The Thakhek Loop, Laos – February 4th – 9th, 2017

Having already purchased a “ticket” (really a ticket receipt) for our onward travel from Don Khone to Thakhek, we were packed and ready for a local boat to pick us up and take us off the island. Since we have had trouble getting off islands in the past, it came as no surprise when mass confusion ensued. Although our mute hotel owner finally spoke to tell us that the boat that had arrived was not ours (maybe he was bitter that we didn’t book with him), we took the boat anyway. We were dropped off on the mainland where the driver pointed down the long stretch of street (as if that was supposed to indicate where the bus was and how you were supposed to exchange your receipt for a real ticket). Rather than walk aimlessly (been there, done that), we leached onto the boatman until he was finally annoyed enough to find someone who could curtly explain where the bus station was (we would have never found it). Fair to say that the Laos people are not as friendly as Cambodians. We were shocked when we arrived at the ticket counter and the attendant took our paper and exchanged it for an actual ticket without asking us to pay double. Boarding the bus was akin to vultures swooping in for the kill – except the locals/tourists were the vultures and the kill was the bus. There were about 30 bus seats and 50 passengers so the slow vultures had to sit on plastic seats lining the isle. We were fast vultures. Our bus managed to stop so frequently that after 3 hours we had only traveled 72 km (45 mi). We eventually arrived at Thakhek bus station at 12:30am and had to argue with the tuk tuk driver to bring his cost down about 400% to a rate that was still double what we should have paid. Finally in the town center, we set about trying to find a place to sleep. We woke up hotel owner after hotel owner only to be rejected five times. We eventually settled on an expensive ($20) room by the river, leaving our other three traveler friends to fend for themselves at 1:30am. We were just happy to have a place to sleep.

Slow vultures in the bus isle and some sights in Thakhek (that's Thailand on the other riverbank!).

The next morning, we ventured to the motorbike rental place to try and rent bikes for the Thakhek loop, a 450 km (280 mi) loop through Laos’ beautiful southern scenery. To our surprise, the place was packed, and we were too late for a bike (Wang Wang’s is very popular I guess). Instead, we settled on reserving motorbikes for evening pickup and spent the rest of the day catching up on travel research, running errands, and recovering from yet another horrendous travel day.   

Fueled up and ready to go the following morning, we headed counterclockwise on the loop towards “cave alley”. We stopped to visit three caves as well as a refreshing swimming hole. All of the caves, except the first, doubled as Buddhist shrines. Buddhists have a thing for taking over natural wonders for meditation (and to create homes for Buddha statues). Tham Nang Ene cave was such a big deal that a tour group of Thai monks were also there visiting. The huge cave cathedral was decorated in a way that only Asians can pull off (or can they?): multicolored CFLs lit the cave creating a trippy Star Wars-esque scene. After exploring the caves and eating a snack of a strange variety of nuts that a local woman was selling (super good, we have to figure out what they are), we continued on our way, eventually stopping at a visitor’s center for a newly commissioned hydroplant. Although the plant produces a massive amount of energy (most of which is sold to Thailand), the resulting lake also displaced many villages and the dam construction uncovered about 25,000 unexploded ordinance (UXO) from USA’s secret bombing of Laos between 1964-1973. Several casings from cluster bombs that had been uncovered were on display accompanied by gut-wrenching stats about continued suffering in Laos due to hidden UXOs throughout the country. Ashamed of our country’s actions we attempted to apologize to the visitor’s center guide (who had clearly been personally effected) – it was quite an uncomfortable situation. At least, he said, Obama had vowed to financially support some of the clean-up effort before he left office (hopefully that still happens…). The last stretch of road brought us through a stunning mountain pass before driving through a portion of the newly created lake. Everywhere the water had flooded, the trees had died, creating an eerie landscape. We finally arrived at our guesthouse, where we enjoyed the company of about 15 young Dutch tourists (who strangely didn’t know each other previously). We all sat around a campfire while gorging on all you can eat BBQ!

The first and second caves in cave alley and the swimming hole.

Tham Nang Ene cave.

The end of the first day on the Thakhek Loop, including Sabaidee Guesthouse, some UXO at the dam visitor's center, and our first views of the reservoir.

After breakfast the next day, we continued to drive through the land of drowned trees and onward through picturesque scenery. We stopped at many roadside overlooks to take pictures and even spotted a few “bomb boats” (boats made out of B52 fuel tanks). The final stretch of road was flanked by limestone cliffs creating pinch-me type scenery. Laos is an incredibly beautiful country! Now in the village of Konglor, we settled into our quiet guesthouse, played cards, ate, and went to bed early (after all, staying up with the college aged kids the night before took a lot out of us... and we went to bed at 9).

The drowned trees at the hydroplant reservior.

The second swimming hole of the Loop along with beautifully massive scenery (and lots of cows).

The final stretch of road on the second day brought us through incredible scenery up to Konglor village.

On the third day of the loop, we ditched the motorbikes and walked to the entrance of Konglor cave. Here, we hired a boat to take us through the 9 km long cave along an underground river. With the way lit by our headlamps, our driver navigated the river with a small engine powering the 4-seater canoe. It took about 45 minutes to go one way to a small village on the other side of the mountain. We got out several times to explore the cave features and for the driver to push our boat up rapids (we made it too heavy). It was so incredibly cool! Back at the guesthouse after spelunking in a boat, we packed up and continued on our way. After a short 40 km drive, we checked into a guesthouse, dropped our bags, did some laundry, ate some delicious local food, and went to hike to a nearby waterfall. The waterfall was beautiful, but would have definitely been more spectacular in the rainy season. While hiking back, we pondered how getting on a bus to Vientiane was going to work out the following evening. So far, the information we were able to glean was inconsistent and incomplete. Back at the guesthouse, we inquired with the staff who were nice enough to call the bus company for us. Turns out that the night bus we had planned to take would have involved waiting around all afternoon and evening at the bus station (4 km outside of town) waiting to be told if there was room for you or not. If you were lucky enough to get a bed (it was a sleeper bus), it may or may not arrive between 10:30pm and 1:30am. Although this plan seemed like a lot of fun (and definitely would have been entertaining to write about), we opted to check out of the guesthouse (still paying the full room rate) and continue driving through a mountain pass to the next town. This enabled us to get up before the sun rose the next morning to finish the loop, return the bikes, and make it to the bus station on time for the 9am tourist bus. We would normally have just hung out an extra day, but we had to make it to Vientiane to get our visas for Vietnam before the weekend. Perhaps the biggest positive to the last-minute switch was that we got to drive the stunning mountain pass while the sun came down, making the drive that much more spectacular.

You can definitely tell which of us is the morning person! Also, Konglor cave was unbelievably gorgeous, though our camera was quite useless at capturing it.

The waterfall hike was hot and sweaty, but good for stretching our legs.

Our unanticipated sunset drive rewarded us with some of the most beautiful views of the Loop.

As planned, we left the next morning at 5:00am, and drove in the dark for the next hour. We soon found out that Laos in February is really cold when the sun is not awake. Frozen in a driving position, we eventually made it to the bus station, bought our tickets, returned our bikes, grabbed some breakfast, and shared a tuk tuk back to the station in plenty of time to catch the bus. Success!

Although the last leg of the Thakhek loop was a bit hectic, it was still an incredible journey with mind bogglingly beautiful views. We were also lucky enough to finish the loop completely unscathed – many travelers came away with road rash as an extra souvenir to bring home. The potholes really do come out of nowhere.    

4,000 Islands, Laos – January 31st – February 4th, 2017

Siem Reap proved to be a wonderful host for our one night stopover on the way to Laos: we ate at an AMAZING vegan barbeque buffet (stuffed bell peppers, grilled corn, and sweet potato mash were so tasty) and had a comfortable bed with very speedy internet. The next morning, we were whisked off to the travel agency where we were given a presentation on what to expect for the trip from Cambodia to Laos. This was an incredible and welcome surprise! The agency owner told us the route we were taking, where we would be stopping, where we would be transferring to different vans, and he explained the shady overland border process. After many hours squashed into three vans and paying the requisite bribes to the border officials (not for any specific reason, just extra “fees” they tack on above the visa fee), we finally arrived in the 4,000 Islands region of Laos. We immediately hopped on a tiny boat to our island getaway, Don Khone. The boat weaved about tiny islands, rocks barely sticking out of the water, and bushes popping out of the water at random. Although unsure of what constituted as one of the 4,000 islands, we could already tell that this place was special.

Just some beautiful sights of the islands. The bottom left picture shows how many bugs were attracted to the lights at one of the restaurants!

On our first full day, we splurged for a guided kayak trip through the region. Unfortunately and unknowingly, we signed up for a very popular tour and we were joined by a LARGE group of 20 tourists who splashed about, paddled uncontrollably, and made very little forward progress in their two-person kayaks. Trying to avoid the swerving kayaks and ignore the incessant jabbering of the young travelers, we soaked in the beauty of the countless islands. We also saw some of the Irrawaddy dolphins that inhabit the region, albeit from a much farther distance and less frequent than our memorable experience in Kratie (check out our Kratie blog post here). Our kayaking was broken up by a stint walking across an island, observing Laos island life, saving a bat caught in a net (which eventually was not saved because our guide ate it), and having lunch on a Cambodian beach. During lunch we met a Belgian couple who are cycling their way across SE Asia. They also backpacked through South America, spent a month kite surfing in Brazil, and were on their way to drive their campervan through Spain. They are awesome and kind of became our role models. After attempting to race the kayak guides for some fun (they weren’t interested ☹, although we definitely would have won) we returned back to our island to rest, relax, and do some laundry (YAY! - my favorite part of traveling...). Considering the massive group, it actually turned out to be a great day trip.

Waterfalls, tourists, a poor bat stuck in a net, and oh so much luck!

Khone Phapheng, "The Largest Waterfall in the World": Somehow we doubt this, but it was pretty awesome and would definitely be more spectacular in rainy season

The next morning, we stressed ourselves out doing background research and investigating campervan rentals for our quickly approaching New Zealand leg of the trip. Turns out we were a little late to the party: almost all of the budget vans had already been reserved. We had a few campervan leads, but eventually decided to actually try and enjoy the beautiful island we were lucky to be visiting rather than stress over making a decision. So, we rented some bicycles and wandered around Don Khone seeking out waterfalls, beaches, and river views. We spent some portion of the afternoon discussing the campervan options over a delicious coconut trying to relieve some of the anxiety. The coconut and gorgeous views definitely made us feel better! The way back to the hotel involved some pretty sweet rickety bridge crossings and we also met an incredibly cute baby goat and puppy.

Some sights around the island from our cycling day, including some tourists doing ridiculous poses for pictures

This place is amazing. And that puppy was adorable crawling around and generally very uncoordinated.

The next morning, we left the island on our way to Thakhek. We really had a great time on Don Khone, but wished we had had more time to enjoy the beautiful scenery and easy pace. Nonetheless, the clock was ticking and we had a motorbike loop to ride in Central Laos!

Battambang, Cambodia – January 27th – 31st, 2017

Traveling Schmidt style is without a doubt the way to go – rather than brave yet another Asian bus, we hired a Lexus SUV to drive the family to Battambang. Although four of us were crammed in the back seat, the journey went smoothly, we arrived in about half the time that it would have taken on a bus, and the cost difference was a whopping $10 more. To make matters better, the resort we stayed out was without a doubt the nicest place we have stayed on our trip so far. It was set in the countryside just outside of town, had an incredible pool area and restaurant, and when entering our spacious luxurious bungalow, we were greeted with a flower masterpiece ordaining the bed. Yup, the $60/night price tag was well WELL worth it!

After a short stint of relaxation (we don’t sit still well), Lillian, Andy, and I rode bicycles around the surrounding villages. It was like being in Myanmar again – we were celebrities! The local kids ran out to greet us, waving energetically, and screaming “hello” as we rode by. In the evening, we took the resorts’ free shuttle (told you the place was awesome) into town for a delicious dinner at another restaurant who trains and employs underprivileged young adults (they are all over Cambodia, it’s amazing), strolled the night market, and walked along the riverside. For the second largest city in Cambodia, Battambang has a small town feel which we really enjoyed.

Battambang Resort (notice that I did not have to put 'resort' in quotation marks) and bicycling in the surrounding area. 

The following day marked our last full day with Andy’s family… sad. We hired a full day English speaking tuk tuk driver/guide to bring us to the tourist sites around town. First stop was the local morning market which was very authentic with freshly dead animals and all their innards on display, fresh fruit and vegetables, and many shops selling the same clothing, shoes, and home goods. There were also vendors making and selling the base for different types of curry – yum! Although the market was already massive, many vendors were absent because it was the 3-day Chinese New Year celebration and most people were on holiday spending time with their families and/or setting off fireworks at all hours of the day/night. After the market, we went to Wat Phnom Ek which are ruins similar to those at Angkor Wat. At the wat (aka temple), our guide told us about the Khmer Rouge and politics in Cambodia in the aftermath. During the Khmer Rouge reign, his family of seven was reduced to just him and his mother. He was born just months before the Khmer Rouge took power and grew up in a Thai refugee camp until he was 12. Although the genocide is over, the corruption in the government continues to hinder Cambodians today. We were very thankful that he was willing to share his powerful story with us. To lighten the mood, we next visited a rice noodle maker, rice wine maker, and rice paper maker (anybody else notice a trend?). The last stop in the morning was the bamboo train. The old, misaligned, warped train tracks have ingeniously been turned into a unique tourist attraction. Simple bamboo platforms placed on train wheels and powered by small motors bring you out and back into the surrounding countryside. The solution to the single track, out and back route is simple: disassemble and reassemble your train to let oncoming traffic pass. Yup, you literally get off your bamboo platform and stand aside while your train engineer takes apart and removes the platform/wheels from the train tracks, then reassembles after the traffic has passed. To turn around, he simply rearranges the wheels and turns the platform 180 degrees. 

After a jam-packed morning, we returned to the hotel to eat lunch and relax for a couple of hours before venturing out again in the afternoon. Instead of napping (which we were all ready for), we walked up many stairs to Wat Phnom Sapeau to a nice overlook before visiting a killing cave. During the Khmer Rouge period, tens of thousands of victims were murdered and their bodies dropped down a hole at the top of this cave. It has since been cleared of the human remains, except for a few glass cases filled with clothing remains, skulls, and other bones, and the large cave is now a Buddhist temple and memorial. Our guide said that the first time he brought tourists to the cave, he was beside himself emotional with the thought that his father's and siblings' remains may have once been inside… Last stop for the day was a bat cave. At sundown, about 6,000,000 bats came rushing out of a single small cave opening. The bat parade (more accurately, bat stampede) lasted over 30 minutes! It literally looked like streamers of bats exploding out of the cave and rushing into the distance as far as you could see. As you can tell, it was an incredible and incredibly busy day! 

Morning fun in Battambang. Top row: market goodies, middle row: Wat Phnom Ek, bottom row: rice paper production, bamboo train, and me petting friendly kitty. 

Afternoon around Battambang. Clockwise starting in the top-left corner: bat cave, bat swarm, killing cave, violent Buddhist imagery showing your fate if you sin, view from hill-top pagoda, hill-top pagoda.  

The Schmidts departed for Phnom Penh early in the morning so we got up to say our farewells and thank them for the unforgettable week in Cambodia. Since we are cheap (and unemployed), we had arranged to stay at a $10/night hotel closer to the city, but why leave, when check out time isn’t until noon? Noon came and went, but rather than leave, we hung out by the pool until the free afternoon shuttle was available to take us into town. 

Over the next two days, we finally got our shit together. We tentatively planned out the next week, fixed a phone screen, Andy got a haircut, rented a campervan for New Zealand, bought flights, and more. Feeling accomplished, we went to check out… this is when shit hit the fan. We had called the night before arriving to make the reservation and agreed on the price ($10/night), which was within 50 cents of the price listed on an online booking website (which charges commission); however, when we went to pay, we were told that the price was $18/night! We explained that that was not what we agreed and eventually, the hotel receptionist, called the owner who stopped by to talk to us. Things went from bad to worse when the owner turned out to be a crazy person. He accused us of lying and pulling up the booking website after the fact to prove our point. We refused to pay more than the price listed online and when he refused to budge things got escalated. Eventually, we paid him what we owed him (based on our original agreed price and the price online) and attempted to leave. The owner, now screaming, tried to force us from going by threatening to call the police and physically grabbing my bag and pulling me backwards. We left anyway, at this point, mostly to get away from this maniac. About 3 minutes after leaving, it occurred to us: we are in Cambodia, what if he actually calls the police and they accuse us of stealing? Our worst fears were realized about an hour later when the police and the crazed hotel owner tracked us down at the bus station (apparently, he was not bluffing about calling the police). We were incredibly lucky that the police officer was not an underpaid corrupt Cambodian policeman that you apparently have to bribe to get them to do their job, but an English-speaking tourist police officer who only wanted to remedy the situation. Additionally fortuitous, the police man sided with us completely, often attempting to conceal a smirk at the ridiculousness of the situation. This only made the hotel owner more pissed, he literally yelled at us for over 20 minutes, ripped up our passport copies, and almost ripped up our $20 payment (but thought better of it). It was a terrifying experience, but in the end staying calm and allowing the hotel owner to yell, only made him look like more of an ass hole and us look like innocent victims (which we were!!!). More than a little rattled, we boarded our now late bus to Siem Reap on our way to Laos. We seriously dodged a bullet with that one, I think next time we’ll just pay the $18… 

Siem Reap, Cambodia – January 24th – 27st, 2017

Rather than waste an entire day suffering in buses, we opted for a flight from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap. The most stress that day came when Lillian and my facials ran long, causing us to arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare – tough life we’ve got goin’. As promised, our hotel picked us up from the airport and transported us to luxury – the hotel was a HUGE step up from our authentic beach front bungalows. That evening, we made our way to old town, Siem Reap where we ate and explored the Made in Cambodia Market. Although a very touristy area, it was nice to have the western conveniences.

At the airport happy to not be on a bus and our first night in Siem Reap.

Over the next two days we hired tuk tuk drivers and explored the temples of Angkor Wat. The many temples were built between the 9^th and 13^th centuries and were absolutely spectacular! Each had its own distinguishing features which made it different than the last. My personal favorite were the temples with massive 300+ year old trees growing through and around the stonework. In contrast to Bagan, these Hindu (and later Buddhist) temples were surrounded by lush forest and were built in a completely different style than the Buddhist pagodas in Myanmar. Most had large walls and/or moats surrounding them and many had been cities as well as temples. Rather than the monotony of Buddha images, each temple had a mix of mostly preserved carvings and statues of Hindu gods and other symbolic deities. Another exciting difference is that at the Angkor Wat temples you got to leave your shoes on. We are happy to report that the Schmidt family will be going home fungus free (we hope)!

Day 1 exploring the less-visited temples around Angkor Wat. 

Day 1 exploring the less-visited temples around Angkor Wat. 

On the second day, we, and about 2,000 of our closest tourist friends, made it up for sunrise in front of the main Angkor Wat temple. We arrived before 5am to watch the moon, and then the sun, rise over the temple while reflecting in the pond directly in front of us. The site was beyond words beautiful, but the massive crowd pushing their way ever-closer with outstretched selfie sticks was more than a little irritating. After the sun came up, we hired a guide to bring us around the complex. Well, I should say we thought we hired a guide, what we really hired was a 45 minute recording. At one point, the “guide” realized he pointed in the wrong direction, said sorry, turned, pointed in the correct direction, and started the previous minute of script over again. Even better, the entire recording was performed in monotone which made it extra exciting. After we said goodbye to our “guide” we waited an hour in line to climb up to the top of the temple. During the wait, we eavesdropped on a nearby guide who gave us many interesting tidbits about the temples. For example, the local people and temples would change religion based on the beliefs of the current king. All the temples have been both Hindu and Buddhist multiple times throughout their history.

Angkor Wat and the crowds at sunrise. 

Day 2 around Angkor Wat - including the temple that Tomb Raider was filmed. Rotten tomatoes gave the movie a 20% so we haven't bothered watching it. 

The only thing that hindered our experience at Angkor Wat were stomach problems galore. Everyone in the family had some sort of stomach issue at one point or another. Symptoms ranged from cramping to diarrhea to full-fledged 3^rd trimester gas babies. Luckily, our tummy issues didn’t keep anyone from getting to experience the incredible history and beauty of the area.  

Day 2 around Angkor Wat. The top middle photo shows the Chinese tour bus crowds - they were our favorite (heavy dose of sarcasm). 

Sihanoukville, Cambodia – January 21th – 24th, 2017

Besides the obvious excitement about spending some quality time with the fam, one of the things we were most looking forward to was increasing our standard of living for a week. However, our first “resort” with the Schmidt family was… authentic rather than luxurious. Although the family that ran the beach “resort” were warm and welcoming, the beach bungalows were more like run down shacks with linoleum flooring and cockroach friends. Oh well, the price was right, and the Schmidts got a truly authentic Cambodian experience, with the added bonus of no running water most of the time. In good news, the ocean was literally five steps in front of our bungalow and the white noise audio came free of charge!

Rather than stay in Sihanoukville proper, which has the reputation for being a backpacker party town, we stayed at Otres Beach, about 10 km away. Although nothing like the scenery at Sunset Beach on Koh RongSamloem, the beach was beautiful and we were surrounded by tasty restaurants galore. The major downside to having bungalows right on the beach was that we were constantly being pestered by Cambodian sales people. It felt like every 10 seconds we were saying, “No thank you,” to bracelets, massages, pedicures, key chains, fruit, seafood, excursions, etc. etc. etc. In good news, true to Cambodians good-nature, most of the time they took no for an answer and moved on to the next tourist (who wasn’t hard to find, they were several feet from us in all directions, all the time).  

Otres Beach.

Andy attempting to do supermans (a workout exercise) while a dog sits on his head (top-left), the Schmidt family enjoying lunch (top-right), our beach shack (bottom-left), and the view from our beach shack at sunset (bottom-right).

Drinks, abs workouts, and Dandy at sunset.

In addition to the obvious activities of relaxing at the beach, eating, and getting twice daily massages, we rented a private longtail boat for a day and toured the surrounding islands. We snorkeled, fished, and stopped for lunch on a neighboring island. The snorkeling was really good and Thomas, Denise, and Lillian all caught fish with our water bottle fishing poles! Yes, the fish were about 2 inches long each, but that’s not the point! On our last night in Sihanoukville, we ventured into town for dinner at a NGO which employees and trains underprivileged kids in the hospitality/tourist industry. The food and service were outstanding! It was the perfect way to wrap up a couple days of great company and fun in the sun! 

Boat trip to the surrounding islands.

Lillian on the swing on the beach in front of our "resort" (left), the lions at the traffic circle in Sihanoukville (top-right), and a mystery fruit tree (bottom-right).

Sihanoukville and Koh Rong Samloem, Cambodia – January 16th – 21st, 2017

After a very long travel day (over 12 hours in a van/bus), we arrived in Sihanoukville. Well actually that’s not right, we arrived 4 km outside of Sihanoukville. Although we knew that the bus was supposed to drop us off in town at the bus station, the driver stopped outside of town at a gas station. Here, several men boarded the bus, walked the aisle, and forced every non-local off the bus telling us that this is where we have to get off for Sihanoukville. Dazed and confused, we exited the bus only to be bombarded by tuk tuk drivers who were poised and ready to take us into town. It turned out that the men that told us to get off the bus and these very pushy tuk tuk drivers were one in the same. By the time we had figured out the scam, the bus had already left, heading towards the bus station (which was right next to our hotel!). Luckily the tourists united against the corrupt tuk tuk drivers and refused to pay them the $25 they were demanding for a ride (to put the absurdity of this price into perspective, we payed less than $25 for both of us to travel on two different buses from Sen Monorom, 550 km away). Based purely on the principle of the matter, the five of us began walking in the rain. The pushiest of the drivers followed us for about 1 km, repeatedly stopping in front of us and demanding that we pay him for a ride. Even though his price dropped to $5, we still refused and eventually ended up paying a different driver to bring us the remaining 3 km. The only positive that came out of the situation is that we made three friends in the process – a Kiwi, a Dutchwoman, and an Israeli. After checking into our hotel we met up with them for dinner (mexican food, FINALLY!) and partying on the beach – we even danced! Imagine that, two engineers dancing! Your imagination is likely an accurate representation of our dance skills…

Slightly hungover (well Andy anyway, I felt great) and sleep deprived, we made our way via speed boat to our actual destination, Koh Rong Samloem, bright and early the next morning. In order to access the more remote beach, we had to trek 45 min. through the snake infested jungle across the island to Sunset Beach. It was well WELL worth the effort – think paradise. The beach and surroundings were far superior the beaches in Thailand (which we thought were spectacular). There was not a piece of trash in sight and the beach was bound by lush jungle on both sides. Additionally, our hotel was awesome. The first two nights we stayed in a tree tent right on the beach. The following two nights we opted for a massive tipi and a real bed (the tree tent although super cool in theory was not very comfortable). There was plenty to keep us occupied: ping pong, pool, beach volleyball, water Frisbee, games, hammocks, kittens!, decent snorkeling, slackline, daily workouts on the beach (created by yours truly), incredible sunsets, and even a scuba company with a small office less than 100 meters from us. The food was even pretty damn amazing – I ate the vegetable curry literally five times over four days. After a few days enjoying the beach, we did a two-dive scuba trip to the surrounding reefs. Although the beach beauty was stunning, the underwater beauty was meek in comparison to the Similan Islands.  Our guide was also surprisingly grabby – as in he felt the need to touch everything, which is a big no no in scuba diving (get your mind out of the gutter). We still had a good time though and saw a bamboo and cat coral shark (albeit both hidden in caves), lots of sea urchin and bat fish, and sea sheep (which are really rare).  

Our accommodations on Sunset Beach, Koh Rong Samloem. The picture in the top-right shows the view from our tree tent.

Sunset views.

Slackline, kittens, and Dandy love.

On the scuba boat.

Although we were reluctant to leave our beach paradise, we made the trek back across the island to catch the speed boat back to the mainland. Andy’s family were on their way to meet us that day (YAY!). Although the ocean on our beach had been completely calm that morning, the beach on the opposite side of the island was being bombarded with massive waves. The speed boat was unable to use the regular pier so we were told to walk down to the neighboring one. Although the speed boat employee had assured us (three separate times) that we were at the correct pier, we had the sneaking suspicion that she was wrong. Luckily, Andy walked down to the end of the beach (about 1 km away) and figured out that we were actually supposed to be at THAT pier. By the time he got back to tell me, the boat had already arrived and we literally had to run with our backpacks to make it in time. What is it with the continued complications getting off islands?! I still have daymares about being stranded on Koh Bulon Lae!

Departing Koh Rong. Completely out of order is the photo in the top-left: our "tourists united" friends from our first night in Sihanoukville.