We had a relaxing week on the island of Koh Rong Sanloem. Getting to the island itself was a bit of an adventure. We took very surprisingly comfortable bus from Phnom Penh to Sihanouk the port city. The hours of driving through the countryside were interesting and reglazing, with beautiful landscapes and seeing rural Cambodia way of life. Numerous Buddhist temple, roadside vendors, families on motor bicycles, and bikes or scoters pulling carts carrying all sorts of animals, fruits/veg and everting thing you can imagine. When we arrived at the local bus terminal we had about 45 minutes before our boat departed to the island (last boat of the day at 5pm). Because the bus company owns the boat transfer company as well, they provide transport to the boat dock and told us to wait there for the driver. The bus station was busy, and the transfer driver was not showing up and not showing up. As we became more anxious, we asked for assistance. There was lots of delay, staff looking on their phones and encouraging us to sit down again and wait (no one else was waiting for the transfer). Finally, at 4:55 a helpful young woman put us on a single tuck tuck with all our luggage for a rapid transfer to the dock and contacted the boat not to leave before we arrived (last sailing of the day.) Just as we had loaded into the tuck tuck (with Alastair sitting half off the driver seat with the driver), the transfer pick-up truck arrived, gratefully we climbed in the back arriving at the boat dock in 10 minutes. We were grateful that the boat delayed its departure, and we managed to make it to the island that night. Cambodia Air moving our departure flight meant we had an extra day in this city at the end our our Island time. It was surprising how many high rises and new developments the city has, reportedly this is mostly Chinese investment. We were thrilled to get to see the new Mission Impossible during our “bonus night”.
We stayed in a “tube” bungalow resort that many locals visited. It was not fancy but had everything we needed and was beachfront looking out over a beautiful turquoise bay with sandy beach. We enjoyed the swimming pool, the restaurant deck, and the ocean. Unfortunately, we all came down with colds, it was a great place to be sick, according to Aiden “it was chill time anyway”. The resort was very isolated and although we did a few very hot walks, there was little around to see aside, from the beautiful ocean and beaches. We experienced a tropical storm, but it didn’t last more than a few hours and provided an amazing lightning show. The staff efficiently tied down plastic sheeting to shelter the deck where the guest were all having dinner when the storm started, Aiden braved the rain to get us umbrellas impressing a larger group of elderly Chinese ladies who were sitting at the next table. Everyone felt our time on the island was a nice break from traveling and it provided a great opportunity to get lots of school and CME done. We enjoyed relaxing on the beach, swimming in the ocean (saltwater meant you could almost float) and challenging family games of Kaiser. One night there was a local fire show, we were worried because one of the performers seemed quite intoxicated, although he was talented, he made a few flaming fumbles that endangered himself and his group but thankfully everyone stayed safe. We appreciated the food at the restaurant that was varied, the smiling staff who always went out of their way to help everyone. Aiden will fondly remember the blue lemon drink and Sophie will remember the delicious peanut butter Oreos we found at the single small shop (likely intended for staff) in the area.
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