Question Time (Day 84 - 88 by Gemma)

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Wednesday 9th December 2015

We had arranged for a private taxi boat to pick us up outside the guesthouse for $40 which would take us directly to the next island. This would avoid us walking the 45 mins back to the main pier on this side of the island, to then take a boat around the island to the main pier, to then change boats again to travel to the other island, Koh Rong Sanleoun. Although this was a huge amount to pay (and we would later need the cash!), for the convenience and the journey only taking 1.5 hours, rather than around 4 hours, we thought it was worth it. Plus, it would mean that when we arrive at Sanleoun we would have almost the full day ahead of us. The boat collected us at 9am and we said our goodbyes to the owners of the Coconut Boulevard and waded through the water to climb aboard the boat.

The boat took us over to the next island without any issues. This beach was much smaller, but the problem we had was that we didn't know exactly where on the beach our accommodation was. There were 4 piers and obviously the boat dropped us off at the wrong end. No exaggeration, we were at the furthest point we could be from where our bungalow was. We popped into a restaurant next to the pier and they confirmed that we had a 30 min walk ahead of us at the bottom of the beach. Typical that we should pay for a taxi and get them to drop us off in the wrong place. Thankfully, it was only 10:30am and not too hot, but still around 30 degrees. The sand was also quite firm and also flat, which made walking on it easy. The beach though wasn't as nice as we had expected. We were led to believe by many reviewers that Sanleoun had the nicer beaches when compared to Koh Rong. This beach was dirty and the waves were washing up what looked lake black ash and rubbish. We made our way to the guesthouse and the first question I asked was, why is the beach dirty, and he confirmed that it was because of the storm the previous day that had brought tonnes of rubbish from open water inland. Luckily for us, our stretch of beach wasn't too bad and we found out later in the day that the hotel takes care and cleans their section of the beach. Unfortunately for the other people in other accommodations, their hotels didn't.

We'd paid for 3 nights at Saracen Bay Resort which was costing us a whopping £44 per night and not leaving much left from our daily budget. The place though was absolutely stunning and money well spent. We had paid for one of the beach bungalows, which offered uninterrupted views of the sea right on our doorstep. The bungalow was securely built and had a nice bathroom with tiled walls and floor, which most of you would expect as a minimum in most bathrooms, but for us we saw this as a luxury item. When laying on the bed you could see through the french doors and out to sea. Just outside the room we had a porch area with comfy seats and our own garden area. The beach, once cleaned was beautiful, but wasn't as good as Long Beach on Koh Rong. If the accommodation here could be moved to Long Beach you'd probably have one of the best places on earth to stay. We couldn't believe our luck though being given the only bungalow with a clear view of the water, as most were set back a little further with trees outside the room. We felt very secluded and happy to be spending 3 days here.

We didn't do much for the rest of the day other that relax on our porch and take a dip in the sea. What we were lacking though was money! Neither Island had ATMs or accepted card, so we had to pay in cash. What we hadn't done was calculate how much money we would require for the total stay on both islands before we left the main land and hence didn't bring enough cash to splash out on 'extra' stuff. We sat down with the menu in the restaurant next to our bungalow and calculated how much we had left and how much we could spend on each meal. It turns out we were rationing ourselves to 2 bottles of water per day and at each meal we had to opt for the cheapest meal available (rice or noodles). We were not going to starve, but it would've been nice to splash out on a Coke and a Kit Kat Chunky every now and again. At the end of the day our bodies told us to get some sleep at 9pm and we slept under our mosquito net with the fan on full speed.

Thursday 10th December 2015

After a good first night sleep in our very comfortable room, we headed for breakfast in the main hotel building, which was built overlooking the water to give amazing views of the island. Having generally skipped breakfast on the previous island, we treated ourselves to a hearty breakfast of omelettes, toast and coffee. Well, we had a tiring day of sunbathing & reading ahead! Following breakfast, our morning was spent doing just that; sunbathing, swimming in the warm crystal waters, sunbathing, paddling in the water and so forth. With the midday sun being very hot, we retreated to the big wicker chairs on our bungalow porch to read and relax staring out at the blue water. Without going into too much mushy detail, a perfect day was made even better when Chris decided to surprise me by asking me to marry him. He couldn't have picked a better moment, on our secluded piece of beach with the sun shining and water twinkling. I of course said yes :-) (after a shocked silence, I genuinely had no idea) and immediately fell in love with the diamond and sapphire ring he had chosen. We spent the rest of the afternoon in a haze of surprise & excitement. Well, that was until we decided it would be a good idea to plant our GoPro camera on the sea bed and do an overhead swimming video in the clear waters. Turns out this wasn't such a good idea, as between planting the GoPro in the sand and swimming, the water had gone cloudy enough to obscure our view of the camera. Doh! 10mins of diving underwater and we had no idea where the thing was. Talk about highs and lows. Luckily a very kind person sitting in reception lent us their swimming goggles and, according to the Go Pro, 16mins after beginning filming we found the bloomin thing still in the sand. After a more eventful day than either of us had envisaged whilst sipping coffee that morning, we headed for dinner overlooking the water. Bearing in mind that this island is basically jungle edged with a beach (and a few beach bungalows), we had expected a few creepy crawlies but weren't quite prepared for the extent of exotic bugs that we'd be sharing dinner with. The beach is pitch black at night, so the restaurant being brightly lit basically attracts everything. However, my award for creepiest crawly of the night goes to the MASSIVE hard shelled beetle that flew straight into Chris Potter's face during dinner (you could hear the impact) causing him to launch half of his fried rice into my lap. What a day! And one we will always both remember!

Friday 11th December 2015

Still on a happy high from yesterday we spent another relaxing day in our little piece of paradise, swimming, sunbathing and discussing the pros & cons of a Harry Potter themed wedding. Poor Chris, in all the excitement, managed to get himself a stomach bug and on his first day as a would be husband spent more time getting to know the toilet than with his new fiancee. It didn't help that little pesky termites had managed to eat their way through the electrics in the bathroom meaning we got an electric shock every time we used/touched any water in the bathroom. One of the perils of staying in a fully wooden bungalow in the middle of the jungle. The owner of the bungalow resort was very quick to get things fixed so Chris could go in peace without fear of being electrocuted! Dinner was spent with company of the insect kind. I'm starting to think Chris is emitting some sort of super-ray that attracts the creepy crawlies, as it seemed every specie decided to visit our table during dinner. At one point a huge black flying beetle thing took a nose dive to land directly beside his plate and hung out for the rest of dinner *shudder*. I don't think either of us have eaten so quickly to return to the safety of our mosquito net for our last night. Our last sleep on the island was a dramatic one, being woken in the middle of the night by an epic thunderstorm. Each flash of lightning completely lit up the room and the mixture of winds and thunder was deafening. Always a bit nerve-racking when you're in a wooden bungalow at the edge of the jungle. The storm seemed to linger overhead for a very long time until we both dropped off to sleep.

Saturday 12th December 2015

After an amazing week on the Islands of Cambodia, we had to bid farewell to some of the most beautiful beaches we've both seen but with a bucket load of amazing memories. We left Saracen Bay Resort at 9am to get the speed ferry back to the mainland. We traveled with the company TBC, a company name which became all the more apt when the boat didn't turn up with the next arrival being a TBC. I guess there are worse places to be stuck, but with only $1 left in our possession, cards not accepted and no cash points on the islands, we couldn't even afford a can of coke. Luckily for us we were too lazy to leave the jetty after the no-show boat and so were frontish of the queue when an unexpected speed ferry turned up at 11am. The next hour was spent on a cramped (i'm sure overcrowded!) speed ferry negotiating its way through choppy water. Reaching dry land, we were both sad our island adventure in Cambodia was over but relieved to be off the boat. We had decided to stay at the Reaksmey Meanrith again in Sihanoukville, where we had been before, which although just out of town had huge rooms and 2 fluffy resident dogs. Dropping off our bags, we immediately headed into the town to locate a cash point & food having lived on a pretty tight budget for the past week. The rest of the day was spent sharing our good news with family & friends. With no WiFi and no real reception on the island, it was nice having a few days to enjoy our engagement just the 2 of us, but even better getting to let everyone know.

Sunday 13th December 2015

Our original plan for today had been onward travel, but having not actually sorted anything yet we extended our stay in Sihanoukville with the aim of designating a full day to travel planning. We didn't do too well. Other than deciding to head next to Siem Reap and booking flights & accommodation, we spent the rest of the day catching up with friends & family. Ah well, it's an exciting time! We even opted for dinner in our room (noodles in a pot - we were suddenly transported back to China!) and spent the evening watching films and eating chocolate :-)

Next stop Siem Reap and Angkor Wat!!

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