Koh Rong is the more popular island out of the two islands that share the name. Koh Rong Sanloem is a beautiful place, but it's more rustic than Koh Rong. Koh Rong has more infrastructure like electricity, and it's more popular with tourists. The island had a Spring Break vibe that was a little too much for me, so I didn't stay long.
This is going to be a short post because I only have 3 photos and 1 story from this island.
I arrived in Koh Rong by ferry. The ferry only goes in one direction. It goes mainland->Koh Rong Sanloem->Koh Rong->mainland. So if you plan on visiting, it's better to plan on visiting Sanloem before Koh Rong.
After arriving on the island, I found a room and it shared a wall with a nigh club that played the same terrible pop songs over and over all day and night. One of the songs was that one with the hook that goes "Now you're just somebody that I used to know". It's not a bad song, but after hearing it 30 times in the middle of the night, I'm not a fan.
One side note, I'm a huge fan of the show Survivor. While I was here, Survivor was filming Survivor: Cambodia in the area. Unfortunately, I didn't see any of the crew or the filming location. It was still cool to know that when the show aired, I could brag about being there when it was filmed.
While on the island, I saw a sign for "Plankton tour! $8". It sounded awesome! I loved how the plankton lit up at the last island, and I really wished I had a mask so I could see them under water. I asked about it, and they said the boat would take me to a dark area and would provide a mask and snorkel. I left a down payment to reserve my spot! I was sure a deal this good would fill up fast!
The guy told me to come back after dark and I did. After I arrived, he brought me out to the water and called one of the fishermen who was hanging out. We got into his fishing boat and drove directly out into the middle of the ocean.
It was pitch black out and the only light on the boat was a little flashlight that the driver held in his mouth. On the boat it was just me and the fisherman. He stopped the boat, waved his hand in the water to make some sparkles, then pointed at the water and made gestures for me to go in.
We were in the middle of nowhere, in the deep ocean. There was no land in sight. I wasn't feeling good about it, but I figured I'd paid my hard-earned $8, so I might as well get my money's worth. I jumped in the water and the plankton was weak compared to the other island. There was only a few sparkles. I sucked compared to the other island. The boat didn't have a mask either, which was the whole reason why I wanted the tour. I was in the water for about 30 seconds and I looked up at the boat and it was already about 10 feet away. The current in the ocean was rapidly pushing the boat away from me!
"Fuck this!" I franticly swam for the boat. I wasn't confident that the fisherman could find me with his tiny flashlight if we got too far apart. I swam for the boat and it felt like it kept getting further and further away. Finally I caught up to it. I clawed and scrambled into the boat and pointed at the shore. This was probably one of the dumbest things I'd done on the trip.
I got back to land and was pissed about the "plankton tour", but I was more pissed at myself than at the guy selling the tours. I'm pretty sure there are real plankton tours that go to dark coves with land nearby. They cost more, but they're probably worth it.
That night I tried to sleep as corny pop music blared through the wall. In the morning I went to the pier and waited for the ferry back to the mainland.
I think Koh Rong is actually a pretty cool island. If you're looking for more of a party place, this is definitely it. If you're OK with spending a little more money, there looked to be some cool places to stay and cool activities to do. I was being super cheap with my money and my experience on the island suffered for it.
Luckily my next stop was awesome! I had 8 days to kill before I could go to Vietnam, and I found a great place to spend the time. Kep really suited my preferences. My next post will be about Kep and some of the surrounding area.
