Endless beaches in Koh Rong ...

The day before yesterday was largely characterized by the beach in the afternoon and evening, swimming, trying to reduce my baker's tan a bit - always careful not to get my usual sunburn - and observing and soaking up the local activities. Additionally, there was a long afternoon nap to compensate for the forced listening to the night rooster crowing competition ... This night, I again had the detailed pleasure of listening to the neighboring roosters sing; even the idea of placing pillows over my ears didn't really help with the noise reduction ... Yesterday, I set out early to wander about, meaning an extensive beach walk and a little trekking through the mangrove forests ... But first, I took it easy to look for breakfast. When you start just before 7:30 AM, there are virtually no tourists around (it's still the same at 8:30 AM), the locals are cleaning up after the evening, tidying up a bit and restocking their shops again - but quite leisurely. So by around 8:00 AM, I was pretty much alone for breakfast at the beach ... Enjoying the morning calm, I took my time ... Then I strolled back to my lodge and passed by the local communication shop. Since my prepaid SIM card purchased in Germany had expired after a month, I needed a new one. This seemed quite mundane and not worth mentioning, but while paying, something surreal happened. After exchanging the SIM card and providing my passport information (for whatever reason), I paid the agreed price and waited for my change. It was an open shop right on the main path. The seller muttered something to his colleague. There was a relatively large sports bag on the counter. The colleague opened it before my eyes - and completely in public. This sports bag was full of bundles of cash. He rummaged around a bit and took my change from one of the bundles. It's important to know that there are no ATMs on the island, but to handle such a large amount of cash so publicly was new to me ... So I continued my tour along the beach and now and then through shady little woods or at the end into a mangrove forest ... At the different beaches, there were always different 'establishments' or 'little villages' where tourists and backpackers spend their day with various accommodations from tents to stilt houses and also reasonably well-built bungalows ... and always different little beach bars ... I occasionally settled down, jumped into the water, and looked at the fish and crab life, lingered a bit, made use of the beach bars with various background music, and I also occasionally got into a conversation ... A Brit had gotten seriously bitten on his upper body, legs, and face. He seemed to notice my startled look. He told me that he had fallen asleep on the beach the previous evening (I could guess the reason) and then got properly bitten ... Okay, so the warnings in the travel guides and on site weren't entirely unfounded ... and I was glad about my purchase of the local wonder mosquito elixir ... Although it didn’t have an aphrodisiac smell and burns a bit when applying to the skin, I could already observe over two evenings that the little creatures buzzed around me but stopped a centimeter away from me ... In the evening, I was on the lookout for a slightly rockier beach location, but unfortunately, there didn't seem to be such a thing here, so I settled down in a beach chair in a small beach bar and listened to electronic sounds ... Everywhere there was the smell of grilling ... Both the local restaurants and the private locals brought out their grills in the evening and sizzled fish, seafood, and various meats as well as vegetables ... After hearing roosters crowing and getting up this morning, I realized there was no power ... At first, I thought this would only affect my room or accommodation; so a warm shower was out of the question ... Later, I noticed on my way to search for a breakfast place that the entire town had no electricity. But the locals were also very relaxed and prepared here; everywhere the emergency generators were humming, and just as I was sitting in the café ordering my second coffee and started writing these lines, the power came back on, and immediately the fans were spinning ...