Koh Rong Island

Koh Rong

After a short 30 minute flight to the south of Vietnam, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. We only stayed there for one night, which worked out to be about 12 hours! But we stayed there so we could get the coach over to Cambodia the next day! It was one of the worst journeys despite it only being 6 hours or so. The roads were very undeveloped, which made it bumpy the whole way! And it didn’t help that the driver drove stupidly crazy. We were holding on for dear life! Thankfully though, we arrived there in one piece! We stopped off at the border on the way and bought a Cambodian Visa for around 30 pound. Interestingly, Cambodia uses dollars and it’s own currency, which is Cambodia Riel.

Our first stop was Phnom Penh. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel too well so we didn’t really do the things we wanted to. I was lucky to have Lewis looking after me! We had 2 nights in Phnom Penh, which were mainly spent in the room therefore no blog! The room was terrible though. As soon as we opened the room door, the pungent smell of it almost knocked us over and made our chests tight. Also, the heat of the room was unbearable. We even had to keep the door open for half an hour each time so we could just about stand the smell and heat. So I will skip straight to Koh Rong Island.

Day 1
It took about 8 hours to arrive in Koh Rong. Firstly, we had a bus to Sihanoukville from Phnom Penh where the pier was and then caught a speed ferry!

When we arrived, we checked into our hostel called Highland Home Stay – Koh Rong Village. It was a beautiful. A little bungalow in the mountains with a fan. The toilet and shower were outside, about a 1 minute walk away and I was already dreading a wee in the middle of the night haha.

I still didn’t feel 100% but I was itching to get out and explore this beautiful island. Koh Rong Village where we stayed not only is stunning with a variety of bars, restaurants and shops for tourists but it is also a place where local people live. As usual, it was lovely to see the locals and what they get up to. We went for a BBQ on the beach, which was lovely! Our first BBQ food! Then, we found a board game bar ah we love a good game. So we spent the night playing Jenga. Clearly, living the life. Still feeling poorly, we called it a night early and went to bed. We booked a boat trip around the island tomorrow so I has my fingers crossed that I felt better!

This went down a treat

Day 2
Yay I feel better today finally! Our boat trip was booked for 10am so first we had some breakfast. I had my eye on the muesli with homemade yogurt since we arrived yesterday so I went for that! It felt nice to have something healthy and filling for breakfast. And wow I ordered orange juice too that tasted exactly like orange juice at home! I was a very happy bunny. Before our trip, we had a little wander along the beach and it felt like paradise!

Our boat trip was so good. I loved being able to go in the sea and I have been itching to have a swim for ages! First, we did some snorkelling, which is is one of my favourite things to do at the beach. Luckily, we managed to spot quite a few colourful varieties of fish. I tried to take some pictures with my underwater phone case but they didn’t turn out quite so good! Then, we did a bit of fishing off the boat. I have never fished before so it was something new to me! Everyone seemed to be catching so many then there was myself, Lewis and another girl failing miserably! When all of a sudden, I caught one! I tried to quickly reel the string in and as soon as I saw it, I freaked a little and squealed a little so it got away! Never mind haha.

After all of that hard work and excitement fishing, we stopped off at Long Beach. What a place! The sea was crystal clear and the sand was as white as snow! We all jumped in and played frisbee in the sea together while the driver got our bbq on the boat ready. He actually cooked our fish that were caught earlier on the bbq! Not sure how I felt about that. However, I did try some and it tasted surprisingly nice. It was so relaxing just to chill on the boat with a beer and watch the world or should I say the sea go by!

As the sun began to set and darkness appeared, it was time to go swimming with plankton! Neither of us had done this before but we heard such good things. Because it was pitch black, I was a little unsure about going into the sea but I shook got over it! The plankton was amazing. You had to swish your arms around and they glowed up brightly around you like stars! It was beautiful and a fantastic way to finish the boat trip! It cost around £15 so it was good value for everything we did including lunch, fruit, water and beer!

Day 3
Today we were supposed to be checking out and making our way to mainland – Sihanoukville. However, we had fallen in love with Koh Rong so we decided to stay a little longer. This is why we don’t book things much in advance. Even though we enjoyed Koh Rong village, we had heard that other areas in Koh Rong had much nicer beaches and were quieter so we decided to move. We booked a hostel at Long Beach and had to get a little speedboat there. Like yesterday, I had muesli, fruit and orange juice for breakfast. Definiltey makes me feel set up for the day!

A short 10 minute boat ride got us to Long Beach. As soon as we stepped off the boat, we knew we made the right decision! The beach was a DREAM! It was literally the whitest sand I have ever seen and the bluest water ever. And to make it even better, it was so quiet. There only seemed to be our hostel there along the beach. We stayed at Reef on the Beach in a bungalow with a fan. The bungalow had lots of gaps in and already we could see mosquitos flying around! I guess it is expected though staying in a bungalow. The first thing we did is go straight into the sea! I remember how happy I felt. The sun was shining, the sea was crystal clear and it was so peaceful. I felt so lucky.

For the rest of the day, we continued to chill on the beach in the hammocks and in the sea. In the evening, our hostel had lots of entertainment and we ended up playing drinking bingo which was quite fun! And I had a lovely coconut curry. Only problem staying on this island is the prices are quite expensive compared to what we are used to. More than double the price. But we couldn’t even grumble as we were in paradise!

Day 4
Well we definitely got eaten alive in the night and we are both covered in bites ouch! No matter how much spray we put on, we always get bites! Anyway, another good thing about this place is the breakfast! I had some dreamy syrup and banana pancakes and Lewis a bacon muffin! Yum! We decided that today we would do nothing and just chill on the beach and it was bliss. I wanted a bit of tanning time for the first time! At one point, we took a trip to the pier and just spent ages jumping off into the sea haha. So much fun. We caught the most beautiful sunset too. I just can’t get other this place. My expectations to visit here weren’t that big and Koh Rong has completely blown me away.

Day 5
Today, I woke up to find the netting of my backpack with holes in! Clearly, something wanted to get into my bag and nibbled it’s way through the netting! It seemed like maybe a moth. I felt so sad but then I thought hey ho it could be worse! It was our last day in Koh Rong today as we decided to head back to mainland. We hadn’t booked anything for when we arrived there because there was no where to book transporrt so we were going to book an overnight bus to Siem Reap when we arrived at Sihanoukville Hopefully!

After another good breakfast and trying to catch a boat for a good 3 hours from this little island, we were on our way to mainland. The boats either didn’t let us on or or never shown up! It was so hot so the longer we waited, the sweater we got, lovely! By the time we eventually arrived, it was around 4pm and heavily raining. My feet and legs were all wet and muddy walking around the streets ugh! And I was a little stressed as we knew we had to quickly find a tourist centre so hopefully book a sleeper bus for TONIGHT! Luckily, we found one for tonight at 6pm that would get us to Siem Reap at 9am the next day. So we quickly had some dinner and soon were picked up for the sleeper bus. Here is to the next 14 hours on a sleeper bus!

Laura and Lewis x