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!

CAMBODIA 2017 - Prayers Answered

I have been putting off writing this post. To put myself back in that intensely emotional place is something I don’t want to do; and to be able to adequately describe the hopeless and helplessness of the situation seems an impossible task. We had our own miracle that I am forever grateful for. I strongly believe there was divine intervention. I should be shouting it from the rooftops, but to put it into words seems so exhausting. Although I know I will never be able to give the story justice to what happened in reality, I will do my best.

We woke up that morning by 6:30 am and felt well enough to make our way to the airport to meet back up with Amy and Johnny and continue on to Sihanoukville (which would be our relaxing beach part of the trip). Amy had sent us a link the night before showing plane tickets for $45 that left at 9:35 am. This was on a brand new airline that just opened up business on March 17th of this year! So literally, the day we left for Cambodia, this airline started. Brand spanking new. The flight would only be 55 minutes. Such a great deal. That morning we tried to buy them online with our phones, but since the flight was leaving that day it said we could no longer buy them online. It was too close to departure. So we figured we could just get to the airport and purchase them there. We called a tuk tuk and made our way feeling excited and anxious to be back with our friends.

Feeling a strange sadness looking at our luggage rather than our travel partners.

Meanwhile, Johnny and Amy had made it back to Phnom Penh on the six hour night bus ride. They had been “sleeping” on double gym mats on the ground at the back of the bus. The mat was actually too short for Johnny, but they made it work. They arrived in Phnom Penh at 5:30 am and then their private van picked them up at 6:00 am for the four hour drive to Sihanoukville. (We had travelled north from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat, and now needed to travel south of Phnom Penh to get to Sihanoukville.)

Jason and I had not brought debit cards! So STUPID!! We brought credit cards, but we quickly learned that practically no one takes credit cards. They only take perfect cash. They don’t take any bills that are even slightly ripped. We had brought some $2 bills that only half of the people and places would accept. They are so particular; it was frustrating. Without debit cards, we could not withdraw any more cash from the ATMs. We didn’t realize the money danger we were in by separating from Johnny and Amy until that morning. We were really hoping and expecting that the airport of all places would take a credit card. 

The new airline with the $45 add was JC Airlines. When we arrived, we learned that their desk didn’t open until 8:00 am, so we anxiously waited for someone to arrive. Meanwhile, Jason was calling Chase at 20 cents a minute to try and get a pin for his credit card to get a cash advance from the ATM in case this plan of paying with a credit card didn’t work. Mind you, if we had been able to purchase the tickets online as advertised, we would have been able to pay with a credit card. The Chase worker on the phone set it up for Jason, but then submitted it incorrectly! The pin was being mailed to our house in 7-10 days!! We needed the pin now. Jason spoke to someone else trying to correct it, but apparently once that is submitted, it can’t be reversed. It was so frustrating!

The JC desk finally opened and the guy has to check to see if they could sell us a ticket at the counter. We waited another twenty to thirty minutes, feeling very anxious since the flight would leave at 9:35 am and it was now 8:30 am. We still didn’t know if we could buy a ticket.

He came back to us and said we could buy a ticket, but the price was $103 per person in cash. They would not take credit card. This was Not Good! We literally didn’t have that much cash. Jason explained what we were able to pay based on the price advertised and that we could only afford $100 for both of us. (Even getting this plane ticket to Sihanoukville, we still needed transport to the dock and then boat tickets for both of us to get the island of Koh Rong before we could hope to see Johnny and Amy. After we ran out of cash, they had been withdrawing cash for us using their debit card.) We were trying to explain this to the worker, but he understood English only basically. The worker went away and said he would call someone. We sat and waited. We were already extremely stressed; this was taking me over the edge. I couldn’t help the occasional tear going down my face. I was freaking out. It was 9:00 am and the worker was in no rush to get back to us. I was facing the reality that we might not be going to the island at all! Because of our cash situation, we would have to buy a plane ticket online using our credit card, which would force us to wait for a flight for the next day, being a Friday and the prices doubled). We would still have to go back to the city of Siem Reap, get another hotel, eat, etc. and continue to deplete our cash supply. I also didn’t know if Amy would have cell reception or internet on the island; we may never be able to even find each other! Then we would be stuck on the island with absolutely no money left, when we needed to be back in Phnom Penh by Saturday night for our flight home. So realistically, I realized we might have to just go straight back to Phnom Penh and wait it out there until our Saturday night flight just to be sure we could have enough money to make it to our flight. Again, I was freaking out while running this all through my head.


The guy finally came back to us and again said the price was $103 per person because it was at the counter. Jason stood and explained the ad we saw online. He also said he would pay that price if they would take credit cards, but in cash we literally only had $100 to spend so we could meet up with friends in Sihanoukville. I finally got better WiFi by logging into the airport internet and started searching for the online ad so I could show it to him, but by now the price was showing the higher price of $103 per person. Luckily, I had taken a screen shot earlier that morning of their site showing flights “from $45”. Jason was persistent and talked with them at the desk. I was sitting to the side, not hearing, only seeing that things were not looking good. I was trying to compose myself, but the tears kept streaking down my face. I was terrified. I was praying. I was nauseous. The supervisor was on and off the phone. The other desk workers were telling Jason, “There is nothing we can do. The price is $103 a ticket.” They were avoiding eye contact. Jason was fidgeting his legs, crossing his fingers behind his back, basically squirming while trying to keep it together as he waited for the supervisor. 

At 9:15 am, Jason turned around and told me to get in line at security, that we were in! I started balling in relief! I motioned a “thank you” to the workers as I took my bags to security. Jason joined, then soon one of the desk workers followed and moved us to the front of the security line. We made it to the terminal! Luckily, the flight was delayed a bit so we had time to sit and try to text Johnny and Amy to let them know what was going on. I texted Amy, but got no response. I wasn’t sure if she was getting them or would get them due to cell service. With our flight getting in at 10:30 am, we could possibly meet up with them before they got on the boat for the island. We could only hope. But for the moment, we were so relieved and so blessed to even be on that flight! We knew it was divine intervention; their hearts were softened. There is no other way it would have worked out. Our prayers were heard and our prayers were answered. 

The flight was quick and the plane was brand new. As soon as we landed, I checked my phone to see if Amy had responded. To my complete joy, I got the message that they were there at the airport to pick us up!! Amy had had no reception during a lot of the drive from Phnom Penh. She had been napping and Johnny asked her if she had heard from us. Amy told him she had no reception, but Johnny threw her the phone to check anyways. She looked, saw my message, and asked the driver if they were near the airport. The driver immediately turned down the next road and they were just two minutes away! They pulled up, waited 15 minutes, and then we came out of the gate. Total and complete MIRACLE!! The way it all worked out was a serious miracle! I sobbed while hugging Amy as Jason and Johnny went straight to the ATM machine to get some cash. 

Words cannot express the pure helplessness we felt as we were waiting at the mercy of the airline attendant! The urgency and trouble we were in was huge. I was terrified. It was the persistence of Jason and the compassion of the airline worker that got us where we needed to be. They ended up giving us the $45 price! They took our $100 cash and even gave us the $10 back. Wow! The other desk worker just shook his head and said he had never seen this happen in the five years he had worked there. 

We made it to the pier in time for a speed ferry to Koh Rong Island with 20 minutes to spare! Jason bought a pizza. I was still feeling a little nauseous at this point (thanks to the overwhelming emotions and newly starting menstrual cycle). Thankfully, I was able to rest on the hour ferry ride over the Koh Rong. That was exactly what I needed. 

To be continued (on a much happier note as we relax on a gorgeous island)....