I was quite disappointed at Sihanoukville, the beaches were dirty, you had to pay to sit on the chairs by the beach and it was as though I'd arrived in Magaluf as all i could see were bars selling cheap booze. Cheapest price I saw for a beer was 50cents!! It seems that people are now using sihanoukville as a passage to islands such as Koh Rong and Koh Rong Soleum, which was exactly what I intended to do as well.
Our early morning boat left at 730am, and it was a 2 hour slow boat ride to Koh Rong. After the horrible bus ride the day before I could appreciate any new form of transport. We had a few choices of islands to chose from, but Monkey Island resort on Koh Rong was recommended by a few people at Sihanoukville and it was an awesome choice.
Monkey Island resort has only been open for less than a year, it has 19 bungalows situated along the beach front. Our bungalow was $15 between four of us and was 10 meters from the beach. The bungalow was very basic, just two large double beds, a private bathroom but with no air condition or fan, but for one night and $3.25 I couldn't complain.
After checking in and dumping my bags, it was time to soak up some rays. This was the real travelling life I was after, away from the hustle and bustle of cities that I had been seeing for most of the last month, away from places where people want to earn a quick buck, trying to sell you food, manicures, pedicures, paintings, bracelets, books, weed and even tuk tuk rides! You can't believe how peaceful it is, stepping out of your bungalow and not be hounded by the nearest local to get in their bloody tuk tuk!! It was great to get away from all of this, the beach was so secluded I could count the number of people on the beach with one hand. The was sun beaming down on my shoulders as i strolled up the beach, apparently we just caught the beginning of some gorgeous weather, having just missed three weeks of heavy rain.
The guys at Monkey Island recommended a couple of things to do on koh Rong, one was to walk 5 mins to a small waterfall, it was very small but was worth the walk through smelly water to have a cold soak and cool down. But it was the evening swim which was pretty amazing. Come 9-10pm the four of us went for a dip. Pretty damn cold but with a pair of snorkelling goggles, youd put your head into the water, move your hands around and the water would come alight. The micro organisms in the water react to movement and light up the water very similarly to fire flies, definelty worth the cold swim!!
Sun rise at Koh Rong
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