Paradise found: Koh Rong Samloem

The last time we were able to walk down a sandy beach and gaze across the blue ocean was in Goa, India. If you’ve read that post, then you’ll realise why why weren’t so impressed with that place. On the other hand, the beach itself was dreamy, and that was something we definitely missed. Our beach shorts and bikinis were repacked to the top of our bags and we set off for Sihanoukville; again by bus.

5 hours later and after more never ending Cambodian musical films, we reached the outskirts of Sihanoukville (named after king Sihanouk). Unfortunately, we were dropped about 3km out of the center, and being midday, the sun was way too hot for us to walk it. The haggling began. After attracting a crowd of tuk tuk drivers who all wanted us (we felt so special!), we agreed on a price and actually got a taxi, with A/C to take us to our first guest house. It was a charming little guesthouse, covered in trees and potted plants. The 3 French guys who were there were very welcoming, even if they were more concerned with smoking the greenery rather than watering it.

That afternoon, Malene and I took a long walk down to the coast and explored the thriving beaches. It was a busy place, packed full of bars and eateries: hardly the paradise we had expected. Still, after a few hours of walking around and checking hotel prices, we found a cheap place, no more than a minute from the white sands. We booked ourselves in for the following day.

The next morning, we again packed our bags. This has now become second nature to us and although we’re getting faster and faster at the ritual of stuffing our sacks, the sacks themselves never seem to get any lighter. Although it was early, the sun was already raging down on us. We were quick to drop our bags in our new room and head straight for the beach. After a ten minute walk on the burning sand, we found an idyllic spot away from young travellers who were already set on partying. We claimed our sun loungers, ordered a beer (you had to buy a drink to use the seats – I had no choice!) and quickly settled in for a morning of nothingness. The water however was just too inviting. Deep blue and nicely warmed by the summers sun, we often took a quick dip and then returned to the comfort of our shaded seats. We began to wonder just how long we could stay here.

I had no choice but to buy the ice cold beer – honestly.

Practicing walking on water.

That evening, we wondered around the food markets and watched the place come to life. Music blared out, sun loungers were replaced by soft bean bags and tables and travelers came out in their drones looking for a happy hour. They had plenty to choose from too. We took the opportunity to enquire as to the price for getting to the small island of Koh Rong Samloem. Situated approximately 2 hours off the mainland, we studied the brochures which of course looked incredible. They always do. The price: 20$ per person. Included in this price (which was a lot for us) was a return boat ride on the famous party boat, Lunch, breakfast, one free drink and free snorkeling equipment. The prices for accommodation on the island were reasonable and so we booked our tickets for the following morning. It turned out that we wouldn’t be spending much more time in Sihanoukville. A mistake?

We agreed to leave our bags in the tour office where we booked the boat tickets. Chained to each other and in a back room, we presumed they would be safe. In hindsight, this was probably not the best of moves. But I’ll get to that later. We made our way to the jetty and waited in the shade of the bar – not drinking this time. The huge ‘party boat’ slowly edged its way towards us and before long we were on board and sipping on fresh coffee accompanied by even fresher pastries, it was going well. We set off and soon the mainland along with Sihanoukville disappeared into the distance. After an hour of cruising, we reached a small island. We dropped anchor and the mornings fun began: starting with a jump from the top deck into the warm, deep blue sea beneath. We got our snorkels and explored some beautiful coral reef just off the island. Malene was loving it. I couldn’t quite get the hang of breathing and decided to head back to the boat for some more jump offs.

Back onboard, it was time for our free beer as we dried off. Another hour passed and the island of Koh Rong Samloem came into view. It was like something from a movie. As we stood on the bow of the boat, the beach and tropical island grew closer and closer. It looked like happiness and we were eager to get even closer. The boat stopped a few hundred meters from the shore line and a smaller boat came to pick us up. That smaller boat then stopped 50 meters from the beach, and this time we were going by foot. With our bags held high above our heads, we jumped overboard and into the thigh deep, see-through blue water. We waded closer and closer to the beach. It felt like we had been shipwrecked and were now deserted.

Arriving on the beach.

Our dorm room had the greatest views. With one side of the wooden building fully open, we had uninterrupted full panoramic view of the beach and ocean. We were already excited about jumping into bed, but first, beach time! With Bob Marley playing in the bar, we soaked up the sun and relaxed into our new stress-free environment. With the bluest of waters gently crashing against the white sand, it was hard to imagine anywhere more peaceful and beautiful. I have never seen beaches like this before. I thought it was the type of place reserved for films, our overly photoshopped photos…how wrong I was.

The beach hotel

We played pool, sat in wicker chairs and got busy doing nothing. One evening, we crossed through the jungle and onto the west side of the island for a beautiful sun set. We watched the sun slowly sink down the horizon and felt totally captured by the whole place. That night we settled down in our bed and slept like babies. It was 4am when we were awoken by a crack of lightning. As we sat up in our bed, we watched a thunder storm erupt over the sea. Bellowing thunder accompanied by huge flashes of light danced over the calm ocean. It was a strange feeling that we were so safe and dry in our bed, yet we felt like we were caught in the middle of the storm. The rain didn’t last long and less than an hour later, it had passed leaving the skies to turn red as we watched the sun rise.

Sunrise from our bed.

Our days here on Koh Rong Samloem have provided memories of paradise that we’ll never forget. With all the difficulties of travelling around new countries on a tight budget, this place helped us to forget all those worries and reminded us of all the beauty we had seen along the way. Back on the main land, we returned to the tour agency to pick up our bags. Whilst there, we met another couple who had done a similar trip to us and were also collecting their belongings. Unfortunately, a bus travelling to Phnom Penh had accidentally taken their bags thinking they belonged to passengers on the bus. We were so lucky that they hadn’t taken ours. In fact, we were beginning to realise just how lucky we had been at this place. On arrival in Sihanoukville, we tried to stay at a guesthouse that was highly recommended by various travel guides. However, when we got there, it was fully booked. When we returned to Sihanoukville from the island, we actually found out that the guesthouse where we wanted to stay had devastatingly burnt down. No one was hurt, but a lot of luggage had gone up in the blaze. Again, we were very lucky…always a good thing to be when travelling.

On our last night in Sihanoukville, we met up with Jo and Tom for the final time. After here, we would be traveling in different directions and so decided to have some drinks down on the beach. It was an amazing evening, fueled by cheap beer. Meeting local people is always great and you learn so much of country by doing so. But it’s also fantastic to meet lovely, like-minded travellers. Exchanging stories and information is so much fun, especially if you’re travelling alone or as a couple. So, once again, it was time to say goodbye to Jo and Tom. For us, we would be travelling down the coast, eastwards and to Kampot. Here we would get covered in dust, eat incredible sea food and say goodbye to Cambodia…until next time.

River dolphins and new friends: Kratie

It was a long ride to Kratie. Lying south east of Siam Reap, the bus took 12 hours, a lot longer than we had mentally prepared for. With an endless Cambodian musical film blaring out of a million different speakers, it was hard to rest, sleep, think. In fact, it was hard to do anything other than watch. We won’t be forgetting this trip for a while. As the hours passed us by and getting no closer to our destination, we watched the sun set and ate our funny tasting meat-filled baguettes that we picked up at an over priced service stop. We hoped it would all be worth it.

Finally we pulled into the small, sleepy town of Kratie. According to Lonely Planet, Kratie (pronounced ‘Kra-cheh’) is a “lively riverside town” and a “thriving traveling hub”. Admittedly, it was 7pm, but we saw nothing that resembled ‘thriving’ or ‘lively’. Still, we plodded along, laden with bags and searched in the darkness for a place to stay. The place was dead. Shutters up and closed signs on windows gave us little hope. We started talking to a Dutch guy who had visited the town a few years ago and steered us towards a small opening between 2 chemist shops. Up 2 flights of steep steps, we could hear the scuttle of little animals; we didn’t investigate fully into what they might have been, probably not fairies though. Into our room, bags on bed and the usual sigh of relief as we fell onto the hard, unforgiving mattress. Home sweet home.

The following morning, we weren’t in any rush to get up early. We came to this town for the sole reason to see the ultra rare, fresh water Irrawaddy dolphins. But that comes later. We stumbled down from our room and onto the not-so busy street and wandered to a nearby cafè. There were met a few travelers, Damian the Argentinean dancer and Canadian Sam, all of who had the same plans as us…dolphins. We checked with the information desk as to the best time to see them and were informed that our best chances to catch a glimpse of the dolphins would either be early in the morning or as the sun was setting. Our hand was dealt. It was too late for the morning show and so opted for a sunset on the river. All that remained was to plan the rest of the day. Down on the river bank, Malene and I caught a boat. We were joined by Damian and Sam and together we crossed over to the habited island of Koh Trong. A circular tour of the island was 9km, to far to walk, and so the four of us hired what must have been antique bicycles. We squeaked and grinded our way down a small track. We passed houses on stilts and watched locals farm in nearby fields. It was all very calm and felt like a world away from tourists and tuk tuks.

As we traveled further along the pebble track, we reached the waterside. Floating houses and small fish farms covered the water, like a civilasation untouched by technology. We pushed further along the waterside until we reached the tip of the island. With the heat rising and the sweat pouring after the ride, we decided to go for a swim. The cool water felt like heaven. We actually bathed like elephants and sat in the shallow, rich blue water as we got to know each other a little better. It was a perfect afternoon.

Peaceful Koh Trong.

A life on the water.

A forgotten era.

Looking for directions to…nowhere.

Back on the main land, the time was soon approaching for us to head out to the section of river where we would try and find the river Irrawaddy dolphins. We knew we had to take a tuk tuk, the problem was that there were 6 of us now and tuk tuks only take 4 (tourists, different for locals!) and so wanted us to book 2 tuk tuks. This meant the ride would cost much more; not good. It was then that we met 2 other like-minded travelers: Jo and Tom. They had scoured the streets and found a guy who would take all 6 of us: nice work guys!

We crammed ourselves into the tuk tuk, trying to balance the weight out evenly. It actually felt that the motorbike that was pulling us was performing a wheelie most of the way due to the weight. To say the ride was bumpy would be an understatement. Well, ‘bouncy’ then. But the excitement kept us from feeling sick, and half an hour later, we reached the ticket office at the side of the river. We paid and headed down the steep steps to the waters edge where a fleet of boats waited for us. We gingerly hopped on board and as the driver started his rather loud engine, we set off. It wasn’t long before we were floating in the middle of the river. With the engine cut off, we waited and watched the still water for signs of movement beneath. Like searching for the Lock Ness monster, the levels of anticipation were tangible.

And there it was. Poking his dorsal fine high out of the water, the dolphin made his first appearance. Like a magical creature, gliding through the water, we watched with mouths open, in awe of the creature. This was the first of many sightings. Occasionally, 3 or 4 or 5 dolphins would surface and swim along side the boat. One even came directly towards us and only at the last second, dived underneath and past under our boat.

The first of many sightings.

Just saying ‘hello’

Going under the boat…show off!

As the sun began to set, the evening colours came to life. Deep reds reflected on the water as we continued to watch the dolphins. Cameras were out, but predicting their appearances was a challenge. Being so close to such rare creatures, kind of brought it home for us. A once in a life-time experience of nature at its finest and an experience shared with great friends; it was all we could ask for.

Kratie was a relaxed, quite stop for us. We tried the local delicacy of sticky rice cooked with coconut milk and beans then wrapped in bamboo and steamed…I would say ‘filling’ is how I would describe that one. But more importantly, we met some great people. Damian and Sam went a different direction to us, but Jo and Tom would stick around and travel with us down to the capital: Phnom Penh. More great times were just around the corner!

Good night Kratie, thanks for the great memories.

Bridges, temples and silk: Thailand

In an attempt to catch up with our travel blog, this post will cover our final 3 destinations in Thailand: Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya and Surin. All 3 were quite different from each other, and in a way, ticked most of the boxes we had for our visit in Thailand. In all honesty, we had expected more from this country. After reading so many rave reviews, we felt a little deflated as we toured around. So, apologies for those that love Thailand, but personally, we didn’t feel the magic that we expected. Maybe that was the problem; we ‘expected’ a little too much. We also appreciate that it is a huge country and we only dipped our feet in for what felt like a matter of seconds in comparison with India and Nepal.

I think our biggest issue here was money. Much like every other traveller, money and budget play a huge part and truly dictate how you travel, where you stay and for what duration. Keeping a close eye on your wallet is always good advice, despite how mundane it can be.

Compared to India and Nepal, Thailand proved to be very expensive. Certainly travel costs seemed to be far more costly, but accomodation and food were also slightly more inflated. This wouldn’t usually be a problem, but our budget was already set, and if we wanted to ‘last’ out here, then we needed to find cheap and cheerful options: everywhere. Without further ado, I present to you Thailand’s greatest asset: 7/11! Every time we entered one of these convenience stores, we felt like we were cheating. We came all the way across the world, to this beautiful country and appear to spending rather a lot of time in the heavily air conditioned 7/11 shops: crazy! But for those on a shoe-string, these shops were a real money saver. Beer (yes, I’ve started a list with ‘beer’), water, bread, noodles, toilet paper; everything is cheaper in these shops and we really roped back in some of the lost savings that we spent on buses, trains etc. Of course there are street vendors serving up delicious, often an indistinguishable array of delights, but for day to day supplies (water is the obvious big one) then look no further: and trust me, you don’t need to look for them…7/11’s everywhere. In fact, 99% of the time, you can be stood on the doorstep of one 7/11 and if you look down the street, you’ll surely spot another.

Back to Kanchanaburi, our first stop outside of the wonderful Bangkok capital. Lying 4 hours north west on the banks of the river Kwai, and stooped in history, we chose this place for rather obvious reasons. The river itself is beautiful, with water lilies dotted all over and the fantastic back drop of the nearby mountains, every photo taken was like an instant postcard. Our first of 2 guesthouses was on the water itself. Suspended on floating barrels, we felt the slow, gentle rocking motion of the water as we lay in bed that evening. The town itself has been described as a mini, relaxed version of Bangkok – relaxed, yes…but we couldn’t see any other resemblance to the big city. Like a small fishing town, with a few bars and huge flowering bushes lining the streets, Kanchanaburi felt far more rural: a perfect place to rest up for a while. Our second guesthouse was also situated on the river, slightly further away from the centre (which dramatically dropped the price) and offered great views over the river: sunsets here were dreamy, with powerful orange and red tints of light reflecting over the calm water, another postcard view that we felt lucky to part of.

The main attraction here is of course the bridge over the river Kwai. Made famous by the 1957 David Lean film, the bridge itself is a mass of black steel, with the train tracks running across it. The museum is well worth a visit and quickly paints a horrific picture of the slavery and grueling conditions the POW’s faced when constructing the bridge. The heat of the midday sun was well into the 30’s, which made it easier to imagine the suffering that they must have felt. We took the train across the bridge itself, which is a memory that will stick we me for a long time. By closing my eyes, I could feel the dead, stuffy breeze pass through my clothes. I could hear the rhythmic clunking of the track below, which painted a picture of tired men, labouring their heavy sledge hammers and constantly under attack from the brutal Japanese army. It was a difficult concept to try and understand, a lesson of modern slavery and we both felt a wave of gratitude and compassion for all of those involved.

Our second stop proved to be quite different to both Bangkok and Kanchanaburi. Ayutthaya is home to some very famous and fascinating temples. The historical park itself is spread across many acres, with hundreds of temples and Buddhist monuments, you could easily spend a couple of days getting lost and exploring. Lush green grass and shady trees adorn the park and as we cycled from one area to the next, it was fun to imagine the life and energy that once was. One of the most memorable images here was at Wat Mahathat and the stone head of Buddha entangled in the roots of an old fig tree. The huge 37 meter long (8 meter high!) reclining Buddha at Wat Lokayasutharam was also incredibly impressive and a true tribute to the past artists and sculptures.

On a slightly different note, Ayutthaya also has some of the strangest, coolest tuk tuk’s we have seen so far. Looking like something from the future, all brightly colourful and even a Batman one: fully equipped with a batman figure glued to the roof, brilliant! We stayed at a tiny little internet cafe which only had a handful of rooms, but had two things that Malene and I have been looking for all over Thailand. Firstly, it was cheap as chips, secondly, and a huge bonus, it had A/C…oh what a delight! We even had to break out the sleeping bags which were starting to collect dust. It was certainly nice not to sleep in a pool of our own sweat for once: 200 baht (£4 a night) for those interested. It was next to this place that I had my first ever Thai full-body massage. As lovely as the girl was who gave me the massage, I sort of felt like she broke me. I have absolutely nothing against larger women, but my spine has a different opinion! It will be a while before I get another massage, and probably even longer until I walk with a straight back again.

Our final stop in Thailand and possibly our quietest stop, was in Surin. North east of Bangkok and close to the Cambodian border, this sleepy town would be our port to Cambodia and our chance to see hand woven silk, a famous Thai skill and one we didn’t want to miss before leaving. Staying at a remote homestay, we started to feel a little bit more of what Thailand had to offer. Away from the buzz of big cities, tour agencies and inflated prices, it was great to finally enjoy Thailand. The silk village that we visited was equally quiet and secluded and a lovely setting to experience hand woven silk garments up close. The patience and skill the women have in weaving was breathtaking to watch. A small team of ladies, each with individual roles would effortlessly weave intricate and detailed patterns using the ultra-fine threads of silk. It was so wonderful to see the traditional methods still being used and reminded Malene and I of the simple beauties of life. Patience, hard work and dedication can all be admired and learned from an afternoon here at the silk village.

It was a brief encounter with Thailand, much like this post. Short and sweet sums our travels around this country and we wish, in some ways, that we had more time and definitely more money to explore it further. We’ve heard so many great things about the north of Thailand, but with our ‘home-dates’ firmly set in our minds and 2 highly anticipated countries to go, it was time to close this chapter and begin another. We were also lucky enough to meet two fellow travelers: Ellen and Anton who would bravely join us to cross the Thailand/Cambodian border. That journey, however, will be for the next post as I feel I have already bitten off more than I can chew for one entry!

Onto country number 4: Cambodia, will it prove to be better than Thailand?