I spent 3 days and 2 nights on Koh Rong at Sok San Beach Resort, and absolutely loved it! This was one of the most stunning beaches I’ve ever been to. The sand was white, so fine (like sugar!), and the water was crystal clear even when you weren’t able to stand anymore.
After landing to Sihanoukville International Airport, I directly booked a Taxi from the airport to the Sihanoukville city. Sok San Beach Resort which is located on Koh Rong Island, is almost 46 km from Sihanoukville International Airport. The Sihanoukville city isn’t developed at all. You get to see poor constructed buildings, Before reaching to the Son San Beach Resort, I had to wait in the port which starts around 4:30 pm from there. The resort waiting lounge was located approximately 15 minutes from Sihanoukville main centre.They had a very cool waiting area available with clean bathrooms and vending machines. I found it very welcoming. Got a secure wifi connection in the waiting lounge of the pier. They took my passport and made me fill a form before on boarding me to the speedboat. The details they took was actually for checking-in in the Sok San Beach resort. Sok San Beach Resort has its own three personal fleet of speedboats for both pick up and The Drop-Off, on the mainland, directly to their resort in an hour. So getting there wasn’t a chore…
After arriving to Koh Rong Island, I was awestruck by seeing the beauty of the island. It was like a paradise which was offering access to a white sandy beach, the blue sea waves calling the blue sky and waiving the orange sun good bye. The kids playing volleyball, couples enjoying the waves together.
The Sok San Beach Resort attributes wooden bungalows with a thatched roof and free WiFi which is way slower than expected.If you wish to watch Netflix on your vacation here then please download all your favourite programmes. The wifi there is just manageable for WhatsApp texts and no other social networking sites. It’s a best way to escape from the messages on your vacation and can have a good quality time in the resort. The resort has an open-air lounge, a restaurant and a bar, all facing the sea.Each accommodation is fitted with a private balcony and a private bathroom with shower facilities and toiletries.At Sok San Beach Resort there is a shared lounge area. During my stay, I went for a massage service which was available at an affordable price and I also enjoyed activities such as fishing or cooking with the locals there.
The room had an exotic view of the sea from my bedroom door with a comfortable bed, nice shower, good water pressure, and for me, this was all I needed. I spent most of my time relaxing on the beach, and participated in the Sunset yoga and a few volleyball games. Well this island is roughly 80% uninhabited so you will still see a very raw, natural place. Almost all the food, supplies, and utilities come from the mainland.
I didn’t really enjoy the breakfast because they didn’t have much option for vegetarians The chefs were not ready to make the same non vegetarian egg fried rice to a vegetarian fried rice, I mean without the egg. It was nice to see a relaxing beach, far from crowd while dinning and also found the dinner to be affordable there. I had some dinner at the resort, and some outside in the village, and found the prices to be similar.
SNORKELLING
The first day I went for snorkelling by contacting the locals there since the resort didn’t have snorkelling on Saturdays and I left for snorkelling around 9:05 am with two small local kids who didn’t understand much of English and reached to the deep sea in 30 minutes. The water was crystal clear. After arriving to the snorkelling point, I wore the snorkelling equipments and got down in the water to snorkel. It was so deep that I can see the fishes and jelly fish and corals from top. I was scared at starting but later I got confidence and just started swimming. One kid there was super active, He jumped, dived, swam and played with me. After an hour of snorkelling, I came up on the boat and realised that I hurt my finger and it was bleeding so we started heading towards my resort.
After reaching the resort I contacted in the reception and they got me first aid, cleaned my wound and applied lotion and a band aid on it. Although I got so dirty and hurt because of the salty water and the corals but still it was a nice experience!
KAYAKING NEAR MANGROVES
After the snorkelling experience, I played on the sand for sometime and then got ready for the next activity which was Kayaking from the river to the connecting sea.So, for this I rented a kayak for 2 hours and I got to experience Kayaking in both river and the sea. I wore my life jacket and started sailing with my guide.
He told me to hold the paddle and I was bit scared as I don’t know how to paddle so he explained me that I don’t have to be a kayak pro to manage in these waters as their pretty calm and I don’t need to head too far out in the sea in order to find adventure.He was a local and he kept telling me so many stories on the way. He was a very soft spoken guy who explained me about the Mangrove trees and also which one is male and which one is female.
After reaching the last river point of the Kayaking and the starting of Koh Rong 4-K Beach. The water was too shallow so we both got down there and I clicked few pictures of that place. I got to see a Hermit crab in the sea. There I tried to paddle there since the water wasn’t that deep.
Initially I thought I can’t move it as the paddle was very tough to move and so I kept on playing with it and realised that the Kayak started moving towards the deep sea. I got so scared and started screaming for help. He came laughing and helped me getting down from there. After relaxing there for 30 minutes, we headed back to our resort. I have experienced Kayaking in so many places but trust me this experience was very new and peaceful to me.
PLANKTON
Koh Rong Beach resort had this Plankton view everyday. Although this phenomenon is abundant on the islands, the glowing plankton can only be seen in places with very little light pollution. And Cambodia is still developing. Its a very dark place with no street lights on the road. There were total 15 people visiting the Plankton Beach. So, we started around 7pm from the resort. They took us on a Jeep and the road was full of stones and it was completely an unpaved road. The roads were so dark with no street lights. But it was a fun experience. I found it adventurous. And getting into the beach place we were told to take off our shoes and keep the belongings on the grass. Imagine night time with no shoes and there were few people who got swimming costumes to swim and then we got inside the water.
And I got to see a sparkling like a starry sky all around you, Koh Rong’s bioluminescent plankton are a wonderful sight to behold at night times. The only problem with the plankton’s is that its difficult to capture them in cameras. I tried so hard to capture the planktons. Urghhhh… I couldn’t and gave up. So, I thought of enjoying the moment and kept on playing with the plankton there. So many people were swimming but I would like to say that please do not actually swim with the plankton. However its sounds really exotic and thrilling to swim at night with the planktons on your body but is not as safe as people make it out to be. For one thing, you are in a tropical environment, with jelly fish, octopuses, and other sea creatures that come out hunting when it’s dark.
NIGHT IN SIHANOUKVILLE
My resort didn’t have any nightlife so I had to go to a new beach area to see the nightlife of Koh Rong. I reached the Police beach and heard the disco songs playing. So I started dancing deep house/techno/psy trance all night long bare feet on the sand, and was immediately next to the sea.
I saw great psychedelic decorations and lights, especially the visual light art on the mask over the DJ booth was great.I stayed till the sunrise at it is the perfect end of a perfect night! The place was eco friendly. The pubs in that place kept beautiful girls to host the customers and the men kept on flirting with them. Soon at 1 pm the nearby food stalls all started shutting only the pubs were open till morning and even if you ask for a juice they will get you an alcohol. I saw so many dogs barking in the beach. Few restaurants had set up fire show which was quite entertaining. The fire show was being performed by the locals of the village.
I left the Son San Beach resort at 8 pm after having my breakfast as I used their transfer service and it was more convenient and less of a hassle.
WAT LEU TEMPLE- Buddhist Temple
Before leaving Sihanoukville city, I thought of visiting Wat Leu Temple and take some blessings from Lord Buddha. The place was really nicely drawn and decorated in the praying hall. A nice & clean environment in Sihanoukville so far I experienced.
I realised that plethora of Khmer people come here for praying compared to Wat Krom (Lower Temple). The Wat Krom temple was built to dedicate to the local deity Yeah Mao and because it is a holly place they have many rules and regulations to be followed like the women can’t touch the monks, you cannot wear shoes, you are not supposed to point towards the monks and Buddha statues and many more.
You can also have the city view when go up to the floor which is also a way to Museum. The setting is so super beautiful, wild and bliss filled, encrusted 360°with wilderness, monkeys swinging from the trees and raw nature in pure abundance. I also saw so many cats purring. You can also see the top of the mountain, with awesome daybreak and sunsets. If you go to the left side of the Buddha temple you see a small Chinese temple which looks so powerful and pious. I felt some really positive energy in that place. Well it was a pure luxury away from the hustle and bustle of the beach front madness and noise. For sure well worth a visit every time!
Overall I had an amazing stay there. I especially had great conversations with the massage therapists. They were well trained and highly professional.The Check in/out processes was easy, and the staff were all extremely accommodating and friendly.
“Cambodia is not a crime……The world is diminished by the experience”
This was my opinion and experience in Sihanoukville of Cambodia. So if you liked my content or if you have any queries regarding Cambodia then please feel free to drop by on the comment section below! I would be really happy to help 🙂