Its now the 13th of November and I feel like I have been travelling for a year, most days have involved some sort of moving from one place to another with a few breaks in between, so we decided to head down to the south coast for a bit of R & R. On the way from Battambang it was decided to break the journey up with a stop at Kampong Chnang, a four hour bus trip later and in the dark, we arrived, found a guest house and a place to eat and settled in for the night.

The following morning we headed up to the lake to see the “floating villages”. On the way we caught a glimpse of the local transport system;

If you look closely, you will see five people on this bike !! all wearing the compulsory safety gear of course !

Next was the local timber lorries;

We were then accosted by a Vietnamese woman who insisted on us using her boat to see the sights, so for £4.50 we were treated to an hour of meandering by female hand powered canoe, through this fascinating world of a lifestyle which can only be described as “serene”.

We bought some fresh mangoes from the street market on our way back to the guesthouse, and coupled with some peanuts and biscuits, had a  very late lunch. Later, we were sat at the guest house when about six Aussie guys rolled up on motorbikes, so I sat with them and chatted “bikes” as us boys do, they had been all over Vietnam and Cambodia. We were up early the next day to catch a bus to Phnom Penh, but they were all full, so after brunch, we at last got a bus to take us the two hour ride to the capital. We were hoping to catch an onward bus to Kep when we got there and we were so lucky, we stepped off one bus, went to another bus company along the road, and were told to get straight onto the bus in front of us. After three hours we arrived in Kep on the south coast, booked into digs and walked along the coast road for about two miles during the sunset to find a wonderful restaurant on the beach front where I ate fresh crab with pepper corns.

The next morning,we packed and headed for the small port in Kep where we boarded a “Hammond’s pond” boat to take us the half hour crossing to Koh Tonsay (Rabbit ) Island, where we decided to go to have a rest from all the travelling. As we approached, we both knew we would probably spend more than the two days we had previously planned, it looked so peaceful;

On arrival, we checked in to a wonderful little bamboo hut and, started what was to be, a week of sheer bliss ! The island was so quiet, especially first thing in the morning and after four in the afternoon, as between those hours, there would be a few other people coming over to spend a few hours there, then return back to the mainland. My days were spent getting up around 5.30 to watch the sunrise, chill out for an hour or two, have fresh fruit for breakfast, swim, read, have a light lunch of fresh seafood, swim some more, walk around the island, walk up the hills of the island, spend time with the local kids on the beach, laying in the sun for an hour or so, then watching amazing sunsets before having dinner around 7pm (more fresh seafood) and a couple of beers and chatting to other travellers until around 10pm. You only have electricity between the hours of around 6pm and 9.30pm, this is provided by a diesel generator in a shed back from the beach, and when its turned off, the whole island is plunged into total darkness and uncanny silence, it is beautiful. Laying out on a hammock watching the stars put in another hour or two, then its off to kip for it all to start over again the next morning.

Nhari, one of the beautiful children we were so lucky to spend time with.

The remains of a Khmer Rouge gun tower at the top of the island.

One of the young village lads collecting coconuts !

Eventually, the day came when we had to say goodbye to the island and its people, and head of back to reality.

We headed to a town called Kampot for the next evening, a short bus ride followed by a trip to the bank to get “beer money” out, then found a guest house, food, beer then eventually sleep. The memories of “rabbit Island” will stay with me for a while I think.