The last month has been all about being cursed.
I spent the majority of my time in Cambodia, and while I’ve had a truly incredible time here, I’ve had more than my fair share of struggles too.
Upon entering the country, I paid for a visa that they forgot to put in my passport, I was then sent upstairs at the airport to a darkened room because they thought I was a transit passenger and then they lost my departure card and stapled someone else’s to my passport.
And so the curse began…
After a few days of catching up on work in Phnom Penh, I decided to head straight down to the coast. I had planned to spend my month relaxing on a beach in Cambodia and I found the perfect place in Sihanoukville.
Otres Beach was Southeast Asian beach paradise I had been hunting for in Thailand and was unable to find. It was cheap, it was quiet, there were hardly any touts, there was fast wifi and I was living in an adorable bungalow on the beach, ten metres away from the ocean. I couldn’t have been happier.
…And then this happened.
And then this happened.
And then this happened.
While on Otres Beach, I managed to get sick and spend the entire night throwing up. The following morning I went for a swim in the sea only to find myself surrounded by dozens of jellyfish. My worst nightmare. It was terrifying and I’m grateful that I somehow managed to escape unscathed.
However, the curse had yet to truly take hold.
A few days later, I took a boat over to the incredible Cambodian island of Koh Rong.
I had never seen sand so white and soft, water so warm and clear. There were only a few guesthouses on the island, meaning that a twenty minute walk would bring you to a kilometre stretch of sand with literally nobody else around. It was the definition of paradise.
… If paradise was swarming in sandflies.
The photo of what looks like an acne ridden back above is in fact the amount of sand fly bites I received on my back during a few hours on a beach. Now imagine that covering my entire body. Yep.
A few days later I, of course, had an allergic reaction to the bites and they all swelled up into incredibly itchy pus-filled blisters. I looked so good!
When it came to my final day in Koh Rong, I spent most of the day swimming in the sea in an attempt to heal my sand fly bites. Upon returning back onto the beach to sunbathe, I felt an… unusual sensation in my bikini bottoms. Carefully making sure that nobody else was around, I had a quick peek down and was mortified to discover that yes, I had a fish flapping around my vagina.
How does that even happen?!
Fish not pictured…
Although I loved staying on Koh Rong, I was more than a little relieved to be heading back to the mainland so that I could get away from all the sand flies! I couldn’t wait to start healing up so that I could enjoy the rest of Cambodia.
…And then I fell off a kerb, severely sprained my ankle and ripped all of the skin off my knee (both incidents pictured above).
I cannot remember the last time I’ve ever been in so much pain. I could not walk for a week. And then it didn’t help that a few days later the enormous wound on my knee became infected and refused to start healing. (Now, three weeks later, it’s just started to heal and my ankle is still extremely swollen and tender.)
It was around this time that I started to wonder if I was Cursed in Cambodia. I know that it’s a common theme for ridiculous things to happen to me while I travel, but this was getting tedious.
I spent five days resting and struggling to walk in the wonderful and relaxing towns of Kampot and Kep and when it was time to leave I finally began to feel like my string of bad luck was over…
… And then I poured a margarita on my laptop. My $2000 laptop that I bought just 4 months ago. My laptop that is not insured or covered for liquid damage. My laptop that I need to work on every single day.
Thank god I was leaving the country in two days time.
The incredible sunset on our final night on Otres Beach, Sihanoukville.
On a much more positive note, I have to say that despite all of the terrible things that happened to me over the last month, I left Cambodia desperate to return and having decided that it is now my favourite country in the world.
I think that shows just how amazing this country is…
Onto the statistics for the month!
Distance travelled: 1,930 km
Countries visited: 2
Cambodia, Thailand
Cities visited: 6
Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Koh Rong, Kampot, Kep, Bangkok, Sukhothai
Number of photos taken: 1492
Number of flights: 1
Number of buses: 8
Number of boats: 2
Money spent:
Cambodia: £666 over 28 days = £23.79/day
Yep. It hasn’t escaped my notice that while Cursed in Cambodia, I managed to spend £666 exactly…
Thailand: £35 over 3 nights = £11.67
Total amount spent: £701/$1115
The next month:
I am so excited for the next month of travel. First of all, I’ll be heading back to Chiang Mai, my former home, tomorrow! I can’t wait to revisit all of my favourite food places, eat scary food at the night market and catch up with all of my travel blogging friends. My main reason for returning to Chiang Mai, however, is for Yi Peng – the huge lantern festival where thousands of lanterns are released into the air at once. I can’t wait!
After Chiang Mai, I’ll be flying into Saigon for my first visit to Vietnam! I won’t be visiting the usual tourist destinations this time around though – instead I’ll be jumping on the back of a scooter and spending two weeks riding south and exploring the Mekong Delta. I have absolutely no idea what to expect from this but if it’s anything like the last scooter road trip I did in Northern Thailand then it’ll be pretty incredible!
Looking to follow along with my travels through my monthly summaries? You can read the previous month’s summary here, the next month’s summary here, or head on over to the monthly summary page to read from the very beginning!
Oh, this looks bad. What is that rash?
Remember that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger ;)
I’m not sure what you mean by rash! The lumps on my back are the sand fly bites and the gash on my leg is from where I fell over.
The jellyfish swimfest is also my idea of hell too! The idea used to terrify me when I was in Asia.
You are as accident prone as me – hope you recover soon though. I love your blog! :)
Aren’t they so scary?! Around 30 of them suddenly appeared out of nowhere and clustered around me! I have no idea how I managed to get back to the beach without getting stung. They were everywhere!
Lauren,
What a horrible few weeks you have had to endure! I really hope your luck changes in Thailand. You really need to get that drinking problem sorted, spilling drinks is not acceptable! ;-)
Love the blog, keep up the good work.
Simon
Haha, that made me laugh! Thanks, Simon! :)
You are one tough ROCK girl !!!! The worst is over… The best is yet to come !!! I. Absolutely addicted to you and dave lol ….cant thank u enough for sharing all of this with us !! Im definetely your number 1 fan !!!
Xxoxoxoxoxo take care of each other ;);)
Thanks, Sarah! Hopefully my luck will turn itself around now :)
I can’t tell you how many people I know who would have broke after going through all that.
That fish part though, made me giggle. No offense intended. :)
Thank you so much for saying that, Shaun! There were a few time when I came close to it though! ;)
What a shame that you had such bad luck in Cambodia as it looks so beautiful. Hope you have better times in Thailand – Enjoy!
Thanks, Elle! Cambodia was amazing. One of the most stunning places I’ve ever been to :)
Oh dear what a month of bad luck you’ve had, although it certainly makes for funny reading. The bit about the fish made me laugh out loud. I also thought your swollen ankle was due to jelly fish stings at first before I read further and thought I may need to avoid swimming in Cambodia! You’ll have to let us know how the Mekong Delta is in Southern Vietnam as I’ve always only made it down as far as Saigon.
The fish incident was certainly traumatic! :) Swimming in Cambodia was wonderful though (aside from the jellyfish!). It’s probably the warmest, clearest sea I’ve been in!
Oh Lauren it never ceases to amaze me how one backpacker can fall foul to so many bad things! I’m sure the whole travel community is secretly thanking you for taking on all our bad karma tho!
…and PLEASE be careful around all that fire in Chang Mai!haha!
Hahahahahahaha, I hadn’t even considered the possibility of me catching on fire from a rogue lantern!
awww, that’s sad to hear, but glad you still liked Cambodia despite all that happened. since you seem to be a beach lover, try visiting the Philippines, i believe we have some of the best islands in SE Asia.:)
glad you mentioned about the lantern fest coz i’ll be around Northern Thailand this week and no definite plans yet, will certainly love to see those lanterns. Hope to bump into you! :)
Yep, I was in the Philippines last year..
Maybe see you in Chiang Mai!
Hi Lauren,
I returned back to Florida after spending 4 months in Sihanoukville.
I am returning the first part of January. Would you mind sharing any information about visiting the Philippines as it is on my list of places I want to visit.
Take care and be more careful.
Robert
Hi Robert,
If you click on the destinations tab at the top of the page, you’ll be able to see all of my post about the Philippines.
I loved Boracay, Bohol and Coron.
You might want to stop thinking about the curse and start thinking positive. The more negative your thoughts are, the more negative things you attract. Just concentrate on what is positive and things will get better ;)
I’m actually a really positive person and wasn’t thinking about the curse – it was only when I came to leave Cambodia that I realised how unlucky I was. And like I said, the last month put Cambodia as my favourite country in the world, so I had an amazing time despite the incidents! :)
But really, I don’t see how thinking positive would have stopped me from falling over or being attacked by sand flies… :)
Ouch, ouch and ouch!
Pretty much!
was in stitches at the fish flapping part. Oh Lauren, that really is quite the curse. Ah well at least you enjoyed yourself I hope things are incredible in Vietnam I really want to go :)
I know, how ridiculous is that?! I couldn’t believe it, and then I couldn’t stop laughing! :)
So excited for Vietnam!
While on a week diving trip in Roatan I ran into the same problem with sand flies. The beach was spectacular and empty but the biting flies were everywhere. I came prepared with repellent and was OK.. some of the other people there were absolutely covered from head to toe in bites!
Yep, that would be me! The funny thing is I actually smothered myself in insect repellent but it just didn’t deter them. Evil things!
At least it wasn’t bed bugs!
I’ve actually heard that sand fly bites are a lot worse than bed bugs. They itch more and become infected because the sand flies pee on you after they bite you.
Oh Lauren. You need to kick this bad luck streak!!
I KNOW! Seriously!
Great stories… sorry about all the owies :)
Thanks Greg! :)
OH MY GOD. You have insane stories, I can’t believe the cooch fish, WTF?! I’m so sorry! But Cambodia does look stunning, we’ll be headed there in February! Have a blast in Chiang Mai, looks like we’ll JUST miss each other though, we’re there in December!
Hahahaha! Yep. I really do. Hope you enjoy Cambodia and have better luck than I did! :)
Awww, Lauren, you poor thing.
Don’t worry. Once you get to Saigon, a bowl of pho will sort you out. It apparently cures everything!
(I don’t know what snails will do to you, but you’re eating them anyway. Bwhahahahaha!)
And it DID sort me out! So astonished.
On the plus side of course, at least it was just a fish that… er, sneaked in and not a jellyfish! Haha!
Hard luck on all that stuff, but thanks for the entertaining tale at least :)
A jellyfish would be 1000 times worse, yes! :)
Hi Lauren, I love the cost info, I’m currently trying to figure out how much it’ll cost my bf and I to travel per month in Asia. £666 for one month sounds really good – how did your calculate your accommodation costs though now that you’re travelling with Dave? Does the £666 include half the cost of your accommodation? Perhaps a better question is how much, on average do you spend as a couple on accommodation in Asia per month?
Hi Amy!
Yep, I keep my costs separate from Dave, so the £666 is for my half of food, accommodation, etc.
In Southeast Asia we usually spend between $10-20 per night total for a private room in a guesthouse. The place we were staying in Otres was $14 per night, in Kampot it was $20 per night and in Koh Rong we paid $20 per night.
We were treating ourselves to fancy places this month so you could easily stay for much less per night! :)
Wow, great news that it’s so cheap; especially compared to the horrific costs of living in London! I’m so looking forward to escaping! Thanks for the info.
The post which puts together all the things I’ve been screaming with laughter about (FishyFannyGate) and ewwwing at (injuries are never funny unless they involve banana peels or come with a comic soundtrack) on Facebook.
The Vietnam road trip sounds pretty epic by the way – can’t wait to read about it. Hopefully you’ll have better luck in Vietnam, Chengy!
I know! Can you believe how ridiculous this month has been?!
So far, Vietnam is being kind to me :)
Lauren ~
The picture of the sunset is probably the nicest I have ever seen. It`s amazing.
So sorry to read of your less than perfect adventure in Cambodia. Let`s hope it is smooth sailing from here on in.
Your blog always makes me smile:-)
Thank you, Lynn! The sunset was incredible! :D
Oh no!! I feel so bad for you. What a run of bad luck. Glad to see you’re still positive and excited about your travel plans. Hope the next month’s much better. :)
Thanks, Cheryl! I can tell you that the next month has brought nothing but wonderful things! :)
Yikes! That’s quite the painful month. I hope you’re healing up now and I’m glad to hear that despite all that you still have such a favorable opinion of Cambodia.
Thanks, Ellen! Cambodia is INCREDIBLE! Seriously, I am desperate to return, even after all my bad luck!
That’s a lot of misfortune at once! About the fish incident, one of my first childhood memories when I was 4 I think is holidays at the seaside and my mother jumping and screaming because she returned from swimming with a jellyfish in her bikini. (Worse than a fish!)
Wow! I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have a jellyfish! I don’t think I’d ever go in the sea again afterwards!
I was just there and loved it too, but the sand flies are TERRIBLE! I got bitten up too. Nothing like what you experienced, but it was bad. Otres is amazing and so was Koh Rong. I’m smitten with Cambodia too!
Aren’t the sand flies awful? And oh my god, they are so itchy!
Glad you enjoyed Otres and Koh Rong, I think they’re two of my favourite beaches in the world!
I can hardly wait to see the gory photos that come out of your scooter trip.
It’s not going to be pretty…
WOW I seriously cannot believe all of that happened within the course of one month and even through all that you still consider Cambodia one of your favorite countries! Really must be incredible then! We are heading there in a few months and I am looking forward to it! After 6 weeks in China I am soo soo ready for South East Asian foood!!!
It really is that amazing!
You have the worst luck! I remember seeing you tweeting about the sandfly bites (I had those in New Zealand and they made me cry) and the knee and ankle injuries, but the fish?! WTF?? That’s just insane! I’m glad you made it out of there alive, and hopefully your next attempt at Cambodia will be better.
Hahahaha, yes I kept the fish quiet on Twitter haha! I can’t wait to get back to Cambodia. I don’t know what I’ll do if the bad luck continues when I return.
Oh my, your posts always crack me up so much. How can one person be so unlucky? :-)
“yes, I had a fish flapping around my vagina.” This just made me laugh so hard I literally spat tea all over my keyboard :) I’m new to your blog but I absolutely love it! Planning my own trip at the moment so I’m off to trawl your archives for ideas :)
[…] Lauren’s monthly round-ups typically re-cap her incredible travel experiences and her cost of living expenses. This particular round-up for the month of October was “all about being cursed.” A little bit of everything goes wrong for Lauren during this month and it sounds like she would be a great candidate for our next piece in the travel health disasters series. Check out her post here. […]
Hello Lauren,
Just curious how you were able to only spend about 700 pounds for the 2 countries? Where did you stay at and such? Could you give me some links I’m trying to visit next year! Thank you!
Hi Jessi,
Cambodia and Thailand are incredibly cheap that I usually spend under £300-500 in each country! I splashed out a little for this month actually :-)
I stay in guesthouses, which are usually under $10 a night, in Southeast Asia and eat street food and that’s about it. It’s so easy to save money in Asia when you’re travelling on a budget that I don’t really have much advice. Take a look at guesthouse prices online and you’ll see they’re very cheap :-)
I also got my legs bitten by sandflies. I didn’t even know sandflies were so nasty; I thought they were just annoying. But then my legs became blue’ish where the bites were…
Luckily by now-ex had some cream with antibiotic in it that cured those nasty bites. It took a couple of weeks to go away though.
Aren’t they awful? My bites never became blueish but I do still have scars from them, over a year later.
I am currently in Cambodia – covered in sandfly bites & I haven’t even reached the islands yet I’m only at the start of my year of travels but Otres is definitely one of my fave places to date..those sunsets are amazing!!! Your experiences sound crazy!! As unpleasant as your jellyfish experience must have been thank you for confirming there were jellyfish – I saw loads of dead ones up on otres 2 but my boyfriend assured me there wouldn’t be any where we were swimming! Loving your blog..can’t believe I’ve only come across it now!
Thank you so much for the comment, Natalie! :-) And good luck on Koh Rong with those sandflies!