Koh Rong started out feeling so wrong. After a final day in Sihanoukville spent equally between the washroom and the bed, I was in no shape mentally or physically to get on a 2 hour boat ride that would take me to a rustic island off the coast of Cambodia. Praying I was over the worst of my suspected food poisoning, we boarded the afternoon boat and sailed off into the turquoise blue waters of the Gulf of Thailand.
Koh Rong started out feeling so wrong. After a final day in Sihanoukville spent equally between the washroom and the bed, I was in no shape mentally or physically to get on a 2 hour boat ride that would take me to a rustic island off the coast of Cambodia. Praying I was over the worst of my suspected food poisoning, we boarded the afternoon boat and sailed off into the turquoise blue waters of the Gulf of Thailand.
Thinking I’d be travelling to an island with no modern conveniences, I was surprised when we got off the dock at Koh Rong to find people on cellphones, and wi-fi offered at one of the beach bars. As a girl who loves her modern conveniences, sometimes I feel like I rely on them much more than I want to. I was looking forward to escaping to a simpler time. Right away I was disappointed seeing that my imagined Island of Eden, was poisoned with the conveniences I so adored. Grabbing our bags, we headed out towards our resort – advertised as a 15 minute walk along the beach from the pier. Sounds like paradise, right? It even looked like paradise – white sandy beach, blue sky, surrounded by a picture perfect ocean, very few people…and intensely hot sun.
Supplies arriving by local boat, Koh Rong Cambodia
Still with little energy from being ill, a 15 minute walk under an unforgiving midday sun and humidity reaching higher than the warmest day of a Toronto summer, I might as well have been running a marathon. Finally finding our resort Treehouse Bungalows, we checked in and were led to our bungalow – only 50m away from the main restaurant.
At the end of the beach, our sign for Treehouse Bungalows Koh Rong Cambodia
Although hydro was only available in the bungalows from 5pm-10pm, the diesel generator ran almost constantly behind the restaurant, providing the electricity needed to cook. Not the soundtrack to the desert island I was looking for. Desperate for some sort of relief from the heat, I immediately tried out our true to their word, ice cold shower.
Washroom at Treehouse Bungalows Koh Rong Cambodia
Then I met Harold, our roommate – a huge black spider I hoped wasn’t poisonous or pissed off we were there.
Our Treehouse Bungalow roommate Harold Koh Rong Cambodia
After grabbing a quick bite to eat (hurray, finally felt like eating!), one of the staff proudly walked back from the waters edge with 2 sand coloured stingrays he had found, now hanging lifeless on a fishing spear. Pretty much destroying any desire I had to swim, we headed back to the bungalow, crawled into our bed after my second ice cold shower to rinse off the constant stream of sweat from the humidity, pulled across the mosquito net (complete with a few random holes) and wondered if we were going to catch the morning boat back to mainland.
Our Treehouse Bungalow “suite” Koh Rong Cambodia
As we awoke the next morning to a rooster cockadoodledoos, I laid in bed trying to think of reasons to stay. My eternally optimistic husband said we should give it a day and see if it gets better. We headed over for breakfast, sat enjoying coffee and watched as the clouds drifted slowly past us. A cool breeze travelled across the sand towards us, and after a good night’s sleep (which may or may not have been chemically induced), I felt that maybe I wanted to brave out the next few days. We wandered along the beach towards the pier, enjoying the waves lapping at our barefeet, the heat only beginning to climb. At the same time, both of us noticed not one person had approached us to buy anything. In fact, we had hardly passed anyone until we got to the pier marketplace. Considering most of the resorts on Koh Rong were sold out, I was surprised at how secluded the beaches seemed to be. We stopped for lunch at Coco’s – the backpackers hangout on Koh Rong, and sat enjoying the views, the people, and the puppies (lots of dogs on Koh Rong – all very laid back and friendly).
Coco’s on Koh Rong Cambodia
We made it back to our resort just after lunch, and decided to brave the waters for a swim. With the assurance of the staff at our resort that the stingrays were neither poisonous nor had any desire to get close to any humans – I tentatively walked into the ocean waters. Similar to walking into a warm bath, the water was crystal clear and even neck deep, I could still see the sand on the bottom. Out floating a few meters from the shore, I had my Oprah “ah” moment. All the time planning and saving and worrying about this month away from home was all justified in those few moments of serenity. I felt the tension leave my mind and body, and thought to myself, this is what I was waiting for. Cheesy I know, but when you experience it, you know that’s the moment you are going to remember forever – the travel addict’s ultimate high. The rest of the day was spent lazily wandering the beach, enjoying chilled beer and the 2nd best pizza I’ve ever had anywhere in the world at the Treehouse restaurant, and watching the sun set over the horizon.
Sunset from Treehouse Bungalow beach Koh Rong Cambodia
The next day, we signed up for the snorkelling tour offered at the Koh Rong Dive Center. 4 of us snorkelling, the other 20 or so diving, we headed out by boat for 30 minutes, and anchored off the coast of the one of the surrounding islands. Feeling slightly like a preschooler surrounded by cool high school kids, the snorkellers jumped in and explored the coastline while the divers made their way to the bottom on the search for colourful fish and coral. Thunderstorms and rain were common during the night, so the visibility wasn’t as clear as it usually is, but during both the morning and afternoon dives/snorkels, we saw dozens of schools of fish, sea urchins and beautiful coral reefs. Heading back to our resort in the late afternoon, I realized that 2 applications of sunscreen wasn’t quite enough, and ended up nursing a wicked back sunburn. Not the worst injury I thought I’d come away with considering the wildlife on and around the island, suddenly that ice cold shower seemed much more appealing to ease some of the pain of the burn.
Our final morning on Koh Rong, we sadly said goodbye to our bungalow, even with the diesel engine soundtrack, said goodbye to Harold our spider, and made our way back to the pier. Back on the boat ride home, I noticed I hadn’t turned on my cell phone once, hadn’t wondered what was happening on facebook or twitter, and realized that even though technology was available – my self imposed vacation from it both easy and successful. Finding paradise, now checked off my to do list.