A Travel Day to Phnom Penh

Three of us woke up early on Friday. I headed out for a run, and Tim and Wyatt headed to the beach for a sunrise swim.

I decided to run left down the beach sidewalk...and I found a hidden path that hugged the coastline. I followed it and followed it some more, until I rounded a corner and found myself at the DG Royal Resort, which sported Chinese lettering on signage and appeared to be empty. It felt a little odd and kind of spooky to be in the middle of this resort; I ran down to the water and then opted to turn around and head back. Good timing on that -- because a dog was soon chasing me and barking. Now, if you read our Andean Adventure blog from our 2022 South America travels, then you might recall I was bitten by a dog while running on a beach in Ecuador. That was a whole ordeal, and while I was delighted that my Ecuadorian hospital visit, tetanus shot, and accompanying meds cost me just $10 a few years back, I had no desire to go through the experience again.

I (mostly) kept calm and ran out of the DG Royal Resort at a steady pace. The dog seemed to stop chasing me at the invisible border of the resort. Just when I thought I was in the clear, ANOTHER dog began chasing me and barking. I kept my eyes up and made my way down the trail as quickly as possible.

All of the other dogs on the island were as friendly as could be. These two dogs, however...let's just say I realize I was lucky and won't be running into empty resorts again.

Anyway, back at Long Set Resort, we all enjoyed one more breakfast at the beach. Taylor and Wyatt said goodbye to their stray dog friends, and then we packed our bags, checked out, and waited for our 8:45am ferry to take us back to Sihanoukville.

You can see our speedboat ferry pulling up in the distance. Also, gotta love the sign advertising the upcoming Tuk Tuk Koh Rong Race.

We were on a different ferry this time: the GTVC speedboat ferry. It was literally a speedboat. Every passenger had to climb on board this boat one by one -- you had to step on this little step and then hoist yourself into the speedboat. It was kind of wild. 

The ride to Sihanoukville was kind of wild, too. We raced over the water, bouncing around the entire way back. Thankfully, once we docked at the ferry terminal in Sihanoukville, we were all able to walk off the back of the boat. 

Going fast on the speedboat!

Back at the Sihanoukville ferry terminal.

Tim had booked us another driver, this time to drive us the 3-ish hours to Phnom Penh. He used the same tour company that he had for our other drivers on the trip. But the time for our driver to pick us up came and went. We walked around the ferry terminal, looking for someone -- anyone -- holding a sign with our name on it. Nada. Tim emailed the tour company; no response. We jumped on the company's website; there was no phone number listed. I sent a message over Facebook Messenger. No response. Then I went on Google Maps and found a number. I called and someone picked up right away. We were told our driver was there, waiting for us. A few minutes later, he appeared. After loading our bags, we were off to Phnom Penh.

Once we got out of Sihanoukville (again, empty and abandoned buildings abounded), we were thrust into the countryside. We saw green fields for days with some houses thrown in. Tim, Wyatt, and I fell asleep fairly quickly. Not Taylor though. She was wide awake...and her stomach was suddenly not feeling so hot.

We entered Phnom Penh about noon, but it took us an hour to make our way through the city to our hotel. Phnom Penh was nuts -- at least, that's what it felt like to us as visitors for the first time. The roads were crammed with cars, vans, trucks, tuk tuks, and motorbikes. We saw motos on the sidewalks, trying to get around all the traffic and dodging pedestrians at the same time. There was honking, there were vendors selling things, there was a lot of (organized?) chaos. From inside our car, we just stared at everything going on outside around us.

And then we pulled up next to our hotel, Plantation Urban Resort & Spa. This place is calm and beautiful, and you'd never know such a busy city is right out its front door. We were greeted with cold washcloths and lemongrass tea (which was delicious!).

That's our hotel!

Because we were early to check in, we opted to grab a quick lunch by the pool. Tim, Wyatt, and I were happy to eat. Taylor...was not. She was going downhill fast. Once we could access our room, Taylor crawled into bed. 

Tim stayed back with Taylor and Wyatt and I went off exploring. We walked down the street, past the Royal Palace, and out to the main road that runs parallel to the Tonle Sap River. Fun fact: Just a little ways down, the Tonle Sap converges with the Mekong River; the Mekong is the longest river in Southeast Asia, the 7th longest in Asia, and the 12th longest in the world. 

This kid sure is cute. And that Royal Palace sure is something. (The pigeons though...they can go.)

When Wyatt and I returned to the hotel, Taylor was still in bed. So, then Tim and Wyatt set out for some more exploring. Along the way, they met Kosal, a friendly tuk tuk driver who offered to drive us around on Saturday. 

We had a quiet Friday night. Taylor remained in bed and the rest of us turned in early. We have just one more full day in Cambodia. Somehow this trip has been both long and short.