Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia

Before heading to the islands we stopped at Otres beach for a night. We arrived on bumpy roads to see a lot of construction and casinos. The Chinese have invested a lot of money in this area to build big fancy casinos and they seem to be building fancy hotels to go with them.

After checking into the hotel we went to a hostel that was close by to chill at the pool and have some lunch. We decided we probably should visit the beach while we were there and so we went to watch the sunset. To be honest, I was not fussed about this place but luckily we were only there for one night.

The following day we caught a speed boat to Koh Rong Sanloem. I had never realised how much I dislike going on boats until this. The sea was rough in parts but luckily the boat trip took less than an hour. We had booked our first night on M’pai bay on the island. This part has more of a local feel and is cheaper than other areas. As we were visiting at the end of the rainy season, the tide was high and the sea a little rough on this side of the island. We wondered around and found a hammock to relax in. We enjoyed our time here but the choice of restaurants was limited and the beach not as nice as I had hoped. 

We decided to move to another area of the island that is a little more expensive but has more choice of restaurants and so on. We found a hostel that was on the beach to stay and really enjoyed our time here. We were able to walk to the opposite side of the island where the sea was calm which was lovely. We headed to lazy beach on our first day and watched the sunset there. The hiking wasn’t too bad and we spotted a monkey in a nearby tree on the beach!

We found a good cafe/restaurant which we ate at 3 times during our time here. It had really good food and lots of choice! We met up with Charlotte and Dan for a few drinks and dinner, and arranged to spend the next day going to another beach together.

This time we were heading to sunset beach and we imagined the hike would be similar but it was a lot harder. We were climbing up the rocks in parts and knowing that there were poisonous snakes made us feel uneasy. We made it to the beach, grabbed some lunch and went snorkelling! We hadn’t done any snorkelling before and we really enjoyed it. We had hoped to find a boat that would take us back but no such luck so we had to hike back before the sunset. We didn’t fancy doing that journey in the dark. We finished our day with good food and drinks.

I could have definitely stayed for longer here