Landing on Koh Rong Sanloem: Trading Mainland Life for Seven Months on a Cambodian Island

The ferry cut through the Gulf of Thailand, leaving Sihanoukville's chaotic shoreline fading into the distance behind me. Thirty minutes and fourteen dollars—that's all it takes to completely change your life. Three days ago, I made that trade, stepping off solid ground and onto a boat bound for Koh Rong Sanloem, a jungle-covered island off Cambodia's southern coast where I'd be living for the next seven months.

I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into. But that's the thing about real adventure—you rarely are.