Koh Rong, Cambodia

Vietnam to Cambodia summoned images of a long painful bus journey, but the trip was absolutely fine. Before we knew it we were at the border and were whisked through in no time at all. Out into Cambodia it's same same but different. Before long we were at the Neak Loeang river crossing. The coach edged up onto a rickety old boat followed by other cars and many motorbikes; one with twenty live chickens strapped to the back; the poor things looked in a really bad way. There were ladies selling all manner of odd things to eat none of which I could describe!

It was a twenty minute float to the other bank where the bus creaked off; next stop Phnom Penh for a quick stop and bus change before heading to Sihanoukville, the beach partaaaay capital of Cambodia, for a one night stop. We stayed at the Big Easy; your average Ozzie style backpacker. One thing I didn't like was the major sweat factor in the rooms. Sure, dorm's are normally a little sticky but this one felt very damp and smelly!

Next morning up early for a rainy two hour boat trip to Koh Rong on a cute little (ex?) fishing boat. Getting on the boat with luggage was interesting; edging from the high dock down a thin steep bit of wood and under the roof of the boat. Deathtrap flip-flops removed we all walked the plank successfully and took to our seats. Talitha entertained me by trying to tune her uke over the pounding engine noise and Emily slept off last nights hangover.

With thirty minutes to go the island appeared. An absolute paradise; I've never been anywhere quite like it; snow-white palm-fringed sands, mirror-flat turquoise sea, and beautiful beach huts. As we docked you could see thousands of tiny fish gathered around the boats. Greeted by the Coco beach resort eager to gain our business we're scooted off to a bar for a welcome lemonade and chat. The island is mostly deserted; at Coco there's two bars with evening BBQ's, with a little village, some tourist huts and two dive centres, then further down the beach there's the paradise resort (with an amazingly open, stilted restaurant) then further down and around the corner there's some super-cool tree houses and that's it! We're told by a barman that this would probably be the last season it would be like this. Checking the wiki confirms that there's plans underway for mega-resorts, casino's, golf courses and even an airport; turning Koh Rong into Cambodia's playground for the rich. Incredibly sad, but I'm glad we were able to see it before it's destroyed.

Land ahoy!

Coco's

Looking back towards the village 

We ignore the Coco "we are the cheapest on the island" spiel and find a $10 (for three of us!); literally a wooden hut on the pier; with two double-beds. For the second night we wanted to splash out $35 on a tree house, but they were all booked up. The next few days are spent relaxing in the big egg seats, floating in the hot sea, enjoying the amazing Coco beach BBQ (and going back to enjoy it again, and again) with some Klang beers and staring at the billions of brilliant stars and distant thunderstorms in the sky.

Epic BBQ

Epic relaxing

 

Distant storms

I'm not a huge beach person; I get bored so easily. Beaches for me normally involve some kind of physical activity; I can't sit and relax for long. I loved this beach so much, because for the first time in my life I actually enjoyed beach relaxing! The absolute peace and quiet of it put me in a trance and hours went past doing happily nothing. My favourite favourite moment was waking at 5:30am for the sunrise. Me, Talitha, sea & sky.

 
I hope development is halted and beauty kept for dribbles of future tourists to see. Do people really want to go to huge expensive resorts, fighting for beach space, when you can stay on an almost deserted island for $10 a night? It makes no sense to me.

I would just like to add this picture of the little dog (Gremlin) that was rescued from the mainland by the paradise staff;

Cute??

Mui Ne, Vietnam

Off the bus from Na Trang (shudder) and before finding our hostel we spot a delicious looking little German owned cafe called Sinhbad (I think the spelling is purposely incorrect?). Chicken shish kebabs - yes please! Over the next few days we devour three of these, washed down with an iced coffee.

While eating my kebab I notice that my TSA number padlock is open and hanging on for dear life. On closer inspection I can see that a TSA unlock key has been used, these are only normally issued to airports for bag inspections, so they don't have to break your lock, but I'm sure you can buy them on the interweb. So, someone's opened it between Na Trang (shudder) and Mui Ne. Thing is this lock doesn't do anything, it merely clips onto the top of my bag in transit and I use it for lockers in hostels, and nothing is missing from the bag. I've heard stories of people sitting in the bus holds, rummaging through peoples bags, and the buses sometimes stop frequently with people fussing around the bus. The bus was run by the less than popular Cuc Tung travel agency (see my last post).

Dorm

We stay at the Mui Ne backpackers (Vietnam Austria house). A pleasant mini-resort with dorm's and rooms on various levels. It has a nice pool and backs right onto the beach, although a recent storm had destroyed the sea wall, and workmen were back and forwards fixing it. In the dorm we met some nice people (apart from the mute (ignorant) French guy who had a girl in top bunk with him). A man with a remote control pops his head around the door and switches the dorm A/C off at 8am, then back on at 5pm, leaving you sweltering if you're inside during the day.

Storm damage

Mui Ne is kite-surfing crazy! There must be a million kite-surfing schools here. There are 50 or so kites on the water at one time when we were there, but in high season there can be as many as 300! The wind is consistently solid which is a nice distraction from the heat. Oddly enough Mui Ne also has a myriad of mega-resorts, mostly Russian. Not really the kind of place kite-surfers (or backpackers) would, or could afford to, stay. This leaves you feeling like Mui Ne has an identity crisis. You can walk up and down the beach, but you can't sit on any of the loungers, as they're all resort owned (I got moved on several times). So all I did was go to the beach early (6:30am) for a tan top-up, a run and a swim, then hide from the sun for the rest of the day! (I still got very sunburned)

One day we took a tour. What might be the bargain of the century. For $8 a classic Russian (ex-Vietnam war) jeep picks you up and takes you to the fairy stream, to the white sand dunes then to the red sand dunes. Doesn't sound like much but there's big distances involved. A grand day out, returning at 6pm. Note: you have to pay extra for sand-sledges or quad-bikes. I took tons of pictures so I'll stop waffling and post some;

Fairy stream

Amazing colours and quicksand

Floating

Into the clouds

Sunset over the red sand dunes

Russian jeep

A group of us have a couple of nice nights out; one at Joes next door (which has never ever closed since opening) and one at a highly rated local curry house, Ganesh, which was truly delicious (and spicy), and my first dip back into a curry since purposely detoxing from India! Oh and talking of Ganesh I ripped my Ganesh t-shirt, on the shoulder, pulling my rucksack up, so *fanfare*, I bought a new one - finally! It's more of a polo shirt, brown, Lacoste, but it's an overdue addition to the smarter end of my "wardrobe".