The Year After The Night Before

365 days ago on a dark and stormy night in a foreign land, I found myself forlorn and alone, stranded and wounded. Fearing for my life after a horrific accident that would change the rest of my life, seeing months squandered in a painstaking recovery both physically and psychologically...
 

Who am I kidding?!

It was a mild night in at the beginning of the summer, just as the temperature is maturing from spring and I had met up with accompanied a good friend from my Koh Rong days, Dennis, to one of his friends birthday parties.on the promise to myself of not showing him up, I vowed not to drink too much. But then my hand outstretched at the bar and a beer-too-many accidentally fell into my mouth, which later resulted in a slip of footing and a battle with the cobbled streets of Graz, Austria. Curb 1-0 Becca. After much conversation to and fro , everyone decided it'd be best for me to end my evening there and get an ambulance to hospital (much against my wishes... For both ending my night and going to hospital). Once safely strapped in, and with the blue lights flashing, Dennis and I proceeded to take some selfies in the ambulance, joke around with the doctors, then he joyrode a wheelchair whilst I got my diagnosis....a fracture tibia. 

"At least I haven't broken my leg!" I thought. Swiftly being corrected and learning that a fracture is a break. A fracture tibia means I broke my leg. The fun and games ended a few days later when I realized the difficulty showering, making myself a cuppa, the sheer drop that comes with missing a step on the stairs...and that I'd have to move back in with my Mum and Dad for the first time in years...but hey- if it's not a good time it's a good story. Right? And it certainly wasn't a night to forget...if only I could remember most of it.

 

   Needless to say it was a defining moment of my year at least on those (wonky) streets in Austria.

 

The next few months saw me return to La Case de Old Lady y Baldy, after an entertaining conversation with my Mum on the phone which said in a more explicit tone "You're ever so silly, Rebecca. I wonder what thought would've skipped through your mind for you to wonder so carefree around those streets. Your vision must've been clouded through the slight inebriation of one tickle of larger too many" which I did receive a heads up text from my Dad about saying;

"told her not to be to tough wiv u x"

I'm glad I got the heads up, I would've been more glad if my mother had listened that advice. 

 

My active lifestyle of snowboarding, via ferrata, hiking (does dancing on tables count as a sport?) was very quickly reduced to a daily climb up the stairs, a hobble to the toilet, and a hop to the kitchen once an hour. Entertainment I normally source from a social with friends, an excursion to grab a coffee, or a stroll around the outdoors was rapidly reduced to whatever I could find on Netflix, solitaire on my laptop, or the ever-dreadful-but-addictive SCROLL. Eventually I strained my eyes from watching screens all day (and I even convinced myself I had an eyefloater taking over the entirety of my left side vision and a brain tumor...thanks for that one google). It was just a temporary lifestyle change for me, luckily. But it doesn't change how dramatic that shift was.

 

Eight weeks after that initial hangover, my cast was off and leg was free to face the world again. Now resembling a flakey, undercooked, and rolled-on-the-floor-and-covered-in-hair crossiant. 

 

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd I'm back under my rock again. This month has not been a good one for my electromagnetic field (aka my ability to break or lose anything of any value) I'm phoneless, watchless and cameraless. But hey- at least my tablet still works (kinda.)

Living the quiet island life this past month. I can count the amount of times I've been drunk on one hand (and the amount of times I fell asleep in the Runaways' toilet on one finger). Hitting low season in it's prime now, although I did manage to sell 7 tickets the other day bringing my monthly income back up to my average after seeing just over 100 people this month in the park.

We've still been getting monkey's daily, trying to steal things from my bag- shaking the tightropes- winding up the dog. The norm. Had 2 tree pythons in one day (bringing my Island total to 5 snakes in 4 months). My latest wildlife adventure though is one for the facepalm.

Soo I have a group of 8 people I'm guiding around the park. It's all going well, everyone is safe, everyone is having fun, nobody has told me to shut up or tried testing my patentice by taking their safety clips off. So far, so good. After about an hour of swinging, climbing, surfing through the jungle I look down at my feet and I see a scorpion. So, being the nature lover I am, decide not to kick it off the platform or kill it etc seeing that we're in the jungle (the scorpions home) so I leave him be. BUT I give the Kiwi guy who I'm going around the park a word of warning to watch his feet because he's wearing flip flops (or as they say in NZ...jandels) and there's a SCORPION walking around next to him...fastforward about 15 seconds and I next to me comes a scream and I know screams are never really good in the park (y'know it's my job to make sure nobody falls or is scared of falling and screaming and falling go hand-in-hand) and I'm like "WOAH dude, you okay?!" he's like "I'm fine, the scorpion just climbed on my foot"... buddy. you had one job.

The birthday boy celebrating the finishing of a bottle of 31 Gold Whiskey

Been trying to get a bit more creative recently with my cooking (fried veg and rice/ noodles can get a little tiring after this many months) so I've been experimenting with coconut milk, cumin, dodgy vegtable soups and even managed to make an oreo cake in secret for Nat's birthday. Such an exciting life these day now my liver is recovering.

Used up my last two days off for the months by finally using my advance certificate in SCUBA I got earlier in the year and doing a couple of dives. Visibility was about 8m but paying the staff rate for the dives I can't really complain and had a great time.

I'm getting itchy feet again now, but with my Visa until December and a few friends (hopefully) planing to visit Koh Rong at the end of the year I've just been told I'm allowed to have a month or so out so I can have a holiday for a little while and come back here for high season. August - mid September and they're keeping my job and room available so now I can start planning what to do with the time, see if Barry is going to join me and stock up on cat food whilst I'm away so Klang can get looked after. The adventure continues.

Island updates and observations

The island is a quiet place at the moment. Low season hitting and lots of rain and not lots of tourists means more excuses for bonfires (in our newly created bonfire pit), games of cards indoors and making use of my 50c jacket I bought in Vietnam back in March (for the first time since getting windchill on Barry). Even had a week off the alcohol.


About 6 weeks ago we got new neighbours, who moved into Anton's old house. They're totally badass to say the least. Alec is a friendly Russian giant and Sarah is the most hardcore lady I have ever met. So we see her zooming past on her scooter she goes;

Sara: "Mr Nathan! Bacon! (my name, close enough)"
      -points to her basket on the front of the scooter-
      -Inside is an inflated puffer fish-

Nat: Did you catch that?
     -nods-

Nat: Are you going to eat that?
    -nods-

Me: Is it still alive?
    -nods-

CAMBODIA!

Not to mention her wrestling some 1 1/2m Iguana Lizard thing from the doorstep; underneath the house, catching it, putting it in a cage to look at; then releasing it. Boom! Or her bringing over some fried Sting Ray for Nat to chomp on (and roasted sweet potato for me!) Or her totally accurate coo'ing to call in her chickens at the end of the day. Totally. Badass. Her kids are hella cute too, coming over to ask for "baby cat" all the time.

I returned back to my calling in life- working on the biggest pub crawl in Cambodia! Hearding people from place to place, starting a party, bad influencing people to getting drunk and calling it "work" and not to mention getting paid in free booze.

Little baby Klang is doing as good as ever! Bounced right back. From being sleepy and lethargic all day to non-stop play. Still has enough cute moments for me to snap these;





A funny story I remembered about my friend Sean from the last post, so he and my friend Petra went on a boat trip to see the bioluminescent plankton (too much joss in the water I think, or radioactive poisoning from our neighbours in China...or just nature being cool as!) and he slipped and fell and ripped himself a new arseho-... he impales his buttocks on an anchor... fair to say everyone was very sympathetic...ankorwat?

"I slipped and it fell into my butt"...nice one.

Me and Jay, he rocks my crop top better than me

This week saw some friendly faces from back home. George, Danielle, Beth and Josh came to Koh Rong so took them around the jungle, fell over in the park a little bit and obviously had my designer footwear mocked.

One of my good friends, Jay, opened up a hostel on the other (boring) island, Koh Rong Samluem. It's called Blue Dog and it's totally mint. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures because after one-too-many cocktails (come on, it was my weekend off!) I forgot to take any on my newly acquired phone, but these are some of the snaps from Sarason's bay. Had a mint time at their opening party and I'm expecting some big things to come from there and I can see a few more of my days off being spent over on that side of the bay.

 I've had worse views whilst "waiting for the bus" (or the ferry) 

Other than these updates it has been a pretty tough week on the island for me. Had some bad news from home about my Grandad George; so I've keeping myself busy this week with the company of some of my friends and the day job of swinging through the jungle. Sending a lot of love in the direction of England to Grandma and the family and thinking a lot about everyone and remembering some great times me and my grandparents have had. I definitely wouldn't be the person I am today without my Grandparents. Maybe I caught the travel bug from them after being guided around London in the Summer Holidays every year, seeing things most people my age and from my hometown still haven't done. Gathering a thirst for knowledge after being shown the history and culture of our capital city, London. My good attitude towards life, my manors, respect towards everyone from the cashier in the local corner shop to the train conductor, to the person sitting next to me on the bus. Being told my (toy) pet rabbit would be made into a pie, looking after our little pet Gerbils, being taught woodwork in Grandad's workshop. My love for nature and birds; being shown around the wetlands to feeding Woody the Pigeon in the garden (or helping to prepare the waterbombs for the cats who pray on him). Chomping on tellytubby biscuits, reading the jokes on the tellytext and trusting my Grandad George would've washed the grapes before giving them to me. I'm still looking for the wizard, and the lady with a ring in her nose and all our other characters. Big love to you Grandad George, love your little pet.



"If I can go the whole of the Navy without getting a tattoo, I can guarantee you I wont be getting one in Camden today"

Some rare photo evidenceof the time of my life;

Today Is A Good Day To Have A Good Day

Funk Night with some of the faves

With the celebration of my tablet arriving back into my possession and a brand new phone (after my last one died after a phone call with my brother and lots of ear sweat, ew) I am back to the blog with lots of updates!

So what's new from the Island? Where do I start? My body is now 50% 31 Gold Khmer Whiskey, 10% Orange Fanta, the other is either Klang or Joss or Egg Fried Rice.

I had taken up a second job for a little bit of time handing people Klang for $1 and screaming SPIN THE WHEEEEEEEEEEEL at my favourite bar on the Island to help them out whilst they were short staffed. So I got paid in alcohol, creative control of the music in the bar and doing what I do best- encouraging people to get really drunk.

Clearly being responsible

behind the bar

On my second shift there Erin (the clearly intoxicated American redhead from the bar on my first night on the island if anyone read that blog post, haha) burnt her hand so I told her what to do to look after it (NOT putting ice on it) and that I'm a first aider so I ~kinda~ know what I'm talking about...FAST FORWARD TO 1.30AM (remember I'm getting paid in alcohol) and a girl comes up to the bar dripping with blood, I mean DRIPPING with blood from where a massive chunk has been sliced out her arm. So at 1.30 in the morning on a tropical island off the coast of Cambodia it turns out that I'm the most sober, qualified person to help this girl out -who clearly needs hospital treatment- Great.

It's one thing to look after a paralytic drunk person, and it's another to have to give first aid but put the two together and you've got a combo. But got her all unbleeding, bandaged up and infection free just in time to cash up at the end of the longest shift ever.

Foam Party Boat Trip. Personal Favourite photo.

Now whilst all of this is happening I'm surrounded by drunk people like

"OMG THERE IS SOO0o0o0o0o0o0O0O0O0O MUCH BLOOD"
"I CAN TAKE OVER I KNOW HOW TO DO STITCHES" (from a person who couldn't even stand himself up)

and my personal favourite -

"Call the ambulance."

Now I often get complimented on my patience but by this time I've been working since 8.30 that morning and my patience is thinning so I end up having this BIG OLD MONOLOGE with this one geezer who would not let the calling of an ambulance drop. After about the 8th time he say it I just lose it;

Adulting well

RIGHT MATE.
1.) Do you have a phone? A Cambodian SIM? With credit? And signal? Nope. Me either. Okay okay it's fine, we'll find one.
2.) What's the emergency service number for Cambodia? Good. Cause I haven't got a clue either.
Doesn't matter bro, somehow we've managed to get hold of the Ambulance and translate to them from Khmer to English that we are on Koh Rong and we need an ambulance and it's on its way.
3.) How will the ambulance get here becuase we haven't got a road on the island.
4.) Okay, now the ambulance is here she's safe and well. Where is it going to take her? The Hospital next to the famous Koh Rong Library or McDonalds? NO. BECUASE WE HAVE NO MEDICAL CENTER ON THE ISLAND.

He then follows with WE NEED TO GET HER A BOAT TO MAINLAND THEN. Okay bro, be my guest. Find me someone who owns a boat, can drive a boat and will take her to hospital now because we're the only place open on this whole island and I aint paying $1k USD unless you have it in your pocket.

but anyway! Managed to stop the bleeding and bandage her up and get her to bed okay...eventually.Since these events I have now got myself a little bit of a reputation as a medic on the island (great). One of the boys who works i the village comes up to High Point the other day and asks for my "medical advice" about his suspected broken arm...mate. I'm a FIRST aider, not a doctor. If you have a suspected broken arm I can help you until you go hospital but I can't diagnose it because even trained professionals can't...thus Xrays were created.


Now for me, apart from fighting a snotty nose and annoying cough for a couple of weeks I've been free from Tropical Island Disases. My headlice* are long gone, no fleas and no leg worms. Phew! Although my feet have taken a bit of a battering now it's been about 10 weeks since I last owned a pair of shoes and I like walking through the jungle in the dark.

*I actually used Dog Flea and Tic shampoo to rid them and got a compliment on how nice I smelt by someone in the village, I've been doing it wrong this whole time!

Weather is defo changing now as we fully enter Wet Season. Lightening storms way more frequently, week long showers, and obnoxious humidity. 

Skinny, gross, ill kitten. Day 1.

Old habits die hard. About a month ago I opportuned a baby kitten, just a few weeks old and was abandoned. Someone took her into Island Boys because they found her and she was sick and I quote:
"There are enough sick animals in this bar without an actual sick animal in the bar"
He's called Klang (after the beer) which was actually the perfect nagme because in Cambodian it means strong which is what he is. Been a rocky road up until now, but finally he's turned into a little kitten running about the place. No more worms, and a swift trip to the mainland after showing some very very worrying symptoms (a very bad case of cat flu), but after some proper kitten food and some nutrients he's all fixed up.

I did my visa run over to Vietnam for a lovely hour a few weeks ago. I am now the owner of a business Visa and even paid my first South East Asian Bribe for "incomplete paper work" aka Doughnut money for the office. But I've extended my visa now until December so looks like I'll be staying on the island a little bit longer

 Been partying loads, shocker. For my good friend and Amazonian Goddess, Petra, 's birthday we had a space themed party so everyone went all out dressed as Aliens, I was an astronaut fashioned from a concrete bag, my bike helmet, tin foil and silver spray paint. Didn't look too bad! Nat went a little more creative with a stylised suitcase into a giant Space Cookie. Another party was Adventure Adam's and it was survivor themed so of course Nat put a crystal ball on his head and a nappy and went as Destiny's Child. He's a survivor.

Destiny's Child.

We made a couple of really good friends in the past couple weeks, Andy and Sean from Southampton. They've been biking across the world and stopped by the island for a few weeks. Andy ended up becoming the High Point House Guardian and crashed with us and Sean just came over to party. He also fell on an anchor on a boat and ended up the butt (wakawaka) of a feww jokes for sure.

Space Cookie Nat

Am I Hungover Or Do I Just Have Malaria ? Another Post From Koh Rong.

Since my last writing a lot has changed... Like the day of the week. And my bedbug scare. And that right now I have a worm living intimately in my upper right thigh.
Aside from the usual having it in trees by day, laying by the beach by day off* not a crazy amount of updates which is strange cause it's a crazy life

*by night, well who knows what happens after ten Klangs.

This week:

-We said goodbye to Sverta and Igor as they had back to Russia and of course we have them a worthy send off. But now they're gone I can also say goodbye to my floor matress as I steal their bedframe for my room and hello to the pair of crocs they left behind.

-Big Gay Will returned to the island and he came baring gifts in the form of Barry- slightly more beaten than the last time I saw him little over three weeks ago but working all the same.

-A massive High Point Piss Up whilst the boss was away which saw Ring Of Fire, a number of items being catapulted over the balcony and the invention of the Chuck Tally, our own private beach rave with Nat's legendary dancing.

-A few ticket sales, tips and customers round the park. Making more money here than I expected! Got $80USD the other day- Klangs on me!

Me and Nat decided to climb to the tallest tree in the park (about 30m high) and pitch up some hammocks and sleep. No monkeys and more importantly no mosquitos and the photos really don't give the sunrise justice. And a note to self: don't camp 30m up in the trees if you've just taken laxatives. In the morning you'll have to sprint the course and well... Get creative with leaves

Side notes:
The Prime Minister came to visit the island, hide the happy cookies!

And did you know they have illnesses (and underskin living worms) that "don't exist" by western medical standards so can only be heeled in Asia???

Here's a few solid quotes from this week:
"On a scale of 1 - Trying-To-Open-A-Coconut-With-A-Machete-In-Reception-At 9.30am, how drunk are you?"
(this actually happened)

"Hey! I met you the other night you're the girl who was getting everyone to crowd surf at the party!"

And a conversation:
(having previously met the gentlemen earlier in the evening but obviously I'm not that memorable)
"Salisbury"
"what??? Why did you say Salisbury???"
"that's what my name is"
"no way! I'm from Sailsbury"
"it's where I was conceived. That's why my brother is called Carry. Short from Caravan in Cornwall"
"I bet they knew about the patch behind Tesco"

Backpackers will believe anything.

The longer I stay on this island the less I ever want to leave

~Cambodia photos~

A more recently abandoned hotel

Inside the badly redeveloped hotel... about 10% complete from when it re-opened 10 years ago

Abandoned Church in Bokor National Park

On top of the world, or Kampot region.

Anyone for BBQ Stringray?

My new friend Emily making an offering of wild raspberries

Hi Barry

Watch out for the monkeys

Prepping myself for Planet Of The Apes - Cambodian Edition

Went in a cave and my little friend Sia was getting my some cave water