Koh Rong Samloem, Cambodia Day 6

Since arriving on the island I wondered what the empty beaches would look like just after sunrise so this morning I pulled myself out of bed just after 6am to find out! The sea looked like a pool of diamonds as the sun bounced off the calm waves, with not a soul in the sea apart from me it was nothing but peaceful and perfect. Alfie and Adam joined me later in the morning as we all agreed this was definitely the best cure for our fuzzy heads.

With not a lot of time left before check out we packed our bags and headed down to the pier to catch our ferry at 12pm to Koh Rong Samloem. We decided to visit the sister island of Koh Rong as there is a well known hostel called Mad Monkey which had been on our list of extremely cool hostels we wanted to visit (https://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Mad-Monkey-Koh-Rong-Samloem/Koh-Rong-Samloem/100962?dateFrom=2017-11-16&dateTo=2017-11-19&number_of_guests=2).

Unsurprisingly the ferry was two hours late before it turned up and ended up taking two hours instead of the quick forty five minute trip we were promised, when we arrived we found out that Mad Monkey was in its own bay and the only way you could get there was by taking another private boat. As we waited for the boat we heard from other English backpackers that the hostel was actually fully booked and that they cannot accommodate for any more people arriving, of course us three had not booked the hostel as there was no wifi on the island we were previously on... great. There were no more hostels on the island apart from expensive hotels we couldn't afford and as we only had AED currency with us, our only option was to wait for another boat so we could head back to the other side of the island in hope we can exchange money and stay at a hostel called Yellow Moon we were recommended by another traveler.

We eventually bought our boat tickets to get to the other side of the island and waited hours before it arrived. Hungry, tired and disappointed our day did not go to plan in the slightest we sat on the cargo boat as it took another two hours to get back to the other side of the island. It was pitch black when we were asked to leap from the boat onto the pier until we realized the pier wasn't really a pier at all, it was the width of three planks of wood that wobbled and creaked as you walked over them whilst the waves beneath you crash. (for someone who was scared of heights this was absolutely terrifying)

We checked into our hostel and weren't really sure what to expect, the rooms were extremely basic with a creaky metal bunk bed, one fan and one mosquito net in a concrete 12 bed dorm room (learning to love the simple life continues). After explaining our situation to one of the workers we were luckily able to sell our dirhams to the hostel in exchange for dollars which would keep us going until we get back to the main land - finally! For the rest of the evening we continued to digest the long, slow and discouraging day we had whilst watching an impressive thunderstorm on the beach before getting some rest.

Every time we have a day like this the next day always turns out to be one of the best we have had... bring it on.