Koh Rong Can Do No Wrong

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When I got off the bus, I was headed straight to Koh Rong for a few nights. I had found a thing on Hostelworld where I could sleep in a private tent on a private beach for $5. I met a bunch of Spanish people (Argentina, Chile, Spain) and split a tuktuk with them for $1 each. Our tuktuk was a Honda. VIP tuktuk. It took us to an ATM (no ATMs on the island) and a place to buy our tickets. I ended up putting a deposit down for two dives, which included the slow boat round trip. There was a boat leaving at noon, so we found a restaurant and had a big breakfast. Then we hung out and had a beach day. Around 11:45 I went to the dock. At 12:00, with no sign of the boat on the horizon, I found someone and asked what was happening. The boat was canceled because of rough seas. The 3:00 boat might run. I reported back to the Spanish. Alison and Will met me on the beach after checking into their hostel (which was full). Alison mentioned that she had heard some guy say a boat sank that morning. Great. A woman came over and told Alison her legs were really hairy and then tried to thread her leg hair. The proper response to that is, “no thank you,” and then “don't touch me” when she tries to demonstrate her skill of ripping out leg hair with a thread. We eventually found Jason. His bus had transferred to a crappy bus in Phnom Penh and his ride had taken 13 hours as well. But Alison and I had gotten him hooked on Serial, so he wasn't all bad. The four of us got some lunch, and then I noticed loads of people walking to the boat. The 3:00 was running! The Spanish had decided to spend the night in Sihanoukville, but I was determined to get to this island. The crew made us all put on lifejackets. Comforting. The slow boat ride was rocky but I just napped and listened to podcasts on the top deck. It took 3 hours. We arrived at Koh Rong as it was getting dark. I borrowed someone's phone and called my tent hostel who moved my reservation to the next night. I found a dorm to sleep in for $6 and set my stuff down. I went out to explore and met an Israeli girl named Sunny and her American friend Christina. We ended up having a really fun night at a 90s party.

Let me set the stage. When you arrive on Koh Rong, there is a small strip of beach, maybe a mile long. The beach is lined with guesthouses/bars/restaurants. When the tide goes out, tables and chairs are put out in front of the buildings. There are no roads, no motors, no f@#king tuktuks. The whole strip is just beach. It's loud and fun and full of backpackers, but island time is real and it's all so relaxed.

My first morning, I woke up to get on the taxi boat to Nature Beach (with the tent) at 10:00, only to find out that it was leaving at 11:30. On my way out of the hostel, I ran into Jamie, the American girl from Siem Reap! I told her I was coming back the next night and does she want to get a private room because then it's a dollar cheaper than a dorm room and, you know, not a dorm room? She agreed.

On the boat, I met a British guy named Tom a Polish guy named Tom. British Tom and I became fast friends. Polish Tom really liked to talk about doing drugs in Shanghai. The weather had calmed down A LOT from the previous day and docks were being repaired because apparently the waves had been crazy all week. Kate brings good weather again! We arrived at Nature Beach, which was gorgeous. My tent was on a little patch of ground in the woods and was a simple camping tent. I couldn't have been happier. I met Tom at the one bar, and we went to the beach where we played in the clear turquoise water and swung on the swings in the water and talked about all of the things and were rotisseries on the beach. We had cocktails (Tom was jealous of mine because it was fancier than his) and laid in hammocks reading and listening to music. Tom went to shower and I put clothes on over my bathing suit and continued to read in a hammock. It was a beautiful relaxing place. We got dinner at the bar, and when it got dark we walked down the path past some bungalows until we found a beach with still water. I splashed around the surf but saw nothing. So I went into the water farther until I was up to my hips and splashed and saw them! Bioluminescent plankton! Tom came in and we splashed around and watched the water around us light up like stars. And the sky was clear overhead and so we were surrounded by stars. I was so giddy. At 7:30 I crawled into my tent and watched Brooklyn, a fantastic movie.

I woke up at 8:30 to take the 9:00 boat back to the main strip. I said goodbye to Tom, who was meeting his parents on the mainland, and went to find Jamie at Bong's, the hostel we were staying in (it means 'brother' in Khmer). We had breakfast, and I ran into Sunny whose friend Amit had come the day before. We sat around and talked for a while, and then Jamie and I went to sign up for a boat trip. At 1:00 we went to the market and got on the boat. There were way more people on the boat than space, but rules aren't real in Cambodia, and it was a beautiful day. We puttered over to a tiny island with clear water where we went snorkeling for an hour. There were idiots standing on the coral, so I yelled at them that they were killing the coral. Some listened, some didn't. I found a leopard fish camouflaging in a rock! When we got back on the boat everyone was in better moods and started to socialize a little. We went out into open water and started fishing. A few people were given rods, most of us were given giant spools (see picture). A couple people caught fish and then we moved onto another spot. I caught two fish! After about an hour of that, we puttered over to Long Beach, which is a 7km pristine beach with clear water and white squeaky sand. We jumped out of the boat and walked to land, holding our bags over our heads. We laid out on the beach until we were beckoned back to the boat for dinner, which was barbecued fish (the same we had caught) and kebabs. Tasty, but not enough.

We went back to the beach to watch the sun set and then went back to the boat as night started to fall. By this time the Cambodians running the whole thing had had about a bottle of whisky and were definitely not sober. The boat took us to a calmer area of water and cut the engine. But it was too light for plankton. So we waited. Finally the guy gave us snorkels and told us to jump in. I kept splashing the surface and seeing nothing. One girl jumped in and said she could see some. So I jumped in. I saw a few. The more I thrashed, the more they lit up. But then it got darker and darker. And suddenly I was surrounded by tiny blue lights. And in the pitch black, I treaded water and could see my legs lit up. I twirled my fingers around in front of my face and one plankton actually sparked at me. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. I stayed in the water until the last possible moment and then begrudgingly got back on the boat.

Dinner wasn't enough, so Jamie and I prioritized pizza when we got back to land. We showered and headed out. A bar called Bamboo was serving pizza, and we ordered one from an American guy working there named Rivers. We chatted with him for a while and then he mentioned a guy at the bar. “Yeah, he's Hungarian.” My jaw dropped. When Rivers found out I spoke Hungarian he sent the guy over. I said, “beszélsz magyarul?” which means, “do you speak Hungarian?” His jaw dropped. His name is Zío and he grew up in Budapest where he works at a bar. He's been traveling around and spent a couple weeks working on Koh Rong. Tonight was his last night. As I stumbled through my Hungarian, his head continued to explode. It was really fun. We finished our pizza, met two girls, and continued hanging out at the bar. We met the rest of the Bamboo staff and trekked 15 minutes through the jungle for a party at Police Beach. I got home at 4 am.

I woke up really early the next morning. No one expected it, but I made it. I was going on two dives with a company I had signed up with on the mainland (they gave me the ferry for free). I went to the dive place and picked out all my gear. Then I waited. While I was waiting, I watched what was going on around me and eventually got involved because the situation was too good. Apparently we were waiting on 6 Chinese tourists who were coming from the mainland with more than $600 to try out diving. Someone had sent them and the money over on the boat, but they hadn't appeared and no one could get in touch with the guy who sent them. Someone saw a bunch of Chinese people taking pictures on the dock, but then they got on a boat. I (sort of jokingly) said, “maybe they went to the wrong island.” PS. There are two Koh Rongs.

After a while, we just left. We got on the boat, and I dove with my instructor, an Aussie girl, and a couple of Iranian guys. The water was so unbelievably clear (see picture). We dove off Long Beach, and it was a shallow dive, so we got to dive for almost an hour. And we saw a giant pufferfish (not puffed).

On the second dive, we dove near the other Koh Rong. We saw barracudas! The boat that had sunk a few days before was near that area, so we wanted to go, but we didn't have enough time/air. And the Aussie girl was having problems equalizing (when your ears pop as you go down). We had a really fun dive nonetheless. Plus, barracuda. By the time we got back, the day was done, and I was able to meet up with my friends. I met up with Jamie, and while she showered, I went for a walk on the beach. Some guys were tossing around a football (American football) and feigned throwing it to me. I told them to, and I caught it, and then I spiraled it back. So then I played with them for about 10 minutes. Then I ran into Sunny and Amit coming back from the beach, and I walked back to the hostel with them.

Jamie met her friend Carl at the bar of our hostel, and the 5 of us went out to dinner with another Israeli girl. We had heard about a really good barbecue at Island Boy's for $5, so we went there. We sat inside because all the tables outside were taken. I ordered barracuda barbecue. My thought process was, “Barracuda? I saw those today! I think I'll eat it now!” It took about an hour for the food to come. We all got really hangry in the meantime. Finally it arrived. It was a huge plate. 2 filets of barracuda with potato wedges, salad (coleslaw-like), and garlic bread. It was all unbelievably delicious and absolutely worth the wait. We hung out for a while after dinner, but people went home early.

Carl and I decided to stay out. They were having a beer pong competition at Island Boys, so we sauntered over, got some beers, and decided to play. The two guys we were playing were the WORST. They had clearly been winning all night and were super cocky about it and Rivers came up to me and was like, “please beat these guys.”

AND THEN I DID. They hated being beaten by a girl (and Carl). It was amazing. I was a hero. It was great. We played another game, lost to an English and Dutch girl, and then went with the English girl to Reggae Bar until it closed. We were still standing around and talking around 2:30 when some people came out of the kitchen and said, “who wants food?” So we sat around on the floor in a circle and ate egg fried rice and coconut porridge. Both delicious. At 3 we decided it was time to leave.

We had a late start the next morning (of course), but we had big plans to hike to Long Beach on the other side of the island. The same beach I had dived at the day before. And watched the sunset at the day before that. We got some sandwiches for $1 for lunch, but it turned out to be way too complicated because I wanted 2 sandwiches with everything, 1 non-spicy, and 1 vegetarian. Then she decided not to do anything for about 10 minutes before actually making the sandwiches. By the time we got those and got Sunny away from her friends, we were already sweaty. We begrudgingly started the hike, which was steep from the very beginning. The whole hike was only about 40 minutes, and on top it was nice and flat. But man was it hot. At the very top, I believe it was Amit who said, “I think I'll feel drier when I'm completely submerged in the ocean.” I have never sweated so much in my life. And I did hot yoga for a month in Budapest. Then we started the descent, which was...harrowing to say the least. So steep and full of boulders to jump/slide down and sandy patches where you have to grab trees to stay upright. It was terrifying. But we made it to the construction site where they're building a road (BOO), and as soon as I saw water, I jumped in.

We walked to a beautiful spot on the white beach with calm clear turquoise water. I think it was the most perfect beach I've ever been on. We spent a bunch of time in the warm water cooling off before taking naps in the sun and shade. When we woke up the water was a bit rougher and there were some clouds, but we wanted to stay for the sunset. Amit took out his polaroid camera, so we played with that for a while. We booked a boat back to our beach (not hiking up that whole deal in the dark, thanks) for 6, during the sunset. Then we spotted the Koreans.

They HAD to be Korean. There were about 5 of them, all guys. One was the main photographer. We noticed him taking pictures of one of the guys doing the “french girl” pose in the water. When he was done, another guy took his place. Then that guy had pictures taken of him next to a tree on the beach. Then he threw a shirt over his shoulder and walked down the beach. Meanwhile two other guys are taking pictures of each other jumping and walking away and looking out longingly into the water. And then the best one happened. One of the guys grabbed the photographer's hand so he could take a picture of the “follow me into the ocean” pose. We were all riveted. It was way better than any television show. We watched them for about half an hour. Then the sun was setting and it was almost 6 and we had to go. We walked down to the boat and watched the sun set before getting in the boat. We were able to watch the sun turn red and sink below the horizon for my last night on Koh Rong. The sky turned into a painting of brilliant colors and the boat drove home over huge swells.

We had a big night on police beach. I woke up early the next morning for my ferry home. It was the slow boat. People were everywhere. I did ok for the first half of the boat ride, but then I got a horrible hangover and that combined with rolling waves turned into the first time I've ever been seasick. At least the bottom of the toilet bowl was the ocean, and it was a beautiful shade of blue. The guy sitting next to me on the boat mentioned that casually on his way back from also throwing up in the bathroom. We were not the only ones. We eventually made it back to land, and I was MISERABLE. I couldn't keep anything down, and I had a bus ride to Phnom Penh. I went to the first place I saw and paid $10 to a very confused woman to take a nap in a hotel room for 2 hours. I also bought a bus ticket from her. Best $10 I ever spent. I woke up from my nap 2 hours later feeling refreshed and ready for a long bus ride.

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