Day 36 of The Big Adventure, according to Sarah.  
We woke up relatively early and packed our bags pronto. 

We wanted to try and find a place to book a trip to the islands and we didn’t want to waste any time so we decided we’d try our luck at checking into our new hostel early. 

Google Maps told us it was a measly 8 minute walk so we donned our bags and began the walk. 

Now in Cambodia, nobody walks. Anywhere. 

So as soon as tuktuk drivers see people walking with their backpacks on, they all come over shouting ‘tuktuk? You want a tuktuk ladddyy?’ 

We replied as politely yet firmly as possible and told them we were walking. Cambodia is a little unloved and we’ve noticed that large unused spaces are just wasteland with piles of rubbish building up outside windows…

  
We finally arrived (after an accidental detour down ‘8 bars 1 street’ – yes, that is the actual road name) and thankfully the receptionist told us our room was already ready. Praise the Lord. 

We followed the hotel worker into a much cleaner room, with functional non-dripping aircon, a working tv and no   mosquitos – this place had it all… Or so we thought. 

After 10 minutes of trying to connect to the wifi, it became apparent that the wifi was even more non-existent here. Dammit. 

We had taken the great wifi at Small Hotel for granted and now we saw the error of our ways. 

Determined not to let that get the better of us, we walked back to the town in search of two things; a boat ticket to Koh Rong and Koh Rong Saloem (preferably in the same day) and a bus ticket to Siem Reap. 

After a few stops in various travel agencies it became clear that prices for the same bus to Siem Reap varied quite a bit and because we were travelling around Khmer New Year, prices were higher than usual. 

We also found that the boat ticket was quite a bit more expensive than we’d originally thought and unless we wanted to spend a lot more $ going to both Islands on the fast boat, we’d have to take the cheaper (slower) boat. 

We managed to find a travel agent that offered a day trip to Koh Tas, Koh Rong and Koh Rong Saloem for the price of one return ticket on the fast boat. Perfect. 

So after a bit of too-ing and fro-ing between travel agents trying to compare prices, we booked ourselves onto an island day trip and a night bus to Siem Reap. 

Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves for getting so organised, we headed to ‘Serendipity Beach’. 

We ended up walking the entire length and then back again and decided that even though this definitely wasn’t the nicest beach we’d ever seen, it was nice that there were lots of locals frolicking in the water and further down the beach we got to see the local hangouts (huts right on the beach with rows and rows of hammocks). 

  
  
As we wandered back towards the more touristy end of the beach we decided to sit down in one of the beach cafes and get a fruit shake and use some wifi (seeing as our hostel was clearly lacking). 

The wifi was so good we managed to have a nice long video chat with Jasmin back home who had just had a knee operation and was going slightly crazy cooped up at home. 

 

 
It was so lovely to see a familiar face and hear a familiar voice and it reminded us that life back home was continuing as normal even though our lives couldn’t be more different. 
We decided to try again at booking into a different hostel for the next night – hopefully one with functioning wifi (a rarity, it would seem, in Sihanoukville).
As we headed back towards our hostel we realised that we were actually rather famished and decided to have a spot of dinner. 
We’d seen a rather yummy looking pasta dish on the menu of Beach Road and decided if we shared it would work out pretty damn cheap. 

So we went in and ordered only to be presented with two plates of pasta. Oh dear. ‘Sharing’ didn’t really translate with that particular waitress. However, we both pretty much finished both our plates so it actually worked out for the best. 

Beach Road was an open air dining option and the mosquitos LOVE Lauren. So as soon as her meal was finished she headed straight back to our hostel. 

I waited around for a little trying desperately to book some flights. The Internet just kept cutting out at the wrong point and in the end I gave up and went home. 

Lauren and I curled up in bed and watched a charming tv program about Eskimos coming to live in a city and how different life was. One of them hadn’t had a hair cut in 8 years! 

Knowing we had an early start for our island tour the next day, we fell asleep.