Day 187 – Island Hopping Koh Rong/ Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia

August 12th, 2019

We stayed on “sunrise beach” but unfortunately it was too cloudy to see much of the sunrise.  We went for a morning walk and it absolutely poured rain.  We were completely drenched but didn’t mind too much because it was still warm. 

Koh Rong Sanloem is the next island over, smaller and supposedly less touristy.  We bought a boat ticket for 1pm and went back to our bungalow to dry off and pack our things. I don’t think we got a completely fair picture of Koh Rong because it was so cloudy and rainy while we were here.  I am totally impressed with the sand though and can see how these would be beautiful beaches when the sun is out.  I just wish it wasn’t so trashy.  I think they have seen an influx of tourism without having resources or putting forth the effort into waste management systems.  They probably just do not have the education or resources to get rid of the trash, which seems to be everywhere. 

I feel we have been extremely fortunate traveling in rainy season so far.  Thinking of how it would have been much different doing things like touring Angkor Wat and Bangkok in monsoon rain,  I feel super fortunate the weather has been as good as it has.  I don’t mind a couple rainy bungalow days on the beach in trade. 

By the time we got on our boat to go to the next island, the rain had stopped, and we got some beautiful sunshine.  When we arrived in Koh Rong Sanloem, I was amazed how pretty it was.  I never knew Cambodia was a place for tropical islands with white sand beaches. 

Without having internet for a little bit, I didn’t know much about this island.  I had a webpage pulled up on my phone that had loaded a long time ago where a blogger was recommending Mad Monkey Hostel on Koh Rong Sanloem.  When we arrived there, we asked the people at the pier the direction of Mad Monkey and figured if they had a vacancy we would just book a night or two there.  They told us there is a free boat we can take there that comes in one hour.  We thought a free boat sounded good, so found a little place where we could set our stuff down. It also had swinging chairs we could hang out on.

 I walked around and took pictures enjoying the beautiful beach and the sunshine.  There are no roads here and not even paths through the jungle to get to other places.  The only way around is by boat.  While we have been traveling I always say you never know where the day is going to take you, and that was certainly the case today.  I was assuming Mad Monkey was just on another beach with other hotels and restaurants scattered along.  Maybe a mini mart.  But once we got on the boat and were arriving at Mad Monkey, I told Brendan “this looks really isolated!”.  I found out that Mad Monkey is a resort hostel on its own cove of this island.  The resort is spread out with many bungalows, piers, floating docks, hammocks, swings, and bean bags scattered all over.  It has a little restaurant but that is it.  Once you are here, there is nothing else and no where else to go.  There are no paths out as it is all just jungle behind us with no infrastructure.  It is really beautiful here and totally a place to “unplug” as there is no WiFi, extremely spotty cell service for text, and no power in the bungalows.  The power for the community area runs off generators but goes off quite randomly and frequently. 

The boat pulled up on shore and we had to jump out with all our luggage into waist deep water and walk the rest of the way to shore.  I was of course very concerned about all my electronics and trying to hold everything real high as I wasn’t prepared for any of this.  I almost had a bad fall when I had my heavy backpack on and had to take a giant step up onto the bow of the boat.  I had slippery flip flops on and  made it up, but it was like slow motion and my backpack was so heavy it was pulling me right back over! I thought I was going to fall on my back, as there was nothing for me to reach out and grab.  Luckily at the last second, the boat captain grabbed my arm and held all my weight that was falling backwards.  He saved me from the fall and pulled me forward until I steadied myself.  He motioned for someone else to come help me with all my luggage.  I told him I could do it,  I just needed to climb out of the boat first and get on the ground then I could carry everything myself. 

Another guy came to help though and took my front pack while making the comment “you travel real light” with an unmistakable air of sarcasm.  I quickly tried to justify by saying how we are traveling for a really long time in all types of climates and fully set up to camp, and everything but he didn’t seem impressed or that the amount of luggage I had could possibly be justified.  The funny thing is, until this point I have been quite proud of how much I have minimalized over the past couple of years.   I went from a big house to a studio apartment, to an enclosed trailer, to a BACKPACK!  Yet I still have “too much stuff” for a lot of the world.  Right now, my whole life is in the backpack but since I can’t successfully climb out of a boat with all my possessions, I agree, I still need to cut back. 

I was talking with a friend back home who was going “back to school shopping” at outlet malls.  I couldn’t help but think what different worlds we are in!  Anyway, we arrived at Mad Monkey and got checked in to a four-bed bungalow for $13 a night right on the beach.  We got lucky and had the bungalow to ourselves. 

Although this place barely has electricity, they have a high tech ‘cashless’ system at this resort.  You preload a wrist band with money and then everything you buy, they just scan your band.  At one point we were over-charged for something and we asked them to correct it, but all their power had just gone off, and they said we would have to wait until morning.  Just seemed out of place when everything is so primitive there.   They said they were the first Mad Monkey resort to use this system because they thought if they could make it work here, it could work anywhere.

We had a nice dinner and laid out on beanbags watching the moon and clouds.  We signed up for a snorkel trip tomorrow.