Sihanoukville, Koh Rong Sanloem, Otres Beach & Kampot - Cambodia
I flew into Cambodia after a couple nights in Bangkok, where I was able to re-up on toiletries and download the finale of Game of Thrones (Myanmar had shotty internet). I flew into Phnom Penh and then walked across from arrivals to my bus pickup, which was heading to Sihanoukvillle, a coastal city on the southern edge of Cambodia. Once the bus had gotten to the "station" I grabbed my bag and walked to my hostel. Cambodia is currently in the throes of rainy season, so it basically rains intermittenly everyday. Typically it is clear in the morning and then once the clock strikes 11am it is hit or miss. I managed to arrive on a somewhat rainless day, so I hitched a ride on the back of a local woman's motorbike and headed to the city center to buy a SIM card, then I posted up at a street bar to people watch. Downtown Sihanoukville holds a local market and a fishing wharf, so there is a lot of foot traffic, which is great for mindless eye wandering. I spent a couple hours there, met a few older expats, who call Cambodia home and then made my way back to the hostel. Luckily for me the hostel has a very small, but clean pool that is enclosed by 4 walls, so even if it is raining there is no wind. I met a bunch of other backpackers that evening and we ended up joining a pub crawl run by a couple Irish guys. We stayed out pretty late and then walked back to grab some sleep. In the morning I said bye to a few of my new friends and then looked to find a place to get my haircut. I found a little place that was willing to fix me up for about $2, and all turned out well. I decided to rent a motorbike for half the day and just drove around the city and the surrounding area for a few hours. The weather took a turn and I decided it was time to head back.
The next morning I took a speed ferry from Sihanoukville to Koh Rong Sanloem, a small 24 sq km island, for a few nights. I was advised by a friend of mine to stay with an Australian guy named Andrew at his guest house. Upon arriving to the island I had to grab a long tail boat to cross to another harbor, then from there walk the couple minutes to the actual residence. Once I arrived it was clear that this was a totally different setup than any I had encountered since beginning this journey. Andrew literally has a 3 room unit, one room is the main space that has a tiny "kitchen", the other 2 rooms are bedrooms that each have two sets of bunk beds. I ended up paying for my 3 night stay with groceries he had asked me to bring from the mainland. It was 1 kg of raw peanuts, 1 jar of Nutella, and 1 kg of coffee beans (he too wanted the final episode of GoT, but I refused to be his errand boy). In total those items cost me $9, so I think overall it was a win on my end. We only had 5 of us staying there at the time, which ended up being really fun. The first day a couple of us took a trek through the jungle to a boulder sticken beach, where we found this cascading set of pools that were being filled from the top of the mountain. The flowing water ended in the sea, so it was a very scenic spot. The same night a few of the guests cooked dinner for the rest of us, and then we played cards till the power was shut off on the island (approx 12am). The next day it rained, so we ended up just hanging out at the house, playing cards and talking about everyone's past and future travel plans. Days like this are a welcomed change because everyone (myself included) had no expecations, so it is an opportunity to just enjoy where you are at. The last day we were surprised to wake up to a very beautiful day, so we grabbed towles and walked to the beach. The group of us spent most of the day there, just enjoying the good weather while we could. The last night a really awesome restaurant on the pier put on an "all you can eat" meal. It was a tremendous amount of vegetarian options and then on the BBQ they had grilled squid, chicken and shrimp. All the food we didn't eat was given to the local people, so it felt good knowing it wouldn't all go to waste. Refrigerators are not commonly found on the island, so most food that is prepared is either consumed, or thrown out. One perk of staying with Andrew is that he makes his own bread dough every day, and then bakes it in a Dutch oven over an open fire, free food is a huge bonus!
I took the ferry back to Sihanoukville from Koh Rong Sanloem, then I made my way to Otres Beach, which is only about 15 minutes from the pier itself. I spent two nights at a newly built hotel that charged only $10 a night for a double bed, AC (which I hadn't had a in while), and free towels. I jumped at the opportunity! The two days on Otres were rainy, from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed it rained nearly the entire time, which normally would have been a huge buzzkill, but it ended up being perfect. I had a great Wifi connection, so I was able to stream a bunch of shows I had missed, plus I was able to finish my book (I am Pilgrim - if you haven't read, do it…great thriller, I have found more time to read on this trip than I have had since the summer after college.). When it was not raining I did manage to take a couple different walks along the beach and village for a few Khmer meals. The hotel staff was almost overly attentive, as they wanted to make sure that I provided them a great review, but I think I am just desensitized to people interested in helping you. It got to a point where I was having to decline their offers because I am capable of carrying my own bottle of water and drying myself off with a towel. The hotel had a pool, so for the 90 minutes it didn't rain on the day I arrived, I did manage to take a brief swim. My last night the hotel arranged for a van to pick me up in the morning and take me to Kampot.
Kampot is a city that is about 90 minutes from Sihanoukville. It too was hindered by the wet season, but since I only had two nights there I wasn't expecting to do too much. The first day I ended up arriving midday, so I hung out by their natural pool that is cleaned by living plants at the bottom (we luckily didn't get more than 30 minutes of rain the first day). The hotel is owned and run by a couple British expats. It is father-daughter duo and they did a pretty great job of making the common area a fun place to hang out. It basically is a huge open air pavilion with a bar/restaurant area underneath a thatched roof. It had an air hockey and foosball table, plus a book exchange (which I definitely needed). The second day I rented a motorbike and the 45 kilometer drive from the hostel up to the top of Bokor National Park. It is a national park that encloses Bokor Mountain. It was unfortunately very cloudy at the top, but the drive up was awesome. It was a curvy road up, which made me focus on the road more than the view, but I stopped periodically to look out on the city/sea view. I was flagged down by a small Khmer boy, who needed a ride to the top, so I obliged the request. I dropped him off at some road stand and then drove on to the waterfall at the top. The falls were large and much more powerful than I was expecting. It wasn't rainy, but it appeared to be on the verge nearly the whole time. At multiple points I was literally driving through a cloud, so visibility was quite poor. I managed to not crash on the 4 hour excursion, so I called it a success. I made it back to the hostel in one piece and then ended up just hanging with some of the other guests for the rest of the night. I woke up early the next morning and packed my bag before my bus to Phnom Penh.
I do want to mention that my thoughts are with the city of Dallas. I write this journal entry feeling very discouraged with the current state of affairs back home. It seems that each day/week that passes, I see delayed news about another tragic event happening stateside. Often times travelers from other countries ask me to provide them my perspective/justification on the events that are happening, in America, and I typically have very little to say. While traveling in parts of SE Asia I have seen horrible living conditions, been exposed to some countries' harsh realities or tragic recent pasts and it makes me wish that we could figure it out. Our country is blessed beyond measure, but we continually are at odds with ourselves. I hope that in my lifetime we see change.
Neill
See photos here.
