Where do I begin…
Well i finished off my trip in what ended up being the absolutely perfect place. I had big plans to see a bunch of different things in Cambodia but I ended up getting stuck in trap after trap. A trap is a place that is so nice and so comfortable that you end up staying there much longer than expected.
But traps are nice and there’s nothing wrong with getting stuck in one for a couple of days, and I don’t blame the expats for getting stuck there for even longer (months… years…).
The first one was Kampot, a sleepy little town close to the Cambodian coast. It was here that I fell in love with Cambodia. The word that comes to my mind when I think about it is DEVELOPMENT. You can see it everywhere if you look hard enough. The country is essentially in the process of being re-built from the ground up after being ruled by psychopaths for far too long, and they are still very much in the process of figuring it out. But it looks like they are trying lots of different things, and getting help from compassionate foreigners (and also… companies owned by foreigners) that just want to help (or make money off of these people). You see every argument for globalization, good and bad, all at once. Reality really punches you in the face and that is why I love Cambodia.
The second one was Otres beach. A beautiful little beach set off from Sihanoukville by about 20 minutes. There is nothing here but a strip of beach with guesthouses, bars and bungalows on it (no local life, but also no huge hotels or anything). I rented a treehouse on the beach for $12 a night. The water at the beach was beautiful, clean and calm, and it had a wonderful view for sunset (my weakness). Top it off with a really good crowd of people staying there and the best music I have heard in a long time (being played by German music producers on fully decked out rigs… what a treat). But this place is loud and the people that live there go all out every night of the year. For me it was nice for a few days but by day three I knew I had to get out of there for some peace and quiet on one of Cambodia’s chillest islands…
Which was the third trap; Koh Rong Samloem. My perfect final destination in my trip. The quietest little island with fuck all on it development wise. It has that beautiful picturesque teal water, the softest beach sand, bioluminescent plankton every freaking night, a waterfall that comes straight out of a source in the mountain so you can drink right from it and plenty of jungle to hike through. To make it even better was a wonderful hostel “Hostel by the Sea”, which in all reality was nothing special, but just had the best crew of people staying there and we had all gotten sucked into its trap. I would say things like “I’m definitely leaving tomorrow” and then stick around for another day… and then another.. and then 6 days go by… and shit I’ve gotta get back to Bangkok!