Amidst confusion whether to visit an island in monsoon season and several positive recommendations about the exceptional beauty of Koh Rong – I finally made up my mind and boarded the 10:40am Cambodian train from Kampot Train station to Sihanoukville.
One can conveniently book a Grab TukTuk in Kampot – the journey to train station from my hostel (Onederz Kampot) hardly took 10-15 minutes and was quite economical (1$). In fact, everything is cheaper in Cambodia compared to Thailand and Vietnam.
The reason I had chosen to travel by train to Sihanoukville was my desire to experience the train journey in Cambodia, as well as, I wanted to see the landscapes around Kampot (which can’t be viewed properly from a bus compared to a train).
How to travel to Koh Rong from Kampot
Two options – DIY – taxi, train and speed boat – I chose this. – More fun but less convenient.
Second option – Book complete ride from your hostel – Minivan to Sihanoukville and speed boat to Koh Rong – Hassle free
All in all, it took me $1 for reaching Kampot train station, $6 for the train ticket, another $2 for the grab to reach the port in Sihanoukville and $14 for the speed boat ticket – total $23 which was the same price the hostel was charging for minivan+speedboat (minivan shared ride to Sihanoukville and speed boat to Koh Rong) option. You might very well choose it, as it will be convenient and hassle free.
Royal Railway Cambodia
I purchased the ticket after reaching the train station for 6$ (AC and luxurious). The station was very cute, however it was underdeveloped and it was giving a retro feel of yesteryears railway stations. The rail line was very narrow probably a meter gauge or even narrower than that. One mood spoiler happened – my train arrived an hour late from its scheduled time of 10:40am. The train was cute and the compartments were really upscale and comfortable. The train only had four compartments and I stepped inside and I took one of the window seats. I wanted to find out how the landscape looked around Kampot, which had been amazing so far when I was doing a bike ride to Bokor mountains and a road trip to Kep.
The train journey started and I took a seat just a couple of rows behind the driver’s cabin. I could see the view from the front as well from the side of the train. The landscape was wonderful – all the way from Kampot to Sihanoukville – the mixture of planes and mountains. Add to the mix, the beautiful colors that Cambodian skies somehow bring to the pictures every time – it was breathtaking all along.
The train jourey took around 2 hours which was memorable. The railway station in Sihanoukville looked rather worn out and appeared like an old factory warehouse.
Boat ride – Sihanoukville to Koh Rong
I had speculated on the port from which speed boats ply to Koh Rong and I was correct – it was Sihanoukville Autonomous Port. I booked a Grab auto which costed me around a couple of dollars. My plan was to take a normal boat (not the speed boat) to Koh Rong Island (which I had read on the internet would take only $5). There’s no central ticket counter at the port and each company has their own office – there are like 20 different offices. A good thing is – there is a big 7-Eleven store as well as ATM facilities at the port which one would be best advised to use in case you’re running short of cash. Koh Rong only accepts cash payments. I assume that the high profile resorts would be accepting card payments but more often than not, you would be needing cash on the island.
I realized there is no slow boat option from that particular pier and somebody told me that it goes from a different pier (Pier 52). I later found out there is only one slow boat option at 2pm and it takes around 3 hours to reach the island. It was already 2pm by the time I was doing all this inquiry. So, I had to take the speed boat ($14 for one way and $25 for a return trip with an option of open return date).
I would say the speed boats are not of great quality. It just does the job – there’s no rooftop area where you can go and enjoy the the view (unlike speed boats in Indonesia). Basic chairs all around.
Choice b/w Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem
One noteworthy thing is – there are two islands – Koh Rong, the main island and the smaller Koh Rong Sanloem. Koh Rong is more developed with more accommodation options whereas Koh Rong Sanloem, I believe is slightly less developed but it is probably more beautiful or more preserved I should say.
I wanted to go to Koh Rong because I wanted a mix of nature and convenience – you know, a handful of options one should have when it comes to eating and staying. Hence, I chose Koh Rong this time.
Koh Touch Beach, Koh Rong
After 40 minutes of sailing through the waters, the boat stopped at the first stop which was Long Set Beach on the Koh Rong Island. The beach looked glorious from the boat, however from my research I had found out that Koh Touch (which was going to be the second and last stop) was more busy and it has several options when it came to staying and food. In my mind, I had decided to stay on Koh Touch beach. I stayed put in the boat whilst almost everyone got down at Long Set Beach (I was later going to realise that not getting down here was going to be a huge mistake, keep reading for more on this).
The boat continued sailing for another 15 minutes to reach Koh Touch docking pier. I got down – it was very busy and noisy with lots of shops cramped up in a very small area. The beach was beautiful in parts – once you move about 300m away from the docking area towards the Northern side – you could see white sandy beach and it looked very scenic.
Villa Koh Rong Guesthouse
Now came the difficult part of zeroing down on accommodation option – I had shortlisted a couple of places on booking.com – there was a tent stay but due to monsoons I didn’t choose to stay there. The second option was Villa Koh Rong Guest House. I walked up to the place – it was very close to the pier. Tariff was $5 for a dorm bed and $8 for the private room. It was basic and clean – it did the job and it had hot water as well. I immediately paid for two nights which was going to be my complete stay on the island due to time constraints.
By the time I checked into Villa Koh Rong guest house, it was already 5:00 pm. I got freshened up and stepped out to have a stroll on the beach by the sunset. Very quickly, I realised that sunset can’t be viewed from this beach as it is east facing – which was a bit of mood spoiler for me 😦
I strolled on the white beach, which is located right next to the Koh Touch beach. All the recommendations that I had received about Koh Rong Island were indeed proving to be true – the sand was indeed white and the beach was picturesque – to put things into perspective I hadn’t yet seen the other areas of this island – so far so good. Fingers crossed 🙂
Day 2
The plan for the next day was to rent a motorbike and roam around the island. There is a road which runs near the beaches all around the island – my plan was to cover that. It was almost 11:00am when I started the motorbike. Bike rental costs $10 per day which includes a tank full of gasoline which would be more than enough to cover the island.
I planned to start driving northwards & counterclockwise and I had planned to have four stops – Long Set Beach where I would be having my lunch, then I would go to Coconut Beach, Lonely Beach and finally I would go to Sok San beach (which is very near to Long Beach). I planned to spend my sunset at Long Beach and come back a full circle to my guest house in Koh Touch.
Dreadful bike ride between Koh Touch and Long Set
My guest house owner had told me that there is about a 500m long stretch of broken road between Koh Touch and Long Set on the east – as well as between Long Beach and Koh Touch on the west – I had thought it to be not a big deal. But when I started my bike – man oh man 😦 – it felt as if one is driving on the rocks. Long Set Beach is just 4 kms away from Koh Touch and it took me 40 minutes of real hard work to drive on those broken roads. The road was badly battered probably due to monsoons and one had to be really really careful driving bikes on that road. If you’re not an experienced rider, then you should be better advised to take a speed boat or the slow boat to travel to Long Set from Koh Touch. Tuktuks are available – a bit costly at 15$.
I was told that one could walk from Koah Touch to Long Set (40mins by walk). However later on somebody else told me that if one chooses to walk from Koah Touch to Long set – there is a small area where you might have to cross water – in the high tide, the water level can be high enough to necessitate swimming. So, do your research properly before walking from Koh Touch to Long Set.
Long Set Beach – The perfect place to stay in Koh Rong
The moment I reached Long Set beach – I was mesmerised with its beauty. It was a sight taken straight out of postcards and movies. Very selective resorts, just a couple of hostels on either side of the walkway, just a handful of eateries and in front of your eyes – white sands with blue water. Even though it was cloudy – it looked magical – it is a perfect spot where we can lose all our troubles and worries that we carry from our daily lives and immerse in the beauty that is in the front of our eyes.
Stay options at Long Set – Onederz and Mad Monkey
There are two hostel options – Mad Monkey was the one I had seen on booking.com but due to poor reviews on booking I had rejected it. I had not realised that there is Onederz as well in Koh Rong. I had heard about Onederz at Koh Rong Sanloem but not at Koh Rong.
It seems Ko Rong Onederz was inaugurated just two weeks back and it didn’t show up in my booking.com research. At Mad Monkey, the dorms would be around $10 a night but at Onederz, it was only $5 a night. You can get private rooms as well but Onederz had only dorms operational at the time I visited.
Costly mistake of not staying at Long Set
I was regretting why didn’t I get down at Long Set yesterday when the speed boat had stopped here. I had also understood now why everyone got down here. I would say if you’re planning to go to Koh Rong, you must stay at Long Set Beach. This beach isn’t overdeveloped and you have just enough shops and eateries to have your needs met.
I wanted to shift to Long Set yesterday itself. However, the cost to do that was rather high and since I had just a couple of days at my disposal – I decided to stay at Koh Touch and travel to the other beaches on my bike. However at the time, I hadn’t realised that driving in Ko Rong isn’t going to be straight forward due to the almost non-existent roads. Lesson learnt – when at Koh Rong, stay at Long Set and enjoy this slice of paradise.
What was done was done and I thought to focus on the present. I had a nice relaxed lunch at Long Set whilst enjoying the beautiful scenery with silence and calmness.
Coconut Beach
After lunch, I got on my bike and started riding towards Coconut Beach. The route from Long Set to Coconut Beach is pretty good, the roads are well built and are in good condition.
Coconut Beach is a very small beach and just had two or three resorts. Staying there would be a very laid back experience. If that’s your thing, you can consider it. I didn’t get the feeling of proper beach destination over there.
Some random shots from the island today
Sok San Beach
I started riding again, this time towards Lonely Beach which was at the very north of the island. After driving for around 30-40 minutes, I reached a junction where I had to choose a detour for Lonely Beach or I could continue driving in a smaller route towards Sok San Beach. The drive from that junction to Lonely Beach was 10kms long (20kms return journey). It was already 4:00pm and since I had planned to catch the sunset at Long Beach, I skipped Lonely Beach and drove towards Sok San beach instead.
There are sign boards everywhere on the island and I followed the sign boards so far. However, I had to ask a few locals for the directions to Sok San beach. I ended up reaching at the extreme north of Sok San Beach where there was only one resort – Sok San Beach Resort. The beach was awesome, only thing to keep in mind is that you can’t see sunset from here as well due to the mountains nearby and only one staying option – Sok San Beach Resort is available here. The beach was however very lovely and secluded.
Long Beach – solitary sunset beach option in Koh Rong – Super Hit
Long Beach is very long 🙂 around 5 kms long, hence the name. I started riding towards Long Beach which is located adjacent to Sok San Beach. After driving for around 30 minutes, I finally reached Long Beach. All the efforts put into reaching here, was well worth it when I saw the beach. It was the perfect spot to see the sunset, although I was running low on luck and it was cloudy. I couldn’t see the sunset properly, however the beauty of the beach made up for it. White Sands Blue Waters – Picture Perfect.
Just one negative though – there was a bit of littering of plastic waste around. Somebody told me it came from the sea which could be true as well because there was hardly any public on that whole stretch.
I could see only 5 to 10 people in the complete view of 180 degrees. To my surprise, there was not a single resort in that whole stretch of 3-4 km, not a single eatery. I had planned to have a nice candle lit dinner over there but I was disappointed. It is a great camping spot though. I saw some people camping.
I have not seen such white sands in the backdrop of blue water in my entire life – Koh Rong is indeed the perfect beach destination.
Ride back to Koh Touch from Long Beach
After spending the sunset at Long Beach, I rode back to Koh Touch but not before encountering again a dreadful stretch of around 500m just before reaching. It was awful as hell but this stretch felt shorter than the broken area between Koh Touch and Long Set. Since it was dark already, it made my ride was even more difficult.
The locals are always so helpful here in Cambodia – they stole my heart all along my Cambodian Journey – there were a couple of ladies riding a bike, after seeing me struggle, they stopped and one of them offered me a ride and the other one offered to take my bike to the end of the broken road – I haven’t seen such warm and kind locals anywhere else in south east Asia.
I thought to keep trying myself and ultimately I was successful in taking the bike and myself 🙂 safely to my guest house in Koh Touch.
Long Set again
I went to my room and rested for a while. The plan afterwards was to explore the night life on the island – Mad Monkey is known to have great parties in Koh Rong. Probably that’s your best party destination or party spot if you are in Koh Rong.
This island is not a party destination like Gili or Phangan. So, you won’t find nightclubs here but there isn’t any shortage of laid back bars particularly in Koh Touch.
I got ready and rode to Long Set again, this time in the darkness of the night.
Jiji Koh Rong
I had dinner at the same place where I had lunch earlier today on Long Set – it was decent although they took a really long time – an hour to prepare my dinner. The place is known as Jiji Koh Rong. It is located almost at the end of the beach – so the views are of course amazing.
Mad Monkey
Mad Monkey has amazing fire shows everyday at 8:30pm and they have an event every night of the week. After I had dinner at Jiji, I went to Mad Monkey for checking the Koh Rong party vibes.
Mad Monkey was filled to the brim with inmates and visiting party people. Everyone seemed to have a great time. It is a great spot if you want to have a party or even if you want to hang out with your friends. If you prefer livelier and buzzing place then Mad Monkey is the place to go to when you’re in Koh Rong. I had a beer, chilled for a while and enjoyed the party before riding those dreadful 30 minutes one last time. I reached my place, luckily safe and sound even this time :).
Day 3 – Return back to Phnom Penh
Next morning, I checked out and planned to return back. One can directly buy the ticket at the pier. For the speed boat, the timings from the main pier are 9:30, 12:30 and 3:30 and 6:30 (four times a day). There is a second pier just next to it – the speed boat leaves from there at 10:15am. I took this boat and the sad part was that the boat was completely full with people when it reached Koh Touch. Probably it was coming from Long Set or Sihanoukville – I’m not sure but it was jam-packed.
After sailing for around 30 minutes, it stopped at Koh Rong Sanloem, where most of the people got down. It was a difficult day for me as it started to rain from the time I reached the pier in Koh Rong and kept on raining till evening (even in Sihanoukville). After reaching the Sihanoukville port, I booked a grab tuktuk to Giant Ibis bus office directly.
I took a bus from Giant Ibis Bus Company to Phnom Penh at 1:45pm. The bus journey was really fast – it took just 2.5hours to cover 210 kms (which was the only good thing that happened to me that day) to reach PP and costed me 17USD. Even the rain stopped and weather became clear by then.
Tales of a traveller 
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