We hadn't seen the sea for three months, so we were in a hurry to go there again for a little dive! And to do so, we head for the island of Koh Rong, which is supposed to be a small piece of paradise 20 km off the Cambodian coast.
The island is not very big. We arrive after 2 hours by boat on the main beach where all the guest-houses are located. At first sight, there are people but it's not yet too much rush and there are small restaurants that look nice (but the prices are also nice). We are optimistic and we leave bags on our backs to see the price of the bungalows a little further on the beach. The prices are only increasing and by the end of the beach we could have a bungalow for $70 a night! Well, we turned around and it doesn't matter, we'll sleep in the centre where there's a little more noise.
The goal of being on an island like this is to do nothing, and for once we respected our program pretty well! At the same time, transparent water and white sand do not aspire to anything else.
LONG BEACH
The long beach of Koh Rong is on the other side of the corner at the guest-houses. To get there, you can either take the boat or walk along a small path that crosses the island. It takes an hour to get there, the path is nice, the distance is not huge but sometimes it is steep and at the end we end up abseiling.
But the walk is worth it, after having passed the work, you arrive on a 7km long beach with white sand as far as the eye can see and water more blue than ever. Quite frankly, we've never seen such transparent water and it was great.
The only negative point to make no secret of it is that the island was rented for 99 years to Chinese people to develop it into a "tourist area". As a result, they have planned to build a road that goes all around the island at a time when there is only sand and there are works everywhere. At the beginning of the long beach, they razed hectares of trees and are building a hotel. In short, when you are at the beach, look at the sea and not behind you!
A DAY BY BOAT
February 23rd was Marttin's birthday. So we decided to do an afternoon boat trip around the island always accompanied by Christine and Mickaël. We start with a snorkeling outing around a small island in front of Koh Rong Beach. The water is always very transparent, which allows Anne to see the seabed and fish without going into the water.
The boat then takes the road back to Long Beach where we stop for an hour to fish for our evening meal. The fishing wasn't very fruitful for us but the guys on the boat mastered it and went up to the fish every minute.
Then we head to the beach, where we will have the opportunity to swim in the translucent water as the sun began to set. We then get back on the boat to enjoy a small barbecue prepared by our captains. On the menu rice, chicken and vegetable skewers and of course the fish caught a little earlier ! Then return to the beach to admire the sunset that we will have seen disappear behind a band of mist rather than on the sea.
Once night falls, the boat leaves until our next stop : the fluorescent planktons. At first, no one wants to go into the dark and everyone has a doubt about the visibility of the planktons. In the end, two people jumped into the water and were quickly joined by half the boat to swim with small fluorescent spots. The sun is down, it's a little cooler now on the boat but the guys have the solution : they turn on the lights and turn on the music to warm up the atmosphere!
The evening continued with a cocktail and a good pizza for Martin's birthday! We had a great day!
Our stopover in Koh Rong was shorter than expected but we enjoyed relaxing on the white sandy beach. For once we think we arrived on time because in a few years the island will be completely adapted and denatured for tourism... However, as everywhere in Cambodia we regret the lack of cleanliness of the place. Cambodians really have a problem with environmental education and garbage is in control everywhere. Moreover, it hurts the heart to see them throw their waste directly into the sea....
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