Before we start, here is a brief intro you’ll find at the start of all of my blogs!
This is a story-style travel blog featuring my adventure through Southeast Asia in the fall of 2024. I spent 1 week on my own in Laos, then joined a 14-day tour called Ultimate Cambodian Adventure from the company G Adventures, and a final 3-day solo stop in Singapore. You can read the blog in order, or about whichever destination intrigues you! Within my stories, I’ll offer some recommendations and some tips and tricks for a smooth journey. When I travel, I mostly do group tours and the reasons are:
* As a solo woman traveler, it is much safer especially if traveling long distances or to countries that can be dangerous in some areas
*The itineraries are amazing and usually include all of the things you’d want to see and do…and if not, there is free time to do as you wish
*You don’t have to worry about booking transport, finding hotels, etc. Sometimes that can contribute to the adventure, but it’s also nice to sit back and relax and let your Tour CEO be in charge
* And finally…the new people you meet on your tour become your family, and I’ve made lifelong friends in these journeys. For myself, this has equal importance with exploring new countries.
Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia; it is a land of ancient wonders and vibrant traditions. The history is rich, and the country is abundant with temples – the most famous being Angkor Wat which is the largest religious monument in the world. Here you’ll find lush jungles, stunning natural landscapes, beautiful beaches, and the most kind and welcoming people you will ever meet. The population is around 17 million, with the majority being ethnically Khmer. In the mid 1860’s, Cambodia became a French protectorate, and gained independence after World War II. You’ll still find a lot of French influence in the country. The country became involved in the Vietnam war, which brought in a takeover by the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975. During this time, Cambodia experienced one of the world’s largest genocides, carried out by the Khmer Rouge. I have talked more about this in previous blogs. Life isn’t easy for Cambodians today, as there are still much corrupt practices in their everyday lives. Another problem has been the many unexploded landmines, but luckily the country is expected to be clean by the end of 2025.
This morning, we leave Kampot and hit the road to our final destination on this tour. But first, I must mention how I love Asian breakfast, and having noodles and rice with my first meal of the day!
The road to Sihanoukville is extremely bumpy…like the road is in terrible condition. The locals are used to it but you can’t really get anywhere quickly. The guys sitting in the back of the van today get some serious airtime with all the bumps. Our driver is a master at navigating this challenging route!
We stop at a place called Apollo’s in Sihanoukville and I order the tom yam soup with veggies and it is so tasty.
Except it doesn’t sit well in my stomach and I need to make my first and only emergency toilet stop for this enire trip! Not bad! But oh my god, I am so thankful we are still in the city and a gas station is close by. Phew!
We arrive at the dock, and we are taking a speed boat to Koh Rong Island.
There is some doubt as to whether we will be able to get to the island due to weather. But with pure luck, we are able to board the boat!
It’s a bit of a challenge getting on the boat because there is no ramp, no plank…just hop on the back and hope you don’t fall in the water! The water is ROUGH today and the 45 minute ride feels like an eternity. I’m afraid I’m going to get seasick, but there is no rocking motion – it’s just all up and down. We get some serious air on these waves they lift us up and then we crash back down. It’s insane. Poor Eline is having a worst time of us all on this boat, but she powers through.
We finally arrive on Koh Rong, Cambodia’s second largest island in the Gulf of Thailand. It is mostly hilly with the interior almost compelty forested . It’s not until after we leave that I realize that this is where several seasons of the TV show Survivor was filmed. But of course, we are here for the beaches and relaxation.
After leaving the dock, we head to the right and walk 5 minutes to our hotel, Scarlet Sails. It’s not the fanciest, but it will be ok for a couple of nights.
The rooms are separate cabins, very basic but with a surpisingly large bathroom and shower. I do a quick bug check and I find a dead cockroach on the bathroom floor. I don’t want to touch it, and I don’t want to tell Nancy either because this is her #1 dealbreaker. So I call Dave to come dispose of it. Haha.
The weather today isn’t great; it’s been raining off and on. We spend the afternoon relaxing in the restaurant in front of the hotel and venturing out on to the beach. There’s a super cute puppy named Emily, and we have fun playing with her.
We debate going for a swim but it’s weird to me to swim in the rain, even though you get wet going into the ocean regardless. Haha.
For dinner, we stay here at the restaurant and I order another pizza. I believe this is #7.
After dinner, we go next door to Mad Monkey bar.
It’s a pretty famous one here, and it is also a hostel so it attracts young backpackers who want to party all night .
There is a pub crawl that Eline suggests we do, but when we find out it doesn’t start until after 10:30, all of us old folks are like, yeah, let’s not. Plus it’s all kids in their 20’s so that’s not super appealing to me. But trust me, we can keep up with the young ones because we know how to pace ourselves. Haha.
We order cocktails and these really cool beer towers. Jason looks so excited as he brings the giant tower to the table.
There’s also a shots leaderboard that’s tallied by country. Dave wants to bring up Australia’s ranking, so he buys a bunch of shots for everyone, and we get Eline on the board for Belgium.
He buys shots for this cocky young British kid, and after 4 shots, he can no longer hold his booze if you know what I’m saing. It is pretty funny. We discover that tonight is karaoke night, and being the karaoke queen that I am, I put in a couple of songs. Mostly everyone is just drunk yelling/singing and dancing on top of the tables. The crowd is surprised that I can actually sing, and they enjoy my rendition of Mamma Mia. After all the kids leave for their pub crawl we stay for a bit longer and bring the beer tower down to the beach and go knee deep into the ocean under the perfect night stars.
My favoruite quote of the day from Jason: “If this rain was beer, I’d be dancin’ in it”….looking on the bright side of the shit weather we had today.
Today we wake up to a total downpour…the fate of this day is now in question…will we get a proper beach day or be stuck seeking shelter. We have breakfast at the hotel restarant, a decent buffet of food. It’s nice to have a breakfast and take our time, and not be rushed off to the next activity. A few of the guys decide to rent motorbikes and ride around the island which I think would be SO much fun except for two things. The rain. And the fact that I’m not sure how good I would be at driving one of these things. Instead, Tristelle and I do a fun beach walk, when the rain slows to a light drizzle.
We laugh and reminisce about the last 11 days, hardly believing that tomorrow will be our last day together . We have seriously had so much fun. Which leads me to my next favorite quote of the day: Tristelle and I spot these hot young guys(we think Italian) at the hotel restaurant. Us being older ladies, she suggests the pickup line of “tell me your Mom’s spaghetti recipe” . I’m dying. Hahahah.
And here’s a couple more beach dogs …
There’s time for an afternoon nap before dinner, and then we all meet up at a place called Onederz. It’s a new restaurant on the island; the food is pretty good and the service is fast.
Except they mix up our cocktails, but hey, a cocktail is a cocktail. After dinner, we head back to Mad Monkey, because it’s basically the hippest joint on the island and very close to our hotel. There is supposed to be a games night, which I was looking forward to, but it’s very quiet tonight so it is cancelled . All the kids are too hungover from their pub crawl last night. That’s ok, we stay and have a few drinks with an overall chill vibe, unlike the shitshow of last night.
I would be remiss not to mention that after 10 days of flirtation and friendship, my relationship with Dave has turned into a fun romance for the last few days of this tour. I won’t go into a ton of detail, but it has been a fun and unexpected addition to this adventure.
On our final morning, it’s not raining and the sun comes out for a bit. Tristelle and Jason enjoyed some beers into the early morning hours, so they are not looking forward to the boat ride back to the mainland.
We make it back in one piece, and it isn’t as rough as the first ride. We drive back to Phnom Penh for one more night; I’ve included this final day in my previous blog.
So I’d like to wrap up the Cambodian portion of this blog by saying what an amazing country! The people, the history, the scenery. This tour from G Adventures has been perfect…a great itinerary and the best tour CEO, Ratha. My tour group- Tristelle, Eline, Jason, Vic, Dave, Kate, Steve, Chris and Nancy. It was a pleasure. For anyone considering traveling to Southeast Asia, I encourage you to include Cambodia! You won’t regret it.
Everywhere On Earth With Erin 