We arrived in Sihanoukville in the early hours of the morning and after being recommended and told so many stories about it we were not expecting what we got! We were planted right in the strip of a town full of clubs and hostels and were expecting some sort of paradise beach to look at. Having travelled one of the worst journeys of our life so far this put such a damper on our day and immediately wanted to leave. No hostels were open until 7.30-8 and it was 6 in the morning so we planted ourselves down in a cafe and overheard this hippie style man telling this group of people, around our age, the islands surrounding Sihanoukville and where was best to go. He mentioned one called Ko Ru, Bamboo Island and how it was closing down in 2 weeks as a French resort had bought the island and were demolishing it and therefore dorms were only a dollar a night, he said it was so chilled out and beautiful and only $5 return on the ferry. We decided this was a good idea to make the best of the time we had so made our way down to the port and waited for the boat to come!
Koh Ru was beautiful as exactly how we pictured it and instantly made it seem worth all the hassle of the journey, there was only one bar/restaurant and dorm rooms, which a few beach side bungalows. Electricity was only on from 4pm-midnight and there was no signal so you were isolated from everything. This made everyone come together in the evening and made it such a fun night as there was nothing else to worry about. Going for a late night swim to see the fluorescent plankton in the water which was incredible. Waking up and making our way back to the magaluf style strip we soon caught out bus to Phnom Penh.