Air Cambodia...or FlyOne?

Sopheap picked us up at 5am sharp on Tuesday morning. We collected our to-go breakfast from our hotel, checked out, said thanks to the amazing staff, and hopped in the van. We were off to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise!

We arrived at Angkor Wat shortly before 5:30 -- along with hundreds of other tourists -- and began the long walk to the viewing spot. Sopheap had brought his flashlight, and good thing because it was pitch black outside.

Sopheap had wanted us to view the sunrise from one of the libraries, but all the good spots were taken, so instead we found some seats along a stone wall. And it was really, really cool. We watched the sky change color minute by minute; it turned from orange to yellow to blue. We loved it. And by we, I mean Tim and me; the kids were kinda over it pretty quickly ("can we go now?" "I'm hungry."). 

It's coming up!

Sitting on the wall with Sopheap, waiting and watching.

Sun's up!

We walked around the grounds a bit, taking more photos, and then Sopheap led us out of the Angkor Wat complex. We walked down a path and entered another complex...that of small cafes (plus one very big Starbucks...insert American eye roll here) and shopping stalls. We popped into one cafe for lattes and hot chocolate and then jumped back in the van for the drive to Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport -- which was built and owned by Yunnan Investment Holdings, a Chinese-based firm. Turns out there's a lot of Chinese investment in Cambodia. We're still trying to make sense of it all. 

We asked Sopheap more questions on the drive. He shared that he taught himself English. During the Khmer Rouge regime, foreign languages were banned. Even after the Khmer Rouge were overthrown, foreign languages were limited (Vietnamese, Russian, and French were allowed). Cambodians really weren't able to learn English until the late 1980s. Sopheap told us when he was young he had four books in English, and he'd take them into the jungle and teach himself there, where no one could see him with these books.

Sopheap said more than once during our time together, "It's a hard life in Cambodia." We would agree.

Saying goodbye to Sopheap at the airport.

Once at the airport, we settled in until it was time to board our flight -- Air Cambodia to Sihanoukville.

Except...we walked onto our plane and were greeted by white European flight attendants. The outside of the plane -- and the inside -- sported FlyOne branding. 

You know where FlyOne is based? Moldova (I had to look it up on a map). The company has 14 planes. It's a low-cost airline that primarily serves Europe. Soooooo, did Air Cambodia rent out this plane? Who knows. But there were a curious number of Eastern Europeans on our flight. Super. Interesting.

A driver picked us up outside the airport and drove us through Sihanoukville to the ferry terminal. A couple of things: 1). Our driver, a young guy, seemed more interested in his phone than driving us. No matter; we made it. 2). Sihanoukville is a coastal Cambodian city -- and one that has seen a lot of Chinese investment, and now a lot of disinvestment.

Between 2013 and 2019, Sihanoukville saw massive economic expansion fueled by Chinese investment, particularly in the real estate and gambling sectors, as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative. The Cambodian government, however, enacted a gambling ban in 2019, and while that wasn't the only reason that Chinese investors fled Sihanoukville, it was a significant one. Then COVID hit in 2020 and that exacerbated the economic situation. When we drove through Sihanoukville, we saw many, many unfinished high-rise buildings. They're just sitting there -- empty, unfinished, concrete structures dotting the skyline.

Our driver dropped us off at the Sihanoukville ferry terminal, which is how you get to the handful of islands off the coast of Cambodia. We had tickets for the 5pm ferry to Koh Rong, but arrived to the terminal much earlier than expected, so decided to try and get on the 2:30pm ferry. Tim walked into the Buva Sea (ferry company) office and explained our situation. "No problem," the man at the front desk said. "Just get on the 2:30 ferry." We were a little suspect, as our tickets still said 5pm, but we just went with it. 

Before we lined up for our ferry, Tim and Taylor grabbed lunch at a small cafe around the corner. Wyatt and I ordered smoothies at an indoor (air-conditioned!) cafe. And the kids and I also hit up 7-11 (there are a LOT of 7-11s in this country). 

We got on the 2:30 ferry just fine and picked some seats in the back, where we thought it might be cooler. The ferry got on its way, but about 10 minutes in, the engine was making some weird sounds. We were sitting right next to the hatch that lets you into the engine room, and Tim had an excellent view of a worker opening the hatch to tie two wires together, then closing the hatch. We motored along. About 20 minutes later, the same worker returned, opened the hatch, and untied the two wires. Whatever was going on, we'll never know; but we made it to Koh Rong in one piece. 

Is there a problem with the ferry?

Um, maybe...

Koh Rong is a beautiful island about 16 miles from Sihanoukville. It's famous for its white sand and is a popular tourist destination. The TV show 'Survivor' was filmed here multiple times, too. ;)

We walked off the ferry, turned left on a small beach sidewalk, and then turned right into our resort, the Long Set Resort. This place is beautiful and peaceful...and full of tourists*. We changed into swimsuits and dove right into the Gulf of Thailand. After dinner on the beach, we fell into bed at 8pm.

*There are a heck of a lot of Europeans here! And the vast majority of them smoke. We don't miss that back in California...

There are many stray dogs on Koh Rang...

And Taylor and Wyatt have made friends with several of them.