The day started with the gluttonous buffet at the resort, again. Husband and I then spent the morning on the beach before we packed for our next destination. Though our sleep schedules align with the elderly, I felt entirely out of our element throughout our stay at Sohka Beach Resort, where the guests were mostly early retirees happy to spend their days by the pool and nights at the casino, eschewing the beach and culture in favor of the safety and ease of the resort. I was ready to move onto our next adventure: Koh Rong Island, famous as the home to both the 31st and 32nd season of Survivor, for those remaining diehard fans (of which Husband and I are now two).
We experienced the rest of Sihanoukville by day on our long tuk tuk ride, away from the tourist trap main strip towards Royal Pier, the local fishing port where we were to meet our “ferry”. On either side of the pier was a series of handmade boats tied together and double parked, all inter-connected by rickety wooden (i.e., death) planks. Our tuk tuk driver directed us to our boat and after Husband made several trips back and forth the death planks to drop off our bags on boat, we headed to the nearby stalls to stock up on cheap bottled water for the next few days. The local stalls smelled strongly of banana flavoring, yet there were no bananas in sight, but we were successful in finding two cases of water. When we returned, we were told that the first boat had unknown mechanical problems and would not be moving that day. Instead we were transferred to a second boat, Husband again making several harrowing journeys with our luggage and newly purchased cases of water across the plank. We departed soon after aboard Boat No. 2.
The ride lasted between two and three hours on the calmest seas – flat as a lake. On the boat, we met some of our travelers – including a group of young Australians who were stopping at the resort before ours, a family of four from Texas who were taking the year off to travel, and other assorted folks traveling in ones and twos who were to be the only other guests at Lonely Beach. For the last part of the journey, we rode up on the top deck of the boat, which was little more than the roof with an extra awning that helped keep the most intense part of the sun off of you. We skirted along the coast of Koh Rong, trying to spy the Lonely Beach bungalows around each bend. After dropping off the first group of Australians, our boat traveled the final 45 minutes up along the coast of Koh Rong before anchoring where if you knew where to look, you could just catch a glimpse of the bungalows that were hidden back amongst the palms. Two small tenders puttered out from the beach to greet us – one to take the people and the other to take the luggage. Upon getting to shore, we were greeted with delicious iced tea, an explanation of the place, and shown our private bungalow. We lucked out with our open view from Bungalow No. 8, which was set back about 100 yards from the beach and where we could look out over the water through a few sparse palm trees. The bungalow was equipped with three big windows and an attached porch with a hammock and rocking chair. Inside there was a queen sized bed with a simple mattress, blanket, pillows and mosquito net, a desk, and hooks to hang all of your beach clothes on. While there were solar powered lights in the bedroom, bathroom, and deck, there was no running water and the toilet and shower were bucket-based. Simple, but everything you need for a few days at the beach. We were about 200 yards from the common area of Lonely Beach which acted as front desk, restaurant, library, bar, and game room. It was a cozy open air place with large tables and bean bags galore to have your dinner, play jenga, or just sit and read.
We settled in for an early-ish dinner on our first night and confirmed the food was delicious. After my success in choosing the yummy vegetable curry with tofu, I wanted to try everything offered during our short stay. As an aside, finding vegetables was difficult throughout our trip. There was fruit galore to be found nearly everywhere we went, but vegetables seemed an afterthought most times, so this meal won bonus points for its high veggie density. More bonus points because all the food had to be boated in from the mainland. Bonus, bonus, bonus points for the very reasonable prices, when they could have charged you anything they wanted since this restaurant provide the only available.
Maybe I was just famished? I have strong positive memories associated with this particular meal.
Then it was time for my favorite part of any day: sunset. The tide was way out and there was thousands of crabs scampering up and down the beach. We swam out into the warm, shallow water to watch the sun go down and escape the “mosquito hour”, which prior to then I had never done. I was always told that sharks were most active at sunset and that was enough to keep me out of the water at feeding time, but at Koh Rong we were promised that there were no hungry sharks prowling.
We survived for another day.
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