Koh Rong, Cambodia

Fluffy white sand beaches, lush jungle, turquoise waters... this island has everything. As it is a less developed island, we traveled to it without a booking and walked place to place until we found suitable accommodation. I loved our daily $1 fruit breakfast plates. We spent one day lounging at the beach and swimming in the clear warm water where my goggles came in handy! Paul and Arnetia, fresh from a NZ winter, got badly sunburnt, turning a distinct tomato red all over. We spent our evening eating barbecued fish on the beach.

On one day we decided to 'splurge' on an eight hour boat trip that cost us $10 a piece. We went to a great snorkeling spot and fished like the locals with a hand reel (although we didn't catch anything). Our boat trip took us to Long Beach where we played a soccer game with a group of locals (soccer is definitely a universal language). We then had drinks in the waste deep warm water while we watched the sun set over the ocean. Next, the boat drivers cooked us a barbecue on the boat. When it got dark we swam with the bioluminescent plankton. It looked like the stars were underwater as people swam past us. It was an amazing experience we will never forget, and definitely worth the $10.

Sadly, this was our last tropical island for a while. Next stop, the riverside town on Kampot.Read more