You're dripping blood!

Another day and more paradise. The morning was spent soaking up the sun and paddle boarding around the ocean. I also snagged a chocolate kind of milk shake which was delicious considering the standards.

Despite the noise from construction I had a pretty decent sleep. I slightly miss aircon and clean bathrooms but it comes with the charm of the island. It wouldn't be as great if it was perfectly developed.

Midday I realized I have run out of money. Uh oh. I don't have credit cards so Jenny has been taking money out and I have transferred her it through PayPal. The thing is this island does not have an ATM.

Never fear because the people of the the island have developed a solution for that. A few guesthouses offer a money loan system. What they do is ship your passport to the mainland in exchange for however much money you want. Whenever you go back to the mainland you pay off your loan at ten percent and get your passport back. It's a clever way of working things out.

The issue is my passport is at the Vietnam consulate getting a visa. Thankfully the backpacking community pulls through again and Tim lends me the money and I will just pay off a portion of his loan when I get back. I find it incredible that everyone has been so helpful to each other. I guess because everyone has experienced some type of troubles they are willing to always lend a helping hand.

Money in hand I was then able to book the day tour around the island. We loaded onto a double decker boat and sailed. First stop was a little island not far away. We were told the water was deep so woot hesitation everyone started jumping from the second deck. Instead of climbing over the railing and standing in the edge on the other side I stood on top of the railing. I though that's what everyone else was doing. I leapt off and hit the water with a nice smack as my one leg hit flat against the water. Whoops! Lets try that again.

Back on the boat we sailed to our next stop which would be fishing. On the way however the waters got choppy and the boat was swaying. I got talking to a lovely French Canadian and we kept up with a brilliant idea. Lets make the bars for the ceiling of the second floor a monkey bar area. We started racing from bar to bar to reach the other end. Quickly tired out we hung from the bars. The waves that were know,if the boat around rocked us back and forth on the bars. I felt like a monkey. 

I've started to realize my habit for climbing anything that I can find. Thinking back I've climbed things left and right this entire trip. I decided to do my pull up of the day. It's become a tradition that I've done one random pull up wherever I find something sturdy enough to hold me. Just as I do it I jump down happy with myself. Instead of landing on the flat ground however I land where the wood is uneven.

OUCH!!!!  That hurt. Oh well lets swing around some more. 

As I jump up and swing around again I hear one of my friends scream "you're dripping blood!" I look down and sure enough below me are drops of blood splattered on the floor. Panicked I hop down on one foot and sit on the floor. I take a look at my foot and sure enough there is a gash. Not a scrap upwards but rather straight inwards. I touch it to asses how deep and instead of seeing how deep it goes I get squirted by blood.

With blood on my hands I look at Jenny and the only reasonable response I had was "take a picture!" 

Then I started to think..ewwww. If a little bug bite gets infected here what is this going to do? With blood still coming out I get nervous. 

Luckily someone ran to get one of the boat workers. A wonderful man from South Africa came to my aid. He had a first aid kit handy and quickly got to work. First he cleaned it up and I have never ever seen something foam that much. He told me that "once you get a cut in Cambodia immediately consider it infected." 

All patched up and the surrounding areas blood mopped up I was good as new. Next step? Fish for my dinner with a giant spool, line, hook with squid, and patience. Sitting on the front of the boat with Jenny, Marte, Hugh, and Kaya we took our chances. They had never  fished before and I have many times so I thought I would have the upper hand. I was wrong! One after another they all caught fish. Don't even get me started with how many the Cambodian boat workers caught! With all the bait gone and a bucket full of fish I felt discouraged. I had one small piece left so I tried one last time and with that I caught the biggest fish of the day!

While the captain cooked the fish we all enjoyed watching a gorgeous sunset with new friends. Some went swimming but I decided to share my iPod with the Canadian and watch the sunset. It was beautiful and relaxing.

Dinner was fabulous to say the least. Getting to eat a fish that you just caught is always a rewarding experience. After dinner they shut off all of the lights so it was pitch black. The lack of light and no moon made it even darker. One by one we got into the water and were surrounding by beautiful glowing specks. This was even more and more than the previous night! Everything around me as glowing and I moved. It was light conducting a light symphony with my hands and legs.

Back on land we showered and got ready to enjoy our last night on the island. We played bingo, listened to music, and danced a lot. We hung out with Leo the worker at CoCos alot that night. He explained to me just how much he loved the island but how hard it is to meet people after people and see them leave. He said its gotten to the point he has a rule that he only befriends people who are staying for at least a month. Obviously he broke that rule this time. We had such a good group of friends that night and it was just the perfect ending to my time on that island.