There are two main islands that people go to when traveling to Cambodia, Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanleom, I had planned to go to Koh Rong the bigger island of the two. It’s known as the party island offering huge pub crawls and a town area full of bars that the other one doesn’t. I was set on going until two girls I briefly talked to in Siem Reap recommended the smaller one Sanleom, they said “don’t go to Koh Rong, it’s shit, go to Koh Rong Sanleom, it’s a lot better. “ Now, normally it takes more than that to change my mind, however Huw (a friend I had made in Siem Reap) said he had just been there in the hostel I was going to and they had bed bugs. “They knew and did nothing about it, the whole island has bed bugs,” he said. He also recommended a hostel that was one of the best he ever stayed at, Mad Monkey Koh Rong Sanloem on the smaller one. With Huw’s past experience and the two girls recent experience I decided to book Mad Monkey for three nights. But, I couldn’t! It was full, or so I thought. It was actually full on the first night I planned on going, so I booked the next two nights and one night at another hostel on the northern end of the island. My plan was 3 nights on the island, but as I mentioned in (link last post) I decided to go straight to the islands. Luckily the Yellow Moon had room because I heard the island was booked and places were charging an absorbently high price for rooms that would normally be a couple dollars.
The Yellow moon was the best place in that part of the island to stay at, they were on the outskirts of the small town and had the best hang out/bar area, so much so that people staying in other hostels came there to drink. It was the perfect place to stay and meet people and the people I met there facilitated the two most memorable experiences of my stay there.
1) The hike to Clearwater bay
When I arrived I signed up for a fishing/boat tour of the area through the hostel because I thought it would be a great way to meet people and it would give me something to do the next day. However, shortly after arriving I sat down at the bar and met a guy named Ash who told me he was going to Clearwater bay the following day with some people and it was a 45 minute trek through the jungle. That sounded a lot more fun, so I got my money back from the tour and joined him the next day after spending the whole night drinking. The hike followed a white-tree-marked path up and down through the jungle until you got to the secluded stretch of beach known as Clearwater bay; it reminded me of when I was living in Costa Roca trekking barefoot through the jungle to get to the surf beaches, only this time I wasn’t carrying a surfboard. We spent the day there, going in and out of water so warm it was hardly refreshing to jump in; we ate lunch at the only man-made structure around, a sustainable hostel offering vegetarian food. I was so hungry I ordered two meals. We set off back to the hostel around 17:30 as to not get caught in the jungle without light. When I got back my friend Lorne from Siem Reap was sitting at the bar chilling. We spent the night just like the last one, hanging out and drinking.
2. Bioluminescent Plankton at midnight
This is probably one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The hostel bar closes at 12, so everybody migrates to the closest beach to continue the party, hang around a bonfire and to see the plankton. When we got to the beach the first thing I did was go into the water, but I couldn’t see any plankton. Other people out there couldn’t see any either, they told me last night it was better the next beach over and they were going there, they told me to come along. We stumbled blindly for five minutes through the jungle until we got there, super excited I went right into the water, but again I couldn’t see any. They said, “you gotta go farther out and actually get in the water” A bunch of random people I just met indirectly telling me to strip down and go into the water…I had my doubts, but the drinks I had convinced me; they also offered to hold my shorts and shirt, so I slowly walked out further. That’s when the magic started happening, it wasn’t blue as I imagined, but electric yellow. Small bursts of light illuminated my legs as I made my way out, making it seem as if I were conducting electricity. When I looked up I saw thousands of stars and when I looked down and moved it was as if I was among them. Running my hand through the water let loose a yellow path of light that soon disappeared and a kick made them last even longer. I tried letting out a fart to see what magic it would create, but nothing happened. Just kidding. I felt like a magician immersed within the universe experiencing magic for the first time.
The following night I brought Lorne and some Polish guys we met to the same spot telling them the same thing I was told the night before. They told me the next day that beforehand they were skeptical because I was hyping it up so much, but they also said that I was right to.
Mad Monkey Sanleom Hostel
The Mad Monkey hostel is located on the same island as the Yellow Moon but located somewhere between the middle of it and the northern part. It’s accessible only by boat and is completely isolated from anything else. It’s also the most beautiful hostel I’ve ever stayed at. You pay a hostel dorm rate for a place that could be a 5 star resort. It’s set within the jungle overlooking the beach, the main hall/chill out area/dinning area/bar is beer-hall-like in a large open setting with rows of tables. Other than the beach it’s the only place to be at night so everybody is there hanging out. The dorm rooms are a short jungle walk away, each room it’s own private bungalow with a porch looking out to the ocean. The bathrooms were separate, but not far and extremely well maintained.
I arrived off the boat with two other girls who were also going. As we were standing around waiting to check-in in the main hall I heard my name yelled. I turned around and it was Mel and Lucy. I knew they were staying at Mad Monkey, but I didn’t think I would see them because they were supposed to be leaving that day. However, they loved it so much they asked to stay another night and would even stay the night after. There were no more beds available so theirs were the bean bag chairs on the floor. Seriously, but they were pretty big bags. I put my stuff in my room, then put my hand through a sea urchin.
The hostel had SUP’s (stand up paddle boards) and after failing to recruit anyone to play volleyball Mel decided she would go with me. Quite a distance away from the hostel is a small island of rocks that I thought would be fun to paddle to and climb up. One thing I didn’t know is that that rock island was surrounded by sea urchins, like the yolk to an egg the sea urchins encompassed the rocks. I put my hand in the water and put it right into a sea urchin I didn’t see. Right away I pulled out the barb and my finger instantly started hurting and swelling. We almost turned back and gave up the mission, it was starting to look dangerous. I was terrified of falling off my board onto one or a group of them. I don’t know if I’d ever seen a sea urchin before that, they are terrifying immobile creatures, mine-like with two blue circles that look like eyes; they just sit there waiting for some unfortunate creature/person stupid enough to not see one. Mel and I almost let our boards drift far enough away from that rocky island, but we had come too far to give up. We carefully dismounted the SUP’s and pulled them up enough on the rocks so they wouldn’t float away and climbed to the top. My finger started puffing up and I got scared I was poisoned so we made our way back.
Mel failed to mention to me that they specifically warn people not to go the rocks because of the sea urchin and the guy checking me in just so happened to forget this piece of information. They helped me out with some vinegar, hit my finger with a rolling pin, supposedly it’s suppose to break it up and help it go away and we all had some laughs. The rest of my time at Mad Monkey was spent staying away from the rocks, playing cornhole and constantly losing to two New Zealanders, Yihui and Torrie, hanging out at the beach and drinking. I spent two nights there and could have spent 5 more, it was like a vacation from a vacation. It’d go back to Cambodia just to stay there again.
