The beginning of many island trips on my adventure I think! I started my day with some very sad goodbyes to everyone I had the pleasure of meeting in Kampot (there were so many insanely beautiful humans), and I will definitely talk more about the highs and lows of travelling at some point, including the hellos and goodbyes which are difficult every few days! Anyway, back to where I’m heading, I took a bus to Sihanoukville, around two hours away, to the port to catch a boat off shore! There were two islands I wanted to visit in Cambodia, one was called Koh Rong, and the other, its sister Island, Koh Rong Samloem.

Just saying, backpacking is *not* for the weak. My bus journey was so incredibly bumpy because the roads are so unmade in parts of Cambodia, and then the boat trip was the rockiest I have ever been on. It was genuinely something else, I was holding on for my life and just counting down the 45minute journey to make it back to land. Once I set foot on the pier everything felt a little calmer, until I had to do a 40 minute walk across sand to reach my hostel. It actualyl wasn’t too bad and the fews were incredible, but when you’re carrying your backpack, it taints it a little. I started on Koh Rong Samloem, the smaller of the two islands. Here it was a little more chilled, not too much happening, proper remote island life vibes. With that, it means there is not rela forms of transportation, and because of that, no real roads either, so the way of getting around the island, is by foot, bicycle, moped if you’re lucky, and by boat around the outisde of the island. I made it to my hostel and by this point was very ready for a drink, luckily I managed that and finally had some down time to chill after a 6 hour journey which should have taken about 4.

I had a very chilled afternoon just hanging out at the hostel and taking in the views, the hostel is beach front, like everywhere here, so it’s a 2minute walk from my dorm to the sea, how isane is that! Every night the hostel does a fire show on the beachfront so I grabbed some dinner and then watched that, and bumped into some people who I met at my previous hostel who had also moved onto here! It was really nice to see some friendly faces and hangout with some people I knew for my first night in a new place. I’m gonna talk about the constant meeting and saying goodbye to people in a different post but know that it’s really tricky introducing yourself to new people every few days whilst you’re travelling.

There was a few bits I wanted to try and do whilst on Koh Rong Samloem, the first was get a boat to the other side of the island, M’Pai, (the only form of transport as it’s all jungle!) to check out the market and just see a different part of where I was staying. I also wanted to do the jungle trail to see the lighthouse on the island. The weather for the majority of the time I was here was thunderstorms and rainy, which was really annoying. We’d have some sun start to appear and become hopeful, get ready to go and explore, and then before we could make it out, another thunderstorm. Whilst I’m well up for exploring in most conditions, the rain here was something else, we was walking from a restaurant about a 2min walk from our hostel one evening, and doing this walk through the rain meant that I could wring my clothes out to dry by the time we got back, it was like I’d had a full on shower! There was no way we could’ve risked exploring the jungle or heading out on a boat trip and risking not making it back.

In the time we did have some sunshine, we went swimming in the sea, played volleyball and hung out outside the hostel just enjoying being with eachother. I had a nice time chilling out here, and getting to meet some more new people, but the weather did taint my experience here a bit, already knowing there wasn’t too much to see, I wanted to try and see it all, but having thunderstorms for the majority of the time did mean I couldn’t fully enjoy my experience. Finishing on Koh Rong Samloem, it was time to head back to the pier and get a boat to the next island, Koh Rong. I encountered a problem whilst trying to get to Koh Rong, in that most of the long boats weren’t running between the islands because of the weather, so had to wait to either get a supplier boat, or a speed boat, however, we finally made it. This is the larger of the two islands and has more infrasctructure on it, and is definitely a little easier to get around, now all we need is some good weather!

I had only been on Koh Rong for about 10minutes when I knew I had made the right decision coming here when I did, one of my pals from the last hostel handed me a rum and pineapple juice as soon as I got there, and before long, we ordered a beer tower and began our night! First up was Nestival, which took place on the day I arrived. I feel like the clue is in the name a bit, it’s a festival which takes place at one of the hostels on the island every Saturday. Lots of beer, shots, beach olympics, fire dancing, music and good vibes where all backpackers come together to party! It was insane. As soon as we set off it felt like a pub crawl along the beach front (although very wet) where we were having shots poured into our mouths, playing drinking games, getting covered in paint, insane. And this was before we even got to the final destination! We then had to cross a river/ the sea in a little pull along boat which was interesting, and was going to be even more interesting on the return trip home once we’d had even more to drink. We were handed a beer when we arrived and let the party begin! Good music, good friends, good vibes all night and we made it back in one piece, absolutely soaked with paint running down our clothes & bodies, but knowing that we really enjoyed ourselves.

The next day we was all feeling very sorry for ourselves after the chaos of the night before. We laid by the sea for most of the afternoon just chilling out and laughing together and then grabbed some dinner in the hostel and watched the fire show on the beach in the evening. I think I’ve said it before but it is really good to have ‘do nothing’ days when you’re away travelling. I’ve learnt the hard way, I’ve gone on trips before and had something planned for every day, and come back home after and felt even more burnt out than when I left. So actually, sitting on the beach with great people just laughing for the day is a really good use of time, and is really enjoyable.

Time on the islands is flying by and today we’re off kayaking and to watch the sunset, and hopefully to see some fireflies. We jumped in the back of a truck and hit the road to the other side of the island and even that was a really wild experience, and something that would never be legal at home! After a half hour journey we arrived, grabbed a kayak and hit the water. We had the best time! I love kayaking and there was a group of 8 of us that all went together and we paddled right the way up to the sea, through some incredible floating villages with so many wonderful locals en route. We enjoyed some time kayaking around in the sea, laughing together, and just watching life pass us by before heading back up the river to the mangroves to watch the sunset. This was such a surreal experience, I loved every minute of today.. we headed back to where we started before having a traditional Khmer dinner together and then headed out into the forest to see so many fireflies lighting up the area! I genuinely felt like I was in my own Princess and the Frog story.

When we got back it was pub quiz time! We made a team together and tried our absolute best but it was the most random quiz ever, involving questions, music, actions, selfies and all sorts. Nothing like I have ever seen before! We laughed all night which just finished off such a great day on Koh Rong. Whilst on the islands I even managed to fit in some snorkelling to see the bioluminescent plankton, which was super cool. When you’re in the water at night and swish around a little, it all lights in up in bluey green colours and you feel like you’re in a fairytale. It’s insane! I cannot believe island life is at an end after such an incredible week or so.

I’ve really enjoyed island life in Cambodia and am already excited to see what the islands in Thailand are like further along my trip too. But for now, I’m heading back to the main land on my last boat trip for a little while and taking a seven hour train ride back to where I landed, the Capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, for some exploring. See you there! Mads x