Cambodiyeet: Koh Rong Sanloem

Dalena replied to one of my snaps saying something like "industrial training looks fun" and then it hit me that this holiday actually counts towards my degree ........... what the fuck (in my best James-like British accent).

So we had another long weekend because Cambodia has a fuck-ton of public holidays. January 7th is known as Cambodian Victory Day and marks the day when the Khmer Rouge finally were defeated. Just googled that because I didn't know lmao now I feel bad for having so much fun.

Stephen watched the movie "First They Killed My Father" (directed by Angelina Jolie!!) about the Khmer Rouge with his homestay family over the long weekend. He didn't come with us to Koh Rong Samloen because his actual family was visiting him (wtf where's my family) and he was also shitting his guts out lmaooo. Anyway, apparently his homestay mum was crying so much and his homestay dad was telling Stephen about how his own brother got killed during the genocide. Feels so bad we were just partying over the weekend AND I FUCKEN WENT UPSTAIRS JSUT THEN TO DO OUR WASHING AND SAID TO MY HOMESTAY MUM, "HOW WAS YOUR WEEKEND!!!"

So around 20 of us went to Koh Rong Samloen over the weekend!! 16 of us stayed at Mad Monkey (the same hostel franchise we stayed at in Kampot) and the rest stayed around Saracen Bay.

Was such a relaxing weekend omfggggg not as lit and active as Kampot I'd say but still fun :)

First Day (Saturday)

Took a 6 hour night bus from Phnom Penh at midnight and got to Sinoukville at 6 am. Slept pretty much the whole way!! Night buses are kinda strange and the thought of it is so gross because you're sleeping where prolly thousands of strangers have slept before in a super cramped space. But you appreciate it after having a wholesome 6 hours of sleep and waking up in another city.

Look at dis super good photo!! Also some advice, book two beds for yourself so you don't have to sleep next to a stranger lmaoooo some people's feet fkn stank. but lucky our group had an even number so I just bunked with Tahnee. 

This is Sihanoukville, the city we stopped at to catch our ferry to the island. There's so many Chinese restaurants everywhere because apparently the city is run by the Chinese Mafia. 

Took a delayed ferry from Ouchheuteal Beach to Saracen Bay. This was the sunrise ish view from the wharf. Was so pretty but fucking stank because that beach has so much pollution. The back of the head in the photo belongs to Alex who is the fucking funniest and surprising guy ever. In our Khmer classes he seems like super generic fob, just there to learn and like not really get to know each other BUT HOLY SHIT he's so funny and his humour is just ugh idk how to describe. We got drunk together and started bitching about this one useless girl and I couldn't stop laughing.

ANYWAY, from Saracen Bay we transferred to a dodge ass ferry to the Mad Monkey Resort. If you're going to go, don't bring luggage with you because you have to walk in so much mid-thigh water getting on/off ferries. Dis was our ferry and the night before there was a big ass storm so the waves were still kinda rocky. When we got off the boat holy fk it was soooooo dangerous the boat was rocking back n forth so much we had to basically jump onto the pier.

yes look at the manspread. His name is Sam and he's from Wogga Wogga.

Dis was the main social area in the hostel!!! Was chill, had bean bags where we just napped. 

Had a burger for breakfast cus I was legit starving. It was pretty shit but the Mad Monkey hostel is so secluded, there's literally nothing else unless you take a ferry so you can't get any other food. Surrounded by jungle and the ocean. Water bottles were $1.50 there when they're usually only 50c. 

Viewz. You can see the little hammocks that you have to swim to to get in.

We chilled at the main pier for most of the first day and during happy hour they had like loose pour mixers and no joke the chick filled up half the glass with vodka. I tasted it and instantly wanted to chunder so I gave it to Isaac & Alcuin to finish. So worth thoooo only $2 USD.

This is someone else's piccy I found of the pier on google images but ye we tried to jump off the pier and swim but the currents were too strong lmao and it was too much effort treading water. They had a swing and tarzan rope thing. 

We got bored of roasting in the sun so we walked to the beach and swam to the hammocks to watch the sunset. Also got bored of waiting for the sunset so we went to shower and get ready for dinner.  Had only one shampoo and one conditioner between like 10 of us so we had to chuck the bottles over the cubicles after we finished using them. HAHAHA on the second day I fkn threw it outside of the showers and like towards the sink area and some random German dude caught it. Also Tahnee threw it really badly and it smashed into the wall and the cap broke gg.

These were our ratchet as cabins. One of the walls (on the right) was not even a wall, it was just a few tarps that you could roll up and down like fkn real jungle style. Also that door you see at the back didn't close more than that hence why all beds had mosquito nets and we couldn't leave any snacks out.

Dinzzzzzzzz. 

Then we went back to the cabins and played never have I ever and got semi-lit off soju. No one was too spicy except for Viv Tran (whats new tho lmfao) and Thotnee but we already knew that. 

I didn't get too drunk because they were all telling me to slow down after seeing me scull the soju but fk they don't know that I know my limits. Don't even remember what happened that first night but nothing too fun like I didn't get drunk. I think Viv Tran and I walked around the beach at some point looking for Ivor who disappeared. We went to bed pretty early???

Oh yeh when we went back to our cabin this cat was just chilling on the steps hehe and we patted it, it was so cute and docile. 

When we first arrived on the island, we had to sign a waiver accepting that we may possibly come into contact with "wild animals" during our stay because the cabins were open air. With this in mind, I was sleeping and then for some reason I woke up to see a shadow jumping onto my bed and honestly my delirious mind thought it was a fox or raccoon and I was ready to fight but then I sat up and looked and the fucking cat was curling up in a ball ready to sleep. 

Was too tired to care about the possible diseases she could've had so I just let her sleep and I went back to sleep. I ACCIDENTALLY KICKED HER SO MANY TIMES DURING THE NIGHT WHEN I WAS STRETCHING but every time I was like fk and checked, she was still in a super deep sleep. UGH SO CUTE.

wanted to die that night because got so many mosquito bites even with the mosquito net??? Its cus I forgot to aeroguard my feet -.-

Second Day (Saturday)

Got woken up by someone reaching into my mosquito net and I was like da fuq, I turned around and Viv Tran was tryna put the cat INSIDE my net and I was like what the fkkkkk. But again the cat was too cute to refuse so I let her come in hehhee 

Yiyi joined us and the cat wanted to sleep on her tummy hehe

Got up, had big brekkie omelette for breakfast then set off on another day of exploring!! 

We took a ferry to Saracen Bay from the same pier. ALSO THIS IS MY FAVOURITE PHOTO I TOOK ON THE TRIP OMFG look at those colours!!! Viv's iPhone XS quality tho.

We got to Saracen Bay and then took a fat 30 min hike to Lazy Beach. We were all literally sweating under the sun and had to stop to wait for some of the boys cus Henry didn't bring fucking shoes??? Yiyi lent hers to him tho and then they were speedy. 

this was taken after we just got to the top of a steep hill hahahha Yiyi is so done. Alcuin started playing some bangers from his speakers though so it was pretty fun after that.

Then we finally saw the beach and it was fucking BEAUTIFUL OMG. I'm guessing its called Lazy Beach cus the waves are pretty calm and its super quiet like there were prolly only about 10 people in total on the beach when we arrived. It started filling up a bit later in the day but still....

Swam for a bit and just lay on our backs floating in the water. We kept getting little stings and we suspected it was the phytoplankton lmfao. They were so painful for about 1 minute but they left no bit marks or redness?? So weird. Slept on the beach and then the gorls woke me up to get cocktails. Had a strong af pina colada and when I was ordering, Alex also ordered a cup of milk?? I was so confused and he said he missed real milk.

had a banging burger and mashed potatoes at this hella good restaurant called "Lazy Beach" for lunch. the gorls got pasta and it was soooo yum. 

Chilled, swam for a bit and slept for a bit more then hiked back to Saracen Bay to get the ferry back to Mad Monkey. We went back in the water there for a lil bit and the sand was so white and fine ahhhhh .

bumped into some of the other EWH people when we were there like white dan, asian dan and Gary. 

We played with a doggo while we were in the water and it was so so so cute. 

shit quality photo because he sent it through messenger -.-

Also wtf I took my sneakers and socks off and when I came back, one of my favourite plankton socks was gone. I bought matching spongebob socks for all of khalid masters and mine was the plankton ones T_T. Was legitimately so sad I must buy them again when I go back to Korea.

Got out of the water and went to a nearby bar to get drinks cus the ferry back was delayed. FOUND TWO CATS THAT WERE PRETTY MUCH IDENTICAL

Got back to mad monkey, showered then had a lit FUCKING NIGHT. Downed soju BEFORE dinner, then we went back to our cabin to fill up water bottles with soju and returned to the common area to keep drinking. IT WAS SO FUN HAHHAHA.

I talked to so many people I hadn't talked to before like Evan, Alex, Isaac and Alcuin. Basically got outed to everyone whilst we were all drunkenly sitting on the blue bean bags staring into the stars which was not ideal but whatevssss. It was such a weird feeling like so many bodies were touching and everyone was just saying whatever the fk they wanted. MALAKA!! But out of the gorls, only Tahnee and I were actually having a fun lit night. Viv Tran was off having a dnm with Angelo, Yiyi got a bit too fked too quickly and went to bed.

We danced for soooooo long and AHAHAHA some random white dude came up behind me and started dancing with me and he whispered in my ear, "tonight's going to be a good night" and I just made a jesus help me face to Tahnee and slowly walked to the other side of the dance circle and she couldn't stop laughing.

the stars there were soooooo pretty. I saw orions belt and scorpio! pretty sure i saw crux too

Third Day (Sunday)

Some of them woke up to watch the sunrise but I cbf so here is a photo viv took. 

Viv came into my bed in the morning to talk about Angelo sighs is quite the rippo. Had breakfast then everyone was pretty tired and we just sat on the bean bags, listened to music and chilled. Played 8 ball pool on my phone with Alcuin. ALSO in the morning like went back to being kinda strangers with everyone I got drunk with which is sad :( I always fall asleep these days thinking about this stuff and why I can't just be drunk me all the time but tis a recurring thing so what can I do. 

Had to go to beach to hop on our ferry and everyone's pants got wet wading through the water. 

Took a speed ferry then arrived back in Sinoukville. Had so many hours to kill before our night bus so we had some shitty chinese food. Look at the xiao long bao on the left holy shit what the fk??? The porride was quite good tho. 

Then we sat by the beach in these big red chairs and took naps. I watched the black mirror ep about the dead husband and also dozed off. Everyone was so dead.

the time came to finally take a tuktuk to the bus stop and go back to Phnom Penh!! took another night bus and woke up at 12:30 am back in Phnom Penh.

If I was to go back to Koh Rong Samloen, would defs make time to see the phytoplankton which light up at night in the water. Also want to go snorkelling. 

dwei dwei dwei dwei dwei dwei dwei dwei dwei

Today

Got to uni, had a green tea latte thing from the cafeteria which was so good fkn shit. Also some more fried noodles from the street vendor outside uni for breakfast.

Then had Khmer class and actually paid attention today and felt like I was absorbing so much. Learnt months, dates, fruits and colours. 

Had lunch at a Malaysian restaurant near uni called Wau Restaurant?? 

Main dishes were like 9/10 but the roti was 11/10. SO YUM. 

Didn't fall asleep during Larry's lecture by some miracle and actually talked to Evan but I was kinda awkward HAHAHA but issa ok he's such a mixture of nice and ham choi? Idk how to describe. 

During labs, Cambodian Amy and I took apart a bili light which is a blue lamp used to treat newborn babies with jaundice. Was very careful to make sure I was plugging it into the transformer properly because there were warning tags everywhere that it was supposed to run on 110 V. Like literally bright orange fucking tags + this sign. 

Turned it on and it was working fine, then I look over to Viv Tran's group with a similar light. This girl, Janet, plugs it straight into the wall and the lights start flashing and then immediately fizzle out and I look over and see that she fucking skipped the transformer so the electricity is SLOWLY FRYING their machine and I'm just like saying to her, "ummm you might want to unplug that" you dumb fuck. All their lightbulbs broke because of her lmfaooooo. 

Fast forward a bit and we're trying to take apart the light then we hear all these exclamations from the back of the class and I go over to check out whats happening and Janet's fucking ballooning black disintegrating bruised foot is resting on a chair and Tahnee's like "what the fuck is that??". Turns out over the weekend, Janet thought it would be a good idea to jump from a 2.5 m high cliff and like basically did everything to her foot except for break it. fucks sake. IT WAS SO GROSS the part where her toes connected to her foot was actually black. And she was walking on it for the whole day without a bandage or anything?!??!?! 

some of the chinese girls were full bitching about her it was so funny cus usually they're so reserved and nice. 

Went to Central Market after uni to look for souvenirs but Stephen and I found this funny af cat tshirt and we bought matching ones. WILL WEAR TO UNI TMR hehhe. 

Then went to Sorya Mall, then went to TK avenue to get chatime, then had dinz at home. 

it really be like that sometimes Albert Einstern

yeet sandra oh's speech

thanks for listening my dudes - this was a loooooooooooooooooooong boi