A short 15 minute boat journey from Koh Rong Samloem, and we were on the Big Brother 'party' Island of Koh Rong. We would spend the next five nights here, including NYE.

A short walk down the beach and towards the 'village' took us to our guesthouse, Green Ocean, a brand new guesthouse which had been open just three weeks. The Village end of Koh Rong was where many Khmer families lived and set up restaurants. We found one lovely family, the Chai family, where we ate at least two out of three meals every day! Their pork and rice, just $1, was delicious for breakfast, and noodle soup, $1, made for a perfect lunch. Their English was very minimal, but with what they new, and with our minimal Khmer, we managed to communicate well and have some good laughs.

Chris booked up to do his PADI course whilst we had the time, but also we had been recommended and told by a local marine biologist we met on Koh Rong Samloem one night, that you would pretty much get one to one tuition.
Chris then persuaded a girl (Charlie) from a group of friends we had met and been drinking with the night before to also participate in this course.
So day 1 for them was a long, boring, tiring day of watching five hours of a video. Whilst Chris and Charlie were watching TV all day, I trekked for an hour over the hills and through the jungle with a group of friends to find Long Beach (beautiful white sand and perfect turquoise sea).
Myself, Jay & Charlie, Amy, and Elenor, then decided it would be cool to find the waterfall we had heard was in another small village at the end of the beach. It's called Long Beach for a reason, as 7km later, and with only one brief stop, we made it in the scorching heat for a much needed drink in the village.
After catching our breath, we took directions from a local in search of the waterfall. His directions took us straight through the middle of what must have been sewage! It was the most disgusting water ever, with the worst texture under our feet. I actually can't believe we carried on, although Charlie couldn't bear it after a quarter of the way across and turned back. But the other four of us thought we had walked all this way so we might as well just keep going. After another half an hours trek uphill we decided we must have gone wrong, so as a group we admitted defeat! However, just as we reached the sewage water again we heard the waterfall and to our delight we did find it! But what a disappointment...it was the most pathetic waterfall, not surprising as it is the dry season. All you can do is laugh about it, oh and tell everyone else you meet that it was incredible!
We waded back through the sewage, walked the 7km back along the beach, with a much needed swim break to clean ourselves, and watched the sun set over the horizon. Everyone then bundled into small motor boats, and for $3 are taken back around the the main beach where everyone stays.

Day 2 for Chris and Charlie was out on the boat...which they were allowed to bring someone along with them for the ride. So myself and Steff, Charlie's friend, joined them for the day.
The boat journey over to Lazy Beach cove on Koh Rong Samloem, where we would dock up for the day, was according to the dive instructor (Simon), the worst he had experienced, and he's been working on the island for eight years! Let's just say we were ready to jump overboard...!
Whilst Chris and Charlie learnt step by step how to set up and put on their scuba gear, myself and Steff swam to the beach and chilled there. They spent the afternoon under the water learning skills and completing their first dive.
The boat journey back was a little calmer than the journey there, but enough to tip me over the edge and I was very sick that night.

Day 3 for Chris and Charlie involved four dives, learning and mastering how to orientate their own dives. Chris led the way on their final dive, as Charlie was very nervous, taking them just over 14m deep. They almost didn't complete the course, as part of the requirements is to be under for at least 20 minutes, but Charlie had issues with equalising her ears and almost couldn't carry on. But luckily Chris's buddy managed to pull through, and they're now PADI open water qualified scuba divers!

For the last day of 2014 I led the way (with a slight detour and wrong turning!) over the hill and through the jungle to Long Beach, as Chris had not been. We spent a relaxing day here, playing around with the go pro in the sea, soaking up the sun, and watching the last sunset of 2014 over the horizon.
With moonlight guiding us, our boat back to the main stretch took a little longer than before as we had to tow another boat back...meaning we didn't make it back until gone 7pm, but in time to grab a happy hour cocktail on our way back to the room to start the drinking!
Over an hour and half waiting for a BBQ dinner meant we had time to get three more cocktails in before we met up with the larger group. We drank our way around a few bars before settling at one with a huge group of various people from all around the world we had met along the way, with masks, hats, horns, sparklers and fireworks to see the new year in.
We ended the night outside our hostel, joining in with the local Khmer's celebrations. Khmer music, free Klang beers, Khmer dancing, i.e slowly dancing your way around in a circle, and some talented young Khmer break dancers, took us into the early hours of the morning.

We stupidly, and regretfully, booked our boat back to the mainland for midday on the 1st Jan 2015...which turned out to be horrendously choppy, and a lot of people were being sick (not us though!). Later on that evening we then took the night bus, a sleeper bus, to Phnom Pehn, and then into Vietnam, to Ho Chi Min City. We paid our $5 fine for overstaying our visa by one day and rocked up to the city about midday on the 2nd Jan 2015.