I left the busy and hectic streets of Phnom Penh earlier than I had planned, but I was anxious to get to a quieter place. I definitely found a quieter place. But like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, after Phnom Penh was too hot, Koh Rong Sanloem was too cold. It was so quiet that I got bored and left a little early. It was a major improvement over Phnom Penh, but I get bored quickly.
If I'm not mistaken, the trip to Koh Rong Sanloem took me two days. The ride from Phnom Penh wasn't too bad, but I arrived at the coast too late for the ferry to the island. I spent a night in Sihanouk and caught a boat to the island the next morning.
On the boat, I met this guy who was super nice. He owned a hotel on the island and was bringing some birds in a laundry basket to give as a gift. If I remember correctly, the birds are given as a gift and the person who receives them releases them and it's good luck. The guy told me that his dad was a police chief on the mainland, and if I got into trouble I should call him. I thought that was pretty cool, though I didn't plan on requiring his services.
I arrived on the island and got a room on the beach right next to the pier that I arrived on.
The rooms were cool little bungalows right on the beach. If you look at the top of the image, you'll notice that the walls are open at the top to allow air circulation.
The beach was super quiet. There were only a handful of other tourists in sight. The coast didn't have many buildings, just a few bungalows.
In front of my room was a big treehouse that people could rent. It looked cool from the outside, but I think it's more effort than it's worth. It looked cool from the ground and I'm sure the view was good, but it would be such a pain to climb in and out of.
The water was super calm, crystal clear, and very warm. Normally I didn't swim very much on this trip, but I spent a lot of time in the water here.
The hotel/resort had a restaurant and they sold beer, so I was set. I had dinner here and drank my fair share of beers. The island has to make its own electricity with generators so electricity was only available for 4 hours after the sun went down.
The sky at sunset was one of the prettiest I'd ever seen.
Once it got dark, I went out into the water. The water had a ton of plankton and they light up when you move your hand under water or agitate the water. It was one of the coolest things I'd seen. When I was a kid, there was a Michael Jackson game based on Smooth Criminal. You had gloves that would shoot out sparkles. I felt like that in the water.
The whole day was pretty great. I spent the day just relaxing and reading. There was no internet and nothing else to do really. It was nice to unwind for a day, but I decided that one day of nothing was enough for me.
The next day I watched the sun come up, then I caught the boat to the next island. I was hoping that the next island, Koh Rong would a perfect place for me, but I'm an extraordinarily picky Goldilocks. I wouldn't find the place that was just right until I went to Kep. I'll post about that in day or two, next up is Koh Rong.