CAMBODIA 2017 - Koh Rong Island and Returning Home

Stepping off that speed ferry and onto the pier at Koh Rong was pure magic! The island was gorgeous! Jason and I kept looking at each other, shaking our heads, just in disbelief that we actually made it to the island and that we were securely with our friends (thanks to our intense miracle travelling from Siem Reap in the previous post).

After the pier, you step right onto the sand. There are no roads. This makes carrying your luggage to your hotel a little more difficult and exhausting, but at the same time it is absolutely enchanting. Any transportation on the island is done either by walking or by taxi boat to different sides of the island. It was definitely hot and the water temperature was an amazing 84 degrees.

From the pier and beach:

We carried our luggage across the hot sand heading for our reservation at Highland Beach Bungalows. These bungalows have the most spectacular view, however the hike up there is quite intense. We weren’t sure if that was a hike we wanted to make every time we needed to grab something. The real deal breaker was the lack of AC. We knew we needed that. Instead we switched to Golden Bungalows, a straight walk from the pier, and we shared a room with Amy and Johnny for $55. (That ended up being my best nights sleep yet.)

After confirming our change of accomodations, settling in, and cooling off in the room, we put on our swimsuits and cover ups and started the hike across the island to Long Beach. The hike is about 45 minutes and takes you to the complete other side of the island. It included some legitimate rock climbing. It was quite intense, but it was beautiful and adventurous. We had only read about this hike online, so we hoped we were going the right way. Once we made it to the other side, we saw some pier construction straight ahead, but to the right was a gorgeous white sand beach against blue-green water. We walked a ways down the beach to get away from the construction. We finally claimed a spot, on the nearly deserted beach, and just loved the nearly endless shallow, warm water. It was heavenly.

We assumed we would grab dinner over there before sunset, but we literally didn’t see any food options at all! With the sun setting, our priority at this point was to find a taxi boat back to the main part of the island (Koh Toch) so we wouldn’t have to make the hike back in the dark. We also hoped the taxi boat would take us somewhere that we could see the bioluminescent plankton.  Luckily, we were able to convince a taxi-man to set us up with a boat that would do that for us. We got to watch the sunset from the boat as we waited for the other passengers to arrive. We soon realized/overheard that the boat we were on was actually supposed to be a private boat for these five girls from Denmark. However, they were nice about it. They continued with their plans, blaring a playlist of American songs. By the time we rounded the bed towards downtown Koh Toch it was getting dark. The drivers of the boat were two young Khmers who were as raggedy as if they were lost boys from Peter Pan. But they granted our wish and stopped in the water near a beach that was mostly dark; it needs to be as dark as possible in order to see the plankton. On the nearby beach, there was a home with someone who was fire dancing around a fire, so there was some light leaking over, but we didn’t really have a say in the location of the stop. He said we would wait for 10 minutes for it to get darker before we got in the water. The Danish girls had not heard of this adventure and were intrigued rather than irritated by the detour to their original paid for plan. We were also lucky that the boat had snorkel gear.

Our drivers

From above the water, you couldn’t see anything at all, but once you jumped in and started waving your arms and feet around you could see the glowing plankton. It was pretty cool! There was no plankton bites like we had read about and were potentially prepared for. I definitely think we could have seen more of them and seen them brighter if we were at a darker spot, but you get what you pay for. (Our taxi back was $5, including that plankton stop and the complimentary snorkel gear.) It was pretty cool, but I didn't feel completely immersed in it like I had thought. Unfortunately, the GoPro didn’t capture the glow, but I will definitely say I’m glad we did it and gave it a shot. Next time, perhaps we would shoot for a different side of the island for better visibility.

Once we made it back downtown and got off the boat, we could see the night life was already in full swing. This island, this beach, is seriously one of a kind. A true paradise! As we walked the warm sand along the beach, still partially wet, we were completely comfortable! There was no breeze. I loved it! Along the beach there was stand after stand, restaurant after restaurant, offering all types of food: Khmer, pizza, Jamaican jerk, burgers, crepes, pasta, quesadillas...lots of variety. We walked the warmly lit beach a couple of times before deciding on Jamaican jerk and pasta. We ate on a bench right next to the shore.

The island is probably half Khmer and half European/white. It is total hippy-ville! There were even “happy cookies” for sale. After dinner, we were beat. We showered and were in bed by 9:30 pm. We all slept great, which is amazing since we were sharing double beds. We woke up leisurely in the morning (the first time since arriving). It was wonderful!

For breakfast, we walked along the beach for a place to eat. The island is definitely for the night life, not many people were up that early (8:00 am). We chose a place that sounded good, but ended up being the worst food of the trip. Let’s just say fishy eggs pretty much sums it up.

We decided to explore the left side of the pier to see if those bungalows right on the beach would be worth switching to. It’s awesome how many bungalows are literally on the beach front! We could see, however, that they did not have AC. That was our main priority at this point, so we decided not to switch. We continued on to the point where the beach ended, but a rocky, sandy trail continued on through more bungalows. This area had more of a resort feel. We walked through treehouse bungalows that looked pretty sweet.

We came to another small beach that we loved! We spent a big part of the day there. We flew the drone around from the pier. The boys snorkeled for a little bit, but there really wasn’t much to see in the water. We got French fries and the best wood fired pizza we had ever had with fresh pineapple and ordered it right from the beach. We were in love!

After a couple hours we saw why the beach had been mostly empty that morning: a huge tour group called Happy Boat came to the shore and unloaded a huge group of people. They were mostly Chinese tourists. It was a real hoot watching them take pictures; they have no shame. Within an hour, however, the boat left along with all of the people.

No shame!

We decided to rent kayaks and paddle over to a small island where the snorkeling was supposed to be better. The journey was definitely a work out. Jason's commands put us in the lead there and back. The water was beautiful, just not quite clear enough and not enough fish. There were some pretty gnarly sea urchins, however. They were big and black. There was even a family living on that island. So nuts! After that we explored 4K beach. This beach had white sand and gorgeous blue water. The beach was shallow and oh, so pretty.

Black sea urchins

4K Beach:

For dinner we went to White Beach Restaurant due to a recommendation that they cook the best fish on the island. That dinner was one of those moments you hold on to forever! We were seated right on the edge of the beach in cushioned chairs and a table for four. We were warm enough in our swimwear and the sun was setting. It was just gorgeous and unreal. I got a burger and pork skewer that I split with Amy. Jason got an assortment of seafood plate, as did Johnny, as well as a grouper or scooper, or something like that. We were in heaven! Such an amazing meal and moment!

After that we headed for our room. Johnny had cut his foot on coral and he and Amy had crazy sunburns. Johnny stayed behind in the room while Jason, Amy, and I went back out for crepes and an oreo shake. We soon joined Johnny back in the room for bed. 

The next morning (Saturday) we wanted to make sure we got some decent food for breakfast so we trekked back to Treehouse Bungalow Resort. I got french toast complete with chocolate syrup, pineapple, and dragon fruit. Jason got a pancake, which ended up being a big crepe, with peanut butter. Earlier that morning Jason got up and caught the sunrise on the drone and took some gorgeous footage of the island. We took our time as we made our way back to pack up before check out at 10:00 am and our speed ferry back at 10:30 am. It was SO sad to say goodbye.

 

My French toast

So sunburned!

Some fresh catch for the restaurant!

Once we made it back to Sihanoukville, we got tickets for a mini bus back to Phnom Penh (a four hour drive). The mini bus company was a joke, as they drove us crammed like sardines for five minutes just to dump us out at another station and make us wait 30 minutes in the crazy heat. No one could explain to us what was going on. Two ladies were freaking out because they had to make it to the airport by 5:30 pm and this random dump spot was not looking promising. Finally another mini bus arrived and we filled every single seat, even the two front seats by the driver. It took about 30 minutes for the bus to cool down enough to a comfortable temperature. The driver was given pressure from the two ladies to drive quickly, which he took to an insane level as there were many times we thought we might die! The driver was constantly laying the horn, passing into the other lane, even when other cars were driving towards us. At least twice he wasn’t able to merge back into our lane in time and forced the other car to swerve around us! Two guys sitting in front of us kept downing the beers and saying “Well, we might as well go out with a bang.” Everyone was freaked out and slightly amused. But seriously, it was crazy! So dangerous! Especially where the driving is already so crazy. Luckily, the ladies made it in time. We opted to also be dropped off at the airport to escape the crazy driver. At this point, Amy was not feeling well. She threw up in the bushes outside of the airport a couple of times. 

We got a taxi to take us back to Botevy’s orphanage. We waited for a new taxi to come and get us. It was pouring rain outside. We met Neht, her mom, and her neighbor at the same Khmer restaurant we really liked before. Jason and I were not feeling our best. Neht took us back to Botevys when everyone was finished. We quickly showered and grabbed our things, and then Botevy took us to the airport after a heartfelt goodbye. Amy and Johnny would be continuing their trip for another week in Thailand! So we had to say our goodbyes to them as well! It was a hard thing to do.

When we got to the airport, we were exhausted. We slept the whole four hour flight to Shanghai. Once we arrived in Shanghai, at 5:00 in the morning, we continued in and out of sleep. It was overcast and foggy again so we couldn’t see much of the city from the airport. Our next flight wasn’t scheduled until 1:00 pm, so we continued to rest and take multiple trips to the bathroom, as we weren’t feeling well at all at this point. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed two and a half hours! It felt like forever! They kindly offered everyone a complimentary meal as we waited; the downside, however, is that it was totally gross.

We finally got on the plane and were so pleased that the return flight would only be 10 hours, rather than the 14 hours it took getting here. Jason and I slept about half of the flight, and the other half was spent watching movies from their pretty good movie selection.

We got into LAX at 10:00 am and had no choice but to wait around. We ate, slept, visited the restroom, and watched our edited version of Game of Thrones until our flight finally left at 7:55 pm. Holy cow, was that a long couple days of traveling!?! We were pretty miserable.

Bryan was a real saint and picked us up from the airport. The time was about 11:00 at night. When we got to Draper, my parents fed us taco soup and chocolate pudding as we told them about our trip. We wouldn’t say hello to the boys until the morning.

The next morning, my mom fed Charlie and Colson breakfast before bringing them down at 7:00 am for their next “present”, which was us! Charlie was so excited and surprised! He jumped right in bed with us and gave us hugs. For the next 30 minutes he was just jabbering on, so hyper, telling us all about what they had been up to for the past week. Colson was also excited and gave us a hug.

Jason and I ate breakfast, quickly packed up, and hurried home because Jason had to get in to work. Jet lag, nausea, and diarrhea haunted us for days, especially for Jason. It was awful! Some online research leaves us to believe that we were experiencing Traveler’s Diarrhea. Sure wish we would have taken some Pepto with us. I guess you live and learn. We were definitely thankful to be home.

Even with the lingering sickness, we can’t complain because we had an absolutely wonderful trip! It was pure adventure filled with craziness, excitement, beauty, education, gratitude, friends, wonder, and so much more! It seriously was a once-in-a-lifetime trip that we are so glad we took. We are so thankful to family who made it possible and looked after Charlie and Colson while we were gone. I will write a post about their stay with Grandma and Grandpa Arbon next.

For those who read these posts to the end, you are a true friend!