Day 48-51 Sihounukville & Ko Rong (Cambodia)

Sihounukville

"She was a tropical beauty." Danish Mac, describing his one night romance.

We met 3 Danish boys (Sebastian, Mac and Victor) and two aussie boys (Tom and Andrew) on the bus.. and ended up staying in a big group with them for the next few days.

In Sihounukville we stayed in a cool hostel called Monkey Revolution. It was full of backpackers and had a great atmosphere.  

The weather turned out to be fine there too. Phew!

We ate a lovely bbq dinner on the beach front...

Then collected flyers and had a free drink in every place!

Jack was feeling a bit worse for wear the next day...

He'd gone swimming in the sea the night before and managed to leave his shoes on a boat somewhere too!

Ko Rong

So, the next day, we went to Ko Rong, a small island South of Sihounukville.

We'd heard great things about this island and it definitely didn't disappoint.

We had to get a ferry over which was pretty grim with a hangover.

But when we got there, it was like a little drop of heaven.

It's only a small island, it's really chilled out and it looks beautiful.

They only have a few hours of electricity a day, so there are certain times when the whole island will go pitch black.

Pretty much everywhere sells bbq food and plays chilled out music. A place called Cocos had a live band on for both nights too.

On our first night, we went to a locals birthday party and it was amazing! 

They were showing us their local dances and we often got caught up in talcum powder or water fights.

It absolutely chucked it down but we carried on dancing.

The word "PUPUNANI!" Is said by a LOT of locals and in lots of songs. We know it means something rude but we're still not entirely sure what?!

We swam in the sea and saw the plankton glowing up.

Then we all floated and looked up at the stars and the lightening.

The next day, we trekked for one hour to Long Beach..

The scary walk there was made totally worth it, as we were all a bit speechless at how beautiful the beach was and how clear the sea is.

We went in a boat back instead of doing the walk again...thank God!

We ate some lovely food at a place called Paradise, then went for some more drinks and live music.

Marie and me went for a wander to another lovely beach the next morning too..

The only downside about the island is you practically get eaten alive by flies, which leave unbearably itchy bites..and loads of people were getting ill there.

Further inland and where all of the accomodation is, it can be quite dirty, we saw a number of rats and you see so many little puppies with flees (and a number of people heard/ saw them dying).

But for a couple of days of magical scenery and peace, it's definitely worth it.

We went back to Sihounukville for one more night. We had more bbq food on the beach...

Then listened to some great live music where we were staying at 'The Big Easy'.

After a couple of hours of sleep, Jack woke us up because he realised the beds were covered in bugs.

We tried to stay on the bathroom floor but in the end resorted to the sofas in the hostel bar. 

It turned into an all nighter because the heat and drunken people coming in and out didn't make for the best of sleeps.

Early the next morning, Jack was really ill.

After trying to act out sickness and diarrhoea medicine to about seven non English speaking shops, I finally found him some tablets ahead of a hot and sticky bus ride.

The glamorous side of backpacking eh?! Ah well, there's always tomorrow!

Next stop... Kampot!