Highlights: The best part of my volunteer experience was definitely learning how to scuba dive. Scuba diving opened up a whole new world for me. Seeing how many species habituated in a small section of coral was amazing. It made me realize how important marine conservation really is and more importantly made me realize that I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. The best part of the overall experience was hands down the people I met. Not just the other volunteers but the locals on the island. If you know anything about Cambodia’s past I’m sure you’ve heard of the Khmer Rouge. Despite the hardships that the people of Cambodia have experienced they have to be the happiest most accepting people I have met so far on my travels. Everyone was so nice and welcoming and the local kids were the cutest most curious I’ve met. I left the island feeling like I was leaving home, and can’t wait to go back.
Morning: Every morning I’d wake up to the sound of waves in my quaint little bungalow by the beach. Breakfast was served at seven in the main bungalow and usually consisted of noodle or fried rice, and sometimes bread. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be up right at seven, breakfast would be left out till around eight. I would grab a book and sit in one of the hammocks waiting for more volunteers to wake up and wait for the instructions for the day. The day is usually scheduled ahead of time and you are briefed of what will happen throughout the day after breakfast. After everyone has woken up and ate we would grab some old cement bags and walk along Long Beach and clean up all the trash and debris that have washed up. Following the beach clean-up you might try to squeeze in a dive before lunch.
Afternoon: Lunch is served at 12 unless you went diving then they save your food and put it out after you have cleaned and put away all the dive equipment. After eating you usually have quite a bit of free time unless there is another beach clean-up scheduled or an afternoon dive. If we get hungry between lunch and dinner we will either go to Bj’s which is a small restaurant on the island, or One’s, which is a small little beach bar which serves noodles and soups. The owner of Bj’s provides the volunteers with a little voucher for $1 off anything $5 and up or $0.25 off anything under $5. We usually ended up playing cards to kill the time, or if you wanted to relax go swimming or snorkeling at Long Beach.
Evening: The sun usually set around 6-6:30 and the perfect place to watch it was past the other end of the little village, all the way down a path winding through trees to sunset rock. By the time you got back from watching the sunset dinner is usually ready to be eaten. All the food on the island was local dishes consisting of a meat dish and a vegetable dish served with rice and usually a side of fruit. By far the best dinners were fried chicken night. On those nights all the volunteers are ready at the table with their bowls and forks prepared for the delicious fried chicken with regular fries and sometimes taro fries as well. After dinner we had the rest of the day free to do whatever we pleased. We would play some more cards or head over to Hua’s bar. Hua is the nicest little Vietnamese lady who runs a little bar on the island. With beers at $0.75 a can you really couldn’t go wrong.