honestly happy to be alive, I have never felt so sure of making the right decisions, and I had never wished my friends and family could be looking at what I was staring at right now so much. It is moments like this that are begining to reoccur here, moments where you realise that this planet, has tiny corners, incredibly small in their produce, their advertisement, yet so so so rich in sensory exploding details that really remind you of what it is to be human. It is places like this that remind you why you have eyes to see, why you have skin to feel, why you have a nose to smell and a tongue to taste, why you have ears to hear. Each sense is taken on vacation here, and given the massage its always needed. This place is designed for one thing really and that is to give your soul a rest. Yeh that's pretty good actually this is where your heart and soul come to vacation. Now if you can imagine that, then you are half way to understanding I think, the next half is to get yourself here.....

Ok so I will continue this story, however I have an errand to run for a couple of hours. Haha, who'd have thought I would have a job to do here. Well actually 4 jobs, but thats cool, the currency is worth more than gold. Real happiness.