This post recaps my fourth day traveling back in Cambodia during this year’s Spring Break.

The only full day on Koh Rong Samloem started with a relatively slow start. James had already been out and about taking photos while I took my sweet time. #HolidayLifeIsForSlacking

Despite my best intentions, I found a stern look in the eyes of the camera. Perhaps the lack of quality coffee was keeping me looking a bit serious?

Still, you don’t get much more paradise than this!

#HolidayInCambodia Christmas gift?

If there’s one thing that doesn’t ever subside, it’s construction on islands.

The local village, seemingly stable, seemingly in a state of transition.

Another foot shot.

One dog lifting the other up by the ear. Had never seen that before!

The view from the most central point of “23.”

The standard array of condiments: chili sauce, soy sauce, ketchup, hot sauce, more chili sauce. Salt, honey, chili sauce, and pepper.

Breakfast of Champions? Double fisting a coffee with fresh (not condensed) milk, and a fruit shake with condensed (not fresh) milk.

  

The restaurant from which we had ordered our breakfasts:

Signs like the following are actually all over the place in Cambodia, which is a bit sad, because it distinctly reeks of “foreigner.” In my dreams, I envision something comparable but with all locations being within Cambodia, and maybe the neighboring countries.

This hostel/bungalow lodging was mostly tent-based. The giant room on the other side of this sign was more like a warehouse, open-aired, with about five tents inside, as well as an array of open-air plus mosquito net sleeping pads. A cool concept, which I’d love to try someday, when I have less concerns about maintaining appearances.

We had scheduled a boat trip for snorkeling for the afternoon–well, it’s the daily boat trip that some Australian dude, probably around age 55, manages (kind of). We asked him and an American woman, presumably his partner, about things we could do in the morning until the boat trip happened. We were advised to trek over to Clearwater Bay/Beach, which involved walking in the water around part of the island, and then taking a forest trail, and then getting to the beach, which contains only a single set of bungalows. Seemed easy enough for us “adventurer types.” The following shots are from the journey, which took about 1.25 hours each way, and which was that moment in time before, during, and after an incredibly intense body-sized sunburn.

  

A Buddhist hut featuring . . . mounds of clay? I’m assuming they are sacred mounds, which have been shaped into spiritual beings . . . James had little explanation for me.

“Is it a rock from outer space?” – James

More foreigner. :/ It was more like visiting some kind of armpit-flavored anti-Disney than remote Cambodia, but I suppose my-being-American makes me part of the problem, eh?

I think this is a textbook image of “camouflage.”

  

Technically speaking, Clearwater has one set of bungalows (called Driftwood) and one dock, presumably for those travelers who don’t want to walk through the ocean and the forest to get to this relatively remote beach.

Celebration beer, celebration dried beef, and celebration onset sunburn.

It’s hard to tell in these images, but the sand, which looks brown, was actually  a very light gray mixed with carrot-colored orange.

Pro-tip: don’t buy the organic sunscreen on Amazon that has SPF so high you think it’s going to solve all your problems and then ends up turning you into a tribal warrior.

After an hour or so at the beach, an hour and a quarter walking back, we rested up, showered, and then waited for an epic boat trip. A very cute dog visited us during this period.

Said boat trip resulted in 1) epic snorkeling; 2) beach-side lounging on Lazy Beach; and 3) a nasty gash on my big toe, but also beautiful pictures. After, we wound up back at the Sunset Bungalows for our final evening before our head back to mainland. The weather was cool and perfect, and I found myself doing little to nothing on the hammock.

     

Hello sunburn, my old friend.

There are approximately 10 days worth of photos. This has been day 4.