Despite having been in Cambodia for less than a week, we had scheduled a trip to one of the beautiful islands off the coast of Sihanoukville, Koh Rong Sonloem. We were making this trip with Jonno and Ren Nutter (K and Jonno are working closely together on the build of the new BEC here), Karen (Jonno’s Mum), and Chris and Keren Nutter (currently doing Bible Mission work in Phnom Penh).
Our speed ferry left at 9am on Friday morning and we arrived at the island before the hour was out.
There are two main islands off the coast and we had chosen the smaller, less party-town option… and the even more isolated vibe of the far side of the island… A short jungle walk away. This far side of the island was a veritable electricity and wifi free zone, with any lighting coming from solar lamps. This also meant our tent (for we were glamping), had no fan and was rather warm, shall we say 🙂
The walk through the jungle was hot (we did it at midday – what fools!) and took longer than the advertised 35 minutes, no doubt because our youngest member of the party was only 2 and insisted on walking most of the way (go Noah!!). E was pretty stoked to discover quite a few termite mounds, but no monkeys – although he spotted some later in the day after we’d arrived.
We welcomed the welcome drinks (lime juice) with gusto and then quickly proceeded to drop our stuff and enjoy the water and our surroundings! So lush!!!
This short stretch of beach hosts a number of different places to stay and eat and we took advantage of these different eating options. It’s more expensive than on the mainland (which is to be expected), with main meals costing between $5-8 USD. We enjoyed Saturday, swimming, snorkelling, and lazing in hammocks, although unfortunately Keren had been sick in the morning. We thought this was something she’d eaten…
We walked down the beach to Sun Boo for dinner on Saturday night – highly recommend if anyone gets the chance to go there… Amazing pizza, absolutely huge for only $8 – I shared with E and Mo. Loved it… although I didn’t love the smell of it so much as we hadn’t been long back in our tent for the night when E started vomiting… and then K… and then TL… and then Mo! High temps, lots of moaning… fair to say I didn’t get a lot of sleep as everyone rotated on and off the one Queen size mattress we had (what little sleep i had was on the floor). Early next morning it appears that other Nutters are feeling under the weather and we made the heartbreaking (for me) decision to return to the mainland. No point sticking it out if we all drop like flies. E declared “Glamping is way worse than camping. I think glamping is the worst thing ever”!
There was no way we could face a jungle walk with so many sick and getting sick people, so we ordered up a boat that took an hour to take us around to Saracen Bay (and the main jetty). From there we caught the speed taxi boat back to Sihanoukville and home to our respective beds. Thus far everyone bar Ren and I seem to have succumbed to this weird bug in one form or the other and I’ve spent the last couple of days nursing my very sick children – no more vomiting, just super high temps, coughs, and terrible body aches and head aches.
The Chann Family: Capers in Cambodia 