Billie here! It’s only our second week in Cambodia and we’ve already done so much. This time, we head back to the capital for a brief encounter with culture and history, and then onwards to a secluded paradise island!

Day 50 (!) – Travel to Phnom Pehn

After an early start, we scampered up the hill from the pizza bungalows to the bus station, grabbing some pastries en route. The drive to Phnom Pehn was about six hours and so we napped, listened to podcasts and planned out our two-night whistle stop tour round Cambodia’s capital. We have decided to stay in a fancier hotel for our time here with a pool on the terrace and a great view of the city.

After happy hour on the hotel terrace, we headed down to the riverside for the evening. They close the roads off to cars and tuk tuks on Saturday nights and it was great to see everyone out and about – we saw running clubs, kids whizzing round on bikes and families buying food from the food stalls that lined the riverside. There was also a live band with a huge group of locals doing well choreographed dances – I wish something like this existed in London! We grabbed a cocktail from a roof bar and a delicious Amok curry and then headed back, knackered from our long drive today.

Day 51 – Phnom Penh

This was our one full day in Phnom Pehn so we had run around to see the main sights without giving ourselves heat stroke! We started off at the Royal Palace, still the current royal residence, built in the 1860s.

Our favourite part were the huge murals that went the whole way round the complex depicting Hindu stories. We had been a bit spoilt from the palaces in Rajasthan so we weren’t as wowed as we have been, but we enjoyed ambling round the complex.

Afterwards we went to the Tol Leng Genocide museum, which is the memorial site of the S-21, one of the many interrogation and detention centres of the Khmer Rogue regime. We did the audio tour and walked round the former classrooms turned prison hearing about the atrocities of the regime; it is estimated between 1.5 – 3 million Cambodians died during the time of the Khmer Rouge. Each room contained hundreds of photos of the women, men and children held here. It was completely devastating and horrifying, particularly given how recently it happened but it was important to better understand Cambodia’s recent tragic history and how it has shaped the country. It had been a very emotional afternoon, so we took it easier for the rest of the day, going round some of the local craft shops and having our last dinner before we were off again in the morning.

Days 53 to 56 – Koh Rong Sanloem, Sunset Beach

We are heading down to Koh Rong Sanloem, one of the islands off the Southwest coast of Cambodia to spend a few days relaxing on a beautiful beach! Back in the AC’d VET minibus we left Phnom Pehn through rush hour, a bad idea! Our bus pulled into our stop an hour late and when we finally got down to the port we were informed our boat to the island had just left. We stocked up on snacks from the nearby 7/11 and waited for a couple of hours for the next one to appear.

We had decided to stay on the quiet side of the island, a 45 minute walk from the port through dirt roads and thick jungle. The sun started setting during the last five minutes of our ferry crossing and we looked at each other nervously. Once we had dropped a bigger bag off at the dive shop for safe keeping for a few days, we started to power walk to sunset beach, aware we had pretty much missed its namesake. The last twenty minutes was a steep descent through the jungle path… in the dark! We had our phone torches out and were talking loudly to let any potential snakes know we were coming. We arrived extremely sweaty and frazzled, dumped our bags and jumped straight into the sea. The stars were stunning as the only lights in the vicinity came from the handful of beach bars strewn along the beach.

We were staying in a tipi on the beach for four nights run by a Spanish couple with four gorgeous dogs. For the next few days all we did was snorkel, read our books in hammocks, eat delicious meals and play with our new doggo pals.

The sunsets at sunset beach lived up to their name as did the happy hour cocktails. We had planned to explore more of the island but pretty much as soon as we arrived those plans were out the window. Why would we move from such a special spot?

After our slightly traumatic walk in the dark to get here, you would have thought we would have learnt our lesson… We decided we would make an early start to Siem Reap, getting the 6:30am ferry back to mainland. It would mean a 5:30 start and for some reason I was extremely confident it would be getting light at this time. It was not. We unzipped our tipi and looked out at the pitch-black sky… oops. We loaded ourselves up with our backpacks, torches at the ready and set off. Of course, it was at this time that torrential rain decided to pour down on us, and for the first time on our entire trip to date… We were swearing and trying to protect our electronics from getting too wet and not slip down the steep jungle path. By the time we reached the port we were completely soaked but the rain had stopped and the sea water was completely calm as the sun started to rise. We changed our clothes and hopped on the boat where a lovely lady shared her breakfast with us. Apart from both of the traumatic journeys to and from our beach, we had such a chilled out few days and were feeling rested up for our week of temple hopping in Siem Reap with a special guest!

Goodbye beach… don’t forget us…