Mangroves

Yay! The coffee machine at the Rotenrak Resort has been, miraculously, fixed. Yesterday morning, the bleary eyed pair of us had to stumble down the street to the next hotel for our morning brew. The guys here just didn't get it that tea and coffee are two completely different beasts. When their Krups went kaput they figued we should just drink Cambodian Lipton leaves but no... we just stared at them blank faced. That same look you have when you wander out into your kitchen only to find your supply of Peet's has somehow dried up and you need to drive over to get some before... well, before you have your coffee. Driving a car can be a dangerous proposition under those circumstances. And flying an airplane, as my early bird students will attest, is completely unacceptable. The most common tokens of affection from my before-work flyers is, hands-down, Peet's coffee cards. Especially the students who haven't soloed yet. They disguise it as "sorry to make you get up so early," but I always think the real goal is to make sure at least one person on board is truly competent to land the airplane.

Anyway, as of yesterday afternoon, the $2000 Krups super machine was in no less than 586 parts, strewn out along the poolside deck. It would cost $900, our host said, to send it to Germany for repair. We grumbled to ourselves about why a humble resort like this would commit to such a cumbersome piece of technology when making coffee can be so supremely simple. We chided ourselves for not bringing the jetboil we just got, or at least a handful of emergency drip cone filters and some grounds. But somehow, by some miracle of Cambodian resourcefulness, the German monstrosity has reassembled itself and is once again spitting out that heavenly brew to which we are, apparently, so addicted. Maybe that explains why there seemed to be a lone light on all night, as well as the sudden appearance of what seems to be a village elder... "yes, young man, I know Krups. I can fix."

Anyway, grumbling aside, we are happy enough now to be sitting here in front of our bungalow, listening to the public address system broadcasting the morning chants from the nearby wat and awaiting our second cup of joe. So... to continue with Koh Kong, aside from the legacy of casinos and prostitution, the area is remarkable for its location in the thick of the Cardamom Mountains, one of the first places we both decided, months ago, we wanted to explore. It's also known for its coastal islands, including Koh Kong Island, the biggest one, which you can visit by day boat. No overnights currently allowed. We took a day trip there on Christmas Day. On the way out the boat zigzags through a massive mangrove forest, one of the biggest in the world, apparently, and on the international list of protected wetlands. Mangroves grow in shallow water just off the shoreline. Aside from being one of the most incredibly homogenous ecosystems I've ever seen - virtually nothing but mangroves for as far as the eye can see... no other species of tree, bush, vine, nothing, they also play an important role in stopping tsunamis, arresting the most dangerous part of the swell before it hits the inhabited land beyond. They also make for a very worthwhile boat ride.

Alright... coffee's here, breakfast getting cold and we need to pack up and leave in 20 minutes so... more later. Next stop, Siem Reap.