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flossinginthesunshine · 7 years

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Cambodia: From Pain to Pride

The year is 1975. There has been a civil war raging in the countryside of Cambodia for five years between the weak monarchy in power and the communist regime known as the Khmer Rouge. The monarchy was made up of mostly educated and wealthy Cambodians working in the government/military, while the Khmer Rogue base was predominantly farmers and rural villagers. On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge overthrew the monarchy and took control of the capitol, Phnom Penh.

Over the next four years, two million people were killed under the Marxist leader Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. In a dramatic effort to force Cambodia back to the Middle Ages and create an agrarian utopia, one-fourth of the population was tortured, starved and murdered. Intellectuals were the target. Cities were emptied. Currency was abolished.

We spent a day at the S-21 jail in Phnom Penh, learning about the horrors of just one of hundreds of torture camps in Cambodia during this time.

Communication to the outside world was completely cut off. One Swedish photographer and his team were invited into the country, and Pol Pot put on a grand show for them… making it seem as though everything in Cambodia was picture perfect. The team returned to Europe and reported to the rest of the world that there was nothing to worry about in Cambodia, and that Pol Pot was a beloved leader taking care of his country.

Meanwhile, 17,000 prisoners were being tortured and killed in the heart of Phnom Penh. Only twelve people who entered S21 survived.

The Khmer Rouge were eventually overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1979, but the horror would live on in the lives of Cambodians for generations to come and the effects of the war are easily visible today. When you spend time in Cambodia, you’ll quickly notice that you don’t see many old people; it’s rare to see someone over the age of 60 out and about. The U.N. continued to recognize the Khmer Rouge as the governing body of Cambodia until 1991, even though they were no longer living in Cambodia and were hiding in exile in the hills of Northern Thailand. Pol Pot wasn’t brought to trial until 1997, and only then was he sentenced to house arrest where he died a year later.

If any of this intrigues you, I recommend reading First They Killed My Father -- one of the only first person accounts of the genocide, told from the perspective of 5-year-old Loung Ung. She was separated from her parents and six siblings and sent to a child soldier camp, miraculously survived the war, and eventually made her way to America where she began telling her story to anyone who would listen.

In my research on Cambodia, I came across this quote from Joseph Mussomeli, a former US Ambassador to Cambodia:

“Be careful because Cambodia is the most dangerous country you will ever visit. You will fall in love with it and eventually it will break your heart.”

I couldn’t describe the feeling any better. In many ways, our time in Cambodia was like other the SE Asian countries we’ve visited -- markets, temples, beaches, and bungalows -- but what made us feel more connected to this special place was the people. Despite the tragedies they’ve endured in quite recent history, they have the friendliest attitudes and most positive outlook on life. While it continues to be one of the poorest nations in the world, the people have fully embraced tourism as their fastest growing industry and exude hope and optimism with every interaction.

And with that, I’ll leave you with these photos + captions of our four glorious yet heart wrenching weeks in Cambodia:

Angkor Wat: The Largest Religious Monument in the World

First up was Siem Reap, a charming city home to Angkor Wat - the largest religious monument in the world. We spent two days exploring the Angkor Archaeological Park, which spans over 400 acres of Cambodian jungle.

Originally built as a Hindu temple in the 12th century, Angkor Wat was converted into a Buddhist temple in the 14th century, and served as the capital of the Khmer Empire through the 15th century. At it’s peak, the complex was home to 1 million people (!!) making it the largest city in the world until the Industrial Revolution. Today, it’s protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, welcoming several million visitors per year.

Watching the sunrise with 1,000+ fellow travelers.

Garrett and Sarafina (who we met in Laos) traveled with us throughout Cambodia, making our time in this lovely country that much sweeter.

According to inscriptions, the construction of Angkor Wat involved 300,000 workers + 6,000 elephants, and took over 30 years to complete to it’s current state. However, it was never fully completed and no one knows exactly why...

The faces of Angkor Wat, otherwise known as The Banyon. Two-hundred and sixteen faces make up the only Mahayana Buddhist shrine in the Angkor Wat complex. The faces are said to belong to the Bodhisattva of compassion, who has mastered the soft smile.

The Khmer architecture was shaped to express the Hindu vision of the relationship between nature and humanity... creating a strikingly beautiful dichotomy between crumbling stone and thriving forest.

10 Days in Otres Beach

Next on our list was Otres Beach. We arrived in the port city of Sihanoukville via a 12-hour overnight bus from Siem Reap and walked straight to the beach to find a home. We snagged a private bungalow at Sea Garden Guest House for 10 USD per night. What sold us was the large vegan menu, real coffee and the fact that they delivered your food straight to your beach chair. The employees at Sea Garden were all fellow travelers, working a few hours a day in exchange for free food and lodging.

W quickly learned that Otres Beach moves at it’s own pace and attracts and a very unique type of long-term traveller. We heard this line time and time again: “I planned to stay for 3 days, but now it’s been 3 weeks.” Soon enough, we were saying the same thing; we planned to stay 3-4 days and finally left after 10.

Our days were nearly identical to our week in Goa, India... morning runs, afternoons spent reading and tossing the Frisbee, sunset yoga and reiki and evenings playing trivia next door. The guesthouse next door had a small library that rented books for $0.25/day and boasted a huge collection of Beat authors (Kerouas, Ginsberg, Kesey). If we didn’t have a 30-day visa, I think you’d find JJ still reading at the beach six months later.

Otres Beach is around 3 miles long, with a large stretch of sand splitting the guesthouses and spanning 1.5 miles of emptiness. Ten years ago, this stretch was full of bungalows just like ours, but they have since been torn down by the Cambodian government to make room for new Chinese development.

The properties on Otres (including our beloved Sea Garden) have already received their eviction notices, and will have to vacate their land sometime in the next three years. Maybe that’s why people stay Otres so long... because they know this hippy paradise of cheap vegan food and unobstructed sunsets is coming to an end very soon.

One night, we decided to venture out from the safety of our beach and check out a sunrise party in the jungle called Kerfuffle. This jungle rave happens every Wednesday night, and doesn’t kick off until 2am. In an effort to get nearly a full night’s sleep, we went to bed at our normal time (9pm) and set our alarms for 2am, hopped in a tuk-tuk and got to the rave around 2:30am. We boogied until sunrise, making it back to our beach for a nap around 7am.

The set-up was reminiscent of a music festival... with a DJ stage, Ferris wheel, tree-house behind the dance floor and lights twinkling in the trees. At one point it started pouring down rain and we all huddled underneath one of the carnival rides until the DJ started playing again.

We’re unable to capture the highlight of Otres Beach in photographs, because it involves seeing the ocean glow. The coast of Cambodia is known for it’s bio-luminescent plankton that glow a bright green color when disturbed. All you have to do is swim out into the ocean in the middle of the night (one of my worst nightmares) and make a lot of movement. After a few minutes of splashing around in the dark, JJ said “look down.” And there it was... thousands of glowing green stars moving with our bodies underwater. It was magical and we spent hours mesmerized by how cool our planet is.

After swimming with the plankton, it was finally time to leave Otres. Our minivan to Kampot picked us up right on time and then made one additional stop to snag another round of passengers. We pulled up to a nearby hotel and the driver got out of the car to help the guests with their bags. However, he forgot one minor detail of putting on the parking brake... and the van started rolling forward, heading straight for the hotel pool. JJ and I stared at each other in horror while the driver nonchalantly made his way back to the van, put it in park and laughed uncontrollably. He then went back to get the bags and the van started rolling forward AGAIN. This time we jumped out of the van, landing safely on the ground and refused to get back in until the driver promised not to leave his seat.

Oh SE Asia... always keeping us on our toes.

Kampot + Kep

We spent the next week exploring the waterfront towns of Kampot and Kep... living in tree houses, eating very mediocre crab and tasting the “world famous” and incredibly over-hyped Kampot pepper (ever heard of it? neither had we).

. Cambodia in the clouds.

Funky bathroom art: say hello in your language :)

What may appear to be a peaceful sunset scene is in reality a fleet of Vietnamese fishing boats that have encroached upon Cambodian waters using illegal fishing practices (electrified nets) to steal the catch of the day. The police department and fishing authorities have very little control, which has led to a vigilante war between the two fishing communities and caused nearly irreversible ecological destruction.

Once a charming coastal town frequented by French vacationers, Kep is now trying to regain it’s status on the backpacker trail as the place to go for fresh crab. Twenty-five stalls line the beach with signs proclaiming their fish superior to all the others. While the flavors were quite underwhelming, watching these two play with their food more than made up for it.

Rabbit Island: More Hammocks Than People

As if our time in Cambodia hadn’t been relaxing enough, we retreated to a tiny island off the coast of Kep for a few days. What we found was more hammocks than people, the best curry of our entire trip, and lots of Vitamin D.

Forever chasing cairns.

Phnom Penh: Our Favorite Big City in SE Asia

This city blew us away with it’s sense of community, vegetarian food, and booming infrastructure. At one rooftop bar, we counted 40 cranes on the horizon. The smells, sights, sounds, markets, and nonstop dodging of motorbikes reminded us of India, and we quickly took a liking to it.

Cambodia (especially Phnom Penh) is known for it’s knock-off name brand shopping game. You can get anything from iPhones to Levis to designer bags… and we dedicated an entire day to exploring these markets. JJ hit the jackpot at this little air conditioned store where these five Cambodian women dedicated two hours to finding him the perfect pair of paints. He walked out with three new pairs, all perfectly tailored to his body, for a whopping $32.

In the heart of the market, just when you think you may pass out from heat exhaustion... you’ll find Mr. Al Bounnarith, who makes the self-proclaimed (and rightfully so) “best iced coffee in Phnom Penh.” He started this venture right after the Khmer Rouge in 1980 when coffee was a foreign concept to Cambodians, used all of his profits to care for his sick mother, and now spends his days entertaining travelers and leaving us feeling refreshed and WIRED.

Finding good, cheap, vegetarian food in SE Asia is difficult... so we were thrilled to find a spot with $0.50 pumpkin juice, $1 fried mushrooms, and $2 veggie noodles. Naturally, we ate here four times in three days.

If I could capture the essence of modern-day Cambodia in one place, it would be at the Olympic Stadium. Ironically, Phnom Penh has never hosted an Olympics... but nevertheless, our hotel was just a few blocks from here, and we read online it was a good place to run. Little did we know it was also home to the number one place to work out in the city. We went running there twice, once in the morning and once at night... each time marveling at the sense of community radiating from this place. There were street-side market vendors selling fruit and fried noodles at every turn, sand volleyball games, paralympics events, tennis matches, Taekwondo tournaments, zumba classes, and hundreds of people just hanging out. We were the only westerners there both times, and we loved it.

Photo courtesy of Google.

Towards the end of our time in Cambodia, we met a fellow traveler who shared our love for the country and had spent way more time there than our 30-day visa would allow. As we said goodbye to him, he left us with this: “The best places in Cambodia have yet to be discovered.”

So my advice to you is... go to Cambodia! Embrace it’s history. Let your heart break. Support the local economy. Exchange smiles with every person you cross. Discover those undiscovered places.

We can’t wait to go back one-day soon.

Cheers,

Camryn

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charllieeldridge · 4 years

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15 Cheapest Places To Live In The World: $1,000/Month (or Less)

During our 10 years on the road, we’ve found some of the cheapest places to live in the world, while enjoying an amazing lifestyle.

Sometimes we spend for a month, sometimes for 6 months, it all depends on how we’re feeling at the time.

Often we end up putting down some roots because we’ve been travelling too quickly and we need a break. Sometimes we’re housesitting /pet-sitting, or we just need to get caught up on work so we rent an apartment.

Living long-term in different countries around the world is one of the real perks of being a digital nomad, and with so many cheap places to live, there are numerous options to put down some temporary roots.

Our Apartment in Malta

Through our own experience, we’ve found a lot of affordable places where you live on less, while experiencing more.

While our own personal budget is higher than $1,000 USD per month, we know it’s possible to live off of that, or less, in the places I’ll list in this article.

For a point of reference, I’ll also use the online cost of living tool, Numbeo, to give these prices a bit of “proof”, but I’ll also mix it in with my own personal experiences based on spending we have done in the countries.

I’m listing countries in this article because, for the most part, you can live in any part of the country for the prices I’ve expressed, but I am going to focus on the main cities that I would recommend living in each country.

These are typically cities with a decent amount of amenities, a thriving expat community and plenty of good restaurants and places for remote work.

We usually find our apartments on Airbnb.

This article is for all of those digital nomads or retirees out there who are looking for the cheapest places to live, where their dollar can stretch a bit farther.

It’s also for those people who aren’t digital nomads (but maybe aspire to be one day), who just want to spend longer in the places they visit, or for those who simply are interested in learning about where they could potentially move to that would be exotic, exciting and affordable.

Note: All prices are in US dollars and in most cases, 2 people could live for $1,000/month. I’ve included the prices using Numbeo, the world’s largest online cost of living index website. I’ve also included costs in our personal experience. The Numbeo numbers are likely as low as you’ll find, while our own budget is usually more mid-range. The visa information is based on our Canadian passports. Always check the visa policy before booking a trip. If you’re heading to visa free countries, you can take that cost off of your budget.

Here we go. The top 15 cheapest places to live this year!

1. Indonesia

Monthly Budget (Numbeo): $500.31

Our Monthly Budget: $3,140

Rent / Month (Numbeo): $196

Our Rent / Month: $1,500

Utilities / Month (Numbeo): $50

Our Utilities / Month: $75

Visa Situation: 30 days free on arrival. If you want to stay longer than 30 days, you must opt for the $35 Tourist Visa purchased at the airport. This visa is extendable up to a maximum of 60 more days (30 days at a time). 90 days max stay in Indonesia. Then you must do a border run (flight to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore in most cases).

Internet Speed: Fast (100mbps+)

Indonesia is one of the most beautiful countries we have ever visited and it makes for an excellent base in Asia. We set up a base in Canggu Bali for 3 months where we enjoyed a luxury pool villa, wonderful international restaurants, a cool entrepreneurial vibe and plenty of travel to nearby islands.

I started this list with Indonesia because this post is all about the most affordable places to live and, well… there’s nowhere more affordable than Indonesia.

The only places on this list than might rival Indonesia for the best value for money are Chiang Mai, (Thailand), Greece and India.

But because Indonesia has such amazing accommodation options, wonderful (and affordable) international restaurants and cheap flights in and out, I have to say that it’s the most budget-friendly option that I currently know of — Indonesia definitely offers cheap living.

The best island for quality of life in Indonesia is likely Bali. The prices here are a bit higher than many other places in the country, but there are far more amenities and plenty of expats around, which creates a market for the things that foreigners love.

The south of Bali is very busy and more expensive, but it’s where you’ll find the most grocery stores, accommodation options and restaurants.

If you’re looking for a more quiet, natural, Balinese experience, then you may want to choose a place in the north or east ends of the island. Ubud is central Bali, but it’s similar to the south in that it’s extremely busy.

If you’re a digital nomad, Canggu is the place to be. Here you’ll find endless cafes with blazing fast wi-fi, blogging conferences, co-working spaces, tons of beautiful villa options and lots of places to rent a motorbike ($50 / month).

One downside to Bali, particularly the coastal towns on the southwest coast (like Canggu), is that during the off-season the tides bring in a disgusting amount of garbage that piles up on the sandy beaches.

Also, runoff from the mountain villages means that raw sewage spills into the ocean and makes it unsafe and unsanitary for swimming.

The outside of our villa in Canggu Bali – we loved this place!

These are issues that the local people of Bali are working hard to remedy, but they’re still not fixed so I recommend visiting/living in Canggu only during the high season (from May – September) when the beaches and water are clean.

Interested in Living in Canggu? See Also:

The Ultimate Digital Nomad Guide to Canggu Bali

Digital Nomad Life in Canggu: Our Time in Bali

2. Thailand

Monthly Budget (Numbeo): $650

Our Monthly Budget: $3,540

Rent / Month (Numbeo): $442

Our Rent / Month: $1,500

Utilities / Month (Numbeo): $54

Our Utilities / Month: $145

Visa Situation: 30 Days on arrival. Extend 30 days at a time up to 90 days total. Then must do border run. Some embassies abroad offer 3 month visa

Internet Speed: Fast (100mbps+)

Thailand is the only other place we’ve ever rented a luxury private pool villa. We have lived in Koh Samui, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and a short period in Bangkok (on many different occasions).

There are quite a few villa accommodation options in Koh Samui and Phuket, with fewer in Koh Phangan and very few in Koh Tao. Bangkok has plenty of beautiful apartments available as well and of course, Chiang Mai (a place we’ve only visited, but never lived in) is currently the Digital Nomad mecca.

We know from our friends’ experiences that it’s quite easy to find a nice 1-bedroom place in Chiang Mai for $200 / month or less including all bills.

That’s pretty amazing and is why Chiang Mai is on the list of the cheapest places to live. The internet in Chiang Mai is blazing fast and there are probably more bloggers and web entrepreneurs here than anywhere else.

Our favourite island to visit in Thailand was probably Koh Phangan. We rented a little beach bungalow here for a month and it cost us around $600. But for actually living, I think that the best options are Koh Samui (if you want island life) or Chiang Mai and Bangkok (if you want city life).

There are quite a few villas and more basic accommodations in Koh Samui.

If you choose to book through Airbnb, you’ll probably find the prices to be quite high. Try to contact the owner outside of the platform to negotiate a price, just beware of Airbnb scams before sending any money.

View From Our villa in Koh Samui.

There are quite a few digital nomads and expats living in Bangkok and it’s probably one of our favourite cities in the world.

For living, the best areas are Silom and Sukhumvit where there are great gyms, restaurants and cafes as well as plenty of parks and green space to escape the traffic. There are endless things to do in Bangkok, you’ll never be bored.

Interested in Living in Thailand? See Also:

The Ultimate Digital Nomad Guide to Koh Samui

Our Week in Bangkok: A Haven For Digital Nomads

A Digital Nomad Guide to Living in Bangkok

A Digital Nomad Guide to Living in Chiang Mai

Silom Road Bangkok – All You Need to Know

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3. India

Monthly Budget (Numbeo): $309

Our Monthly Budget: $900 (travelling)

Rent / Month (Numbeo): $152

Our Rent / Month: N/A

Utilities / Month (Numbeo): $16

Our Utilities / Month: N/A

Visa Situation: 60 Days e-visa. 6 month Tourist Visa. Cannot stay in India for more than 6 months in a 1 year period.

Internet Speed: Fast (100mbps+)

You won’t find “Our Monthly Budget” or “Our Utilities” in the above list of prices because we’ve never actually lived in India.

We’ve travelled the country for nearly 6 months in total, but we never had the urge to settle any temporary roots in this beautiful, chaotic and spiritual place. But, it has to be the cheapest place to live in the world.

India has always been one of our favourite travel destinations as it epitomizes everything we love about travel.

The country puts together an addicting blend of culture, chaos, religion, history, architecture and cuisine and mixes it into a formula that’s as intoxicating as the sandalwood incense that always brings me right back to India whenever I smell it.

If we were to live in India for an extended period of time, without a doubt it would be in Goa. Here, everything is a bit more liberal, there’s less harassment and there’s a slower beach vibe.

We have friends who have lived in Goa for years and they love it.

There is plenty of nightlife, lots of restaurants (Indian food is a reason to move to India in itself) and the wi-fi is decent. There are also quite a few accommodation options and India is definitely one of the cheapest places to live that’s included in this list.

Even if you’re booking on Airbnb (typically more expensive), there are still dozens of nice apartments available for under $400 USD per month.

By searching in Facebook groups and online communities, you could easily find a nice one-bedroom here for under $200 / month. There are also some gorgeous luxury pool villas available for around $1500 / month.

Want to read more about India Travel? See Also:

The Ultimate Guide to Backpacking India

How to Prepare For Travel in India

And, check out this post from our friend Rachel who shares what a day in the life of an expat in Goa looks like.

4. China

Monthly Budget (Numbeo): $679

Our Monthly Budget: $900

Rent / Month (Numbeo): $620

Our Rent / Month: $400

Utilities / Month (Numbeo): $60

Our Utilities / Month: $75

Visa Situation: 90 – 180 days visa apply beforehand with LOI & Proof of travel. Non-extendable

Internet Speed: Decent (20mbps+) *Many blocked websites. Get a VPN.

China is probably one of the most underrated backpacking destinations on Earth, but what about the fact that it’s also one of the cheapest places to live? We spent over a year living and teaching English in the city of Yangzhou in eastern China.

We also had friends who lived on the outskirts of Shanghai and loved it.

There are some obvious downsides to living in China. The pollution comes to mind first. There were some days, even in Yangzhou, that we couldn’t see 10 feet in front of us because the smog was so bad. This problem is even worse in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu.

Moving into our Apartment in Yangzhou China

Most of the time though, the skies where we were living were clear and there are parts of China that are farther away from industry and suffer from little or no air pollution.

For the most part though, travellers, teachers and expats focus their time on the east coast of China. This is where there are the largest cities and the most amenities.

China is an incredible destination. There’s a lot of history here, a great vibe, friendly people and some of the best cuisine on the planet. We absolutely loved our time living in Yangzhou and we were able to live on far less than $1,000 per month (even as a couple).

Dining out in China is really cheap. You can usually have a filling meal for under $5 in a restaurant, while some delicious street food meals (like dumplings, cold noodles and stir fry) can sometimes be found for $2 or less.

For teachers looking to live abroad and earn money, China is probably the best destination in the world for availability of work and quality of life.

There are plenty of teaching jobs in China paying between $1,500 – $5,000 per month and most contracts include accommodation, flights, insurance and bonuses. Not interested in actually moving to China to teach? You can teach English online!

Interested in Living in China? See Also:

Teaching English in China: How to Save $21,000 in a Year

10 Reasons To Teach for Shane English School in Yangzhou

Is China Cheap? The Cost of Living in China Revealed

The Ultimate Guide to Travelling in China

Also, have a look at these two posts from our friends Drew and Julie over at Drive On The Left who are living in Shenzhen:

A Day in Our Shenzhen Expat Life

After 6 Months As a Shenzhen Expat

5. Malaysia

Monthly Budget (Numbeo): $522

Our Monthly Budget: N/A

Rent / Month (Numbeo): $553

Our Rent / Month: N/A

Utilities / Month (Numbeo): $52

Our Utilities / Month: N/A

Visa Situation: 90 days on arrival. Extendable once or border run / return flight

Internet Speed: Fast (500mbps+)

There are plenty of great places to choose to live in Malaysia, with the most popular ones for digital nomads being Kuala Lumpur and Penang. You can find decent prices on apartments on Airbnb and in local Facebook groups, but they’re definitely a bit pricier in the capital.

If we were to move to Malaysia, we would probably choose to base ourselves in KL. There are great accommodation options, excellent public transport and tons of bars, restaurants, cafes and nightlife.

Also, KL makes for possibly the best base in this list if you’re looking to travel to Asia and the rest of the world.

This is one of the most affordable and well-connected airports and if you keep your eye on AirAsia.com for deals, sometimes you can fly to other countries in Southeast Asia for as little as $10. This is one of the cheapest places to live, and fly from!

Malaysia recently implemented the MM2H Plan (My Malaysian Second Home) to try to encourage foreign investment and expat retirement in the country.

If one were to invest $100,000, they could be fast-tracked to Malaysian residency and eventually, citizenship.

Even if you don’t want to become a resident, the visa situation here is great.

Most countries get 3 months on arrival and you can extend for 60 days more for around $23.

But, because flights are so cheap to nearby countries like Thailand and Singapore, many expats just choose to have a quick “vacation” in another Asian nation before returning to Malaysia for a new 90-day stamp.

6. Philippines

Monthly Budget (Numbeo): $486

Our Monthly Budget: N/A

Rent / Month (Numbeo): $346

Our Rent / Month: N/A

Utilities / Month (Numbeo): $77

Our Utilities / Month: N/A

Visa Situation: 90 days on arrival. Extendable indefinitely (easy visa situation)

Internet Speed: Slow (Generally 5mbps +/-)

If you’re looking for a country with plenty of options of where to live, then the 7,000+ island archipelago of the Philippines is probably right up your alley.

You could spend a few months in Palawan, then move to Cebu for a bit, Luzon and continue island hopping and living in different places for years and never return to the same place twice.

A friend of ours currently lives in Cebu and he and his wife pay just $120 per month for a one-bedroom apartment. It’s cheap living in the Philippines and there are hundreds of places you could visit on holiday (including the best Philippines beaches!) within a 30-minute domestic flight.

One downside to the Philippines would be that the cuisine isn’t as diverse as some of its South Asian neighbours, and the internet isn’t the greatest.

But it’s one of the most affordable places to live, the people here are extremely friendly and if you’re into scuba, it boasts some of the best diving in the world.