For the first night of our stay in Koh Rong Samloem the four of us were staying in a private three bed bungalow on the beach. It was very basic but nice enough. We spent the evening having dinner and just relaxing and chatting to people there. Two of the people that worked there had been on our tour to castaways which was really funny so we kind of knew them already. In the morning we woke up really early as when the sun rises the bungalows get really hot.
Every day the hostel puts on three boats over to the main beach of Saracen Bay which is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Its long with white sand and gorgeous blue water and its just so quiet and relaxed. On Saturday and Sunday we caught the boat over to the island and spent the day having lunch, sunbathing and relaxing in the sea. We found a couple of hammocks that are pegged in in the sea so we sat on those for a while and just admired the surroundings. We also happened to bump into a couple of people we had met before staying on Saracen Bay so we hung out with them for a while on the Saturday before they left on the Sunday.
Then at around 4/5 there was a boat back to the bay that the hostel was in so we headed back for the evening.
We spent the evenings eating dinner at the hostel and hanging out with people at the bar. On Saturday there was a fire show put on by the people that work at the hostel but that was all really. It was such a chilled couple of days but it was great.
On the Monday we decided to explore the jungle behind the hostel and walk to the beach through there instead of getting the boat over. It was hot and sweaty but it was a good walk. It took about half an hour and wasn't too treacherous but it wasn't too easy either. After we had made it to the beach the day was spent in the same way, relaxing on the beach and then in the hostel. The food at the hostel was a good mix of western and Khmer food and was relatively expensive but not as bad as we thought it would be (about $6/$7 a meal, $1.25 for a beer).
On the Wednesday we caught the early boat over to Saracen Bay ready for our speedboat back to Sihanoukville at 10. The boat over to Saracen Bay takes about 20 minutes and then the speedboat took about 45. We arrived in Sihanoukville after a very bumpy journey over and had a bit of a walk from the pier to the bus up a hill. It wasn't too bad but it was very hot. Cambodia is our hottest country yet I think and its safe to say that we all burnt a little on the island. I only really burnt my nose and a bit on my shoulders. Becki is by far the worst as she bought some suncream here and we don't believe its factor 50 as it says on the bottle.
The bus to Phnom Penh arrived in the city at about 6 o clock and from there we checked into our hostel (another of the mad monkey chain) and had dinner at the hostel after sorting out some laundry. Laundry is so easy here because you can just drop off a bag at most hostels and they weigh it. Then you pick it up the next day.
The wifi isn't great here but will try and update soon for phnom penh!
