Our final week in Cambodia was spent on Koh Rong, a 3 hr boat ride from Sihanoukville. We stayed in a small bungalow on the far side of the island at Lonely Beach, a very quiet beach resort with 40-50 guests and no electricity (solar LED lights only).
Lonely Beach Resort was a really interesting place to stay. One of the owners, Danny from Strasbourg, has lived in SE Asia for over 20 years, and first travelled around SE Asia in the late 80s, same as me. We both lamented how it was better then (in some ways). The other interesting thing was they had around 8 ‘workaway‘ volunteers working there, helping with the restaurant, bar, and garden. They were all in their 20’s, and really fun/interesting to talk to. There was also a English couple who spent 5 years in a VW Van traveling around Central and South America. They had lots of really great stories that made me want to spend some time in South America.
We did quite a bit of snorkeling, which was not as good as places like Hawaii or Belize, but still pretty good. Besides the usual coral reef creatures, we got to see giant clams (6-15 inches) and giant sea worms called “Bobbit worms” that were 2-3 ft long and about 1/2 inch around!
Besides snorkeling, we mostly laid around and read. One day we walked about 1 hr across the island to a small fishing village and did a cooking class with Mr Hun, which we recommend if you find yourself at Lonely Beach.
On our way on to Myanmar we spent a night at Sihanoukville, an odd town with a odd history. Currently there is lots of construction, lots of Chinese casinos, and lots of expats. It seems to be changing very fast, and locals seem concerned.
A small collection of photos are here.
