After the busy streets of Phnom Penh, we moved on to Sihanoukville and a nearby island called Koh Rong. Best known for beaches and partying, this was a completely different experience from the capital.
We were put off staying on Sihanoukville's main 'Serendipity Beach' after reading one too many blogs saying that it was overcrowded and dirty from all the sewage being dumped there. From walking through, I got the impression that it's main audience were middle aged or old white men who had moved there full time to enjoy retirement in a way that they couldn't back home. Instead of staying there, we got a hostel in an area of the beach lower down called Otres.
Otres
These areas of Sihanoukville, Otres 1 and Otres 2, are known for being more relaxed, spacious and all round more beautiful than Serendipity Beach. We were greeted by gorgeous white sand, hammocks and swing chairs a-plenty. Attracted by its beauty and it's previously 'untouched' status, there were a ton of young 20-something westerners who had moved there to work in bars and hostels. Hence Sihanoukville's newfound reputation as a party destination. I found Otres really interesting - walking down the beachfront you could pass a luxurious, peaceful bar full of families and couples, then immediately next to it would be one blasting music and filled with hippy travellers either passed out from the night before or getting ready for the next round. It was as if the 2 groups existed entirely independent of one another. Again, Cambodia seemed to be a country full of contrast. From what I can gather it's still relatively new to the whole backpacker phenomenon, and the country is developing and changing so rapidly. I guess areas like this are still in the process of figuring out who their audience is. I get the impression that Sihanoukville is a totally unrecognisable place from how it was 10 or 15 years ago - and I'd be fascinated to go back in another 10 years to see what it has become.
Anyway, we enjoyed a couple of days here. The sunsets were gorgeous, we slept outdoors right on the beachfront one night (mainly because all the proper hostels were already booked, but still) and cuddled every adorable stray kitten that came our way. What it lacked in history compared with the other destinations it more than made up for in scenery.
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| Sleeping outdoors - the mosquito nets look so beautiful in spite of their purpose |
Koh Rong
From Serendipity Beach, ferries can take you to a number of small islands off the coast of Cambodia. The most famous of these are Koh Rong and Koh Rong Tao. Koh Rong was the first one to properly be discovered by tourists, but more recently people tend to recommend Koh Rong Tao instead because it's the more untouched island. But, by this point, I had had enough of people's obsession with finding the untouched areas. It's a cycle; a place like Koh Rong is discovered for its natural beauty, travellers flock there and share how great it is, it becomes more developed and therefore loses a bit of the original charm, so they get bored and move on to the next place. This all seems to happen in such a short span of time that it makes you wonder how long we can do it for. I'm not saying development is bad, because thanks to that I've been able to experience the place myself. I just find it silly when people complain about a place becoming too popular when they are actively contributing to it's popularity. Anyway, Koh Rong was easier to get to, had more hostel choices and I didn't care if it was a bit busier. Like Sihanoukville, it was a mix of locals and young backpackers who were either passing through or had decided to settle there and make a living.
Rather than get a boat tour, we decided to go solo and spent our full day in Koh Rong trekking to the long beach on the other side. And it was absolutely amazing. The beach was like an image from a postcard, except better... a postcard could never capture the full scale, or the sound of the waves, or how perfect the temperature of the sea was. We walked all the way down, stopping every now and then to admire the view and have a swim, then finally found a beach bar where we could have something to drink. I could have stayed there for days, reading books and watching the tiny white crabs scuttling across the sand.
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| Koh Rong main beach |
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| Trekking to the Long Beach |
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| Long Beach |
The day passed ridiculously fast and before I knew it we had to head to our ferry pick-up point, since trekking back after sunset would have been a nightmare. The ferry was quite... an experience. I use the term 'ferry' in quite a loose way, since it was basically a fishing boat, filled with drunk travellers who had been doing the whole-day boat tour. As we sat down they turned on a disco light and started blasting Justin Bieber, then, since it was the end of the day, the drivers had fun soaking us for the entire journey. I was conflicted between finding it funny but also being pissed off after having had such a relaxing time, and when Imogen started rummaging around to protect our books from getting wet, it dawned on me that we were basically 80 year old grannies compared to everyone else on the boat. The whole silliness of the situation gave me the giggles for the rest of the journey.
Koh Rong was a fantastic place and I would have loved to have spent more time there. But, with a tight schedule and some very severe sunburn, we caught a night bus to the next destination. Or rather, we missed the night bus because we're both idiots and were too absorbed in our amazing meal, so had to pay a Tuk Tuk to chase after it.
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