All of us K5 (5th group of volunteers in Cambodia) decided we wanted to go somewhere awesome to celebrate our birthdays all together, and that awesome place was Koh Rong. Koh Rong is an island 2 hours off the coast of Sihanoukville.
To get to Koh Rong you have to take a 2 hour boat ride. That's at least 2 hours, more depending on the weather. Going to Koh Rong we had lovely weather and a nice relaxing boat ride.
On the island we stayed at Monkey Republic. The bungalows were nice, we got one with a shared bathroom, and I'd say if you're not on a volunteer's budget go for the bungalows with their own bathroom. The staff at Monkey Republic were really nice. And they just dropped their prices on the boat ride to $9.50 round trip, so if they try and charge you $10 each way make sure and inquire about their new prices.
Our second day there we tried to take a boat to the pristine side of the island (you know, the #32 most beautiful beach in the world). Our friend had a hurt foot, and couldn't do the hike so we rented a boat.
We got going and it was nice and sunny and beautiful.
We were having a good time being driven by this little 9 year old (no joke, he steered the whole way back and the 16 year old captain just hung out) when all of the sudden as we were making our way to the tip of the island the waves started getting real big and we were all getting wet as the boat would splash through the swells. Finally after about 45 minutes the driver said we had to turn around. Blast! He said he'd take us the other way around. Ok...He didn't take us the other way around. He took us to another stretch of beach about 45 minutes to the other side of our hotel. It wasn't pristine, but it was beautiful none the less. The sand was white and gorgeous.
Then we saw this big path over the mountain. Oh, this must lead to the pristine side, right? So we hiked it. 3 people hiked it without shoes. One of them being Hal.
So he busted out his boy scout skills and made his own shoes. How baller is that?
After hiking we realized that side just led to a small fishing village, and was in fact, not the pristine side. So we never got to see it, but we still got to see some stinking beautiful stretches of beach.
We had a lovely birthday dinner celebration by going to Treehouse bungalows down the beach, as we heard they had excellent pizza. It was indeed excellent.
It was on the brink of raining when we boarded the boat to head back to Sihanoukville. Hal and I took motion sickness medicine which proved to be a good choice as soon enough we were in the heart of the storm and it was raining inside the boat. Every inch of pretty much every person on the boat was soaked, including most of the bags. The waves were very large and were causing the boat to rock, a lot. A large portion of people on the boat threw up over the side. I'm pretty sure every life vest on that boat was being worn as a lot of people were generally scared for their lives. We were all very happy go reach land. It's one of those moments where you just say "Oh Cambodia" and then get over it. Hopefully all of those tourists weren't scared off.
As a suggestion, don't go to Koh Rong in the rainy season.
To get to Koh Rong you have to take a 2 hour boat ride. That's at least 2 hours, more depending on the weather. Going to Koh Rong we had lovely weather and a nice relaxing boat ride.
On the island we stayed at Monkey Republic. The bungalows were nice, we got one with a shared bathroom, and I'd say if you're not on a volunteer's budget go for the bungalows with their own bathroom. The staff at Monkey Republic were really nice. And they just dropped their prices on the boat ride to $9.50 round trip, so if they try and charge you $10 each way make sure and inquire about their new prices.
We got going and it was nice and sunny and beautiful.
After hiking we realized that side just led to a small fishing village, and was in fact, not the pristine side. So we never got to see it, but we still got to see some stinking beautiful stretches of beach.
It was on the brink of raining when we boarded the boat to head back to Sihanoukville. Hal and I took motion sickness medicine which proved to be a good choice as soon enough we were in the heart of the storm and it was raining inside the boat. Every inch of pretty much every person on the boat was soaked, including most of the bags. The waves were very large and were causing the boat to rock, a lot. A large portion of people on the boat threw up over the side. I'm pretty sure every life vest on that boat was being worn as a lot of people were generally scared for their lives. We were all very happy go reach land. It's one of those moments where you just say "Oh Cambodia" and then get over it. Hopefully all of those tourists weren't scared off.
As a suggestion, don't go to Koh Rong in the rainy season.
1 comment:
It looks amazing! Glad you had a great trip!
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