Travel in Cambodia breakdown part II - Koh Rong
Hey, the point of this post series is to share my travel experience and provide some tips that help you plan a better trip.
Basic information:
- 15 -19th November 2017
- 4-day stay
- 200$ budget
Basic prices:
- Bottled water 0.5 - 1$
- Diner 3 - 6$
- Draft beer 1$ - 1.5$
- Return Farry to Koh Rong 20$
How to go to Koh Rong
To go to Koh Rong you first have to come to Sihanoukville. We took an overnight bus from Siem Reap.
Hotel bus
First tip:
- Don't go on a bus on a full moon go on a fool moon party they are legendary in Asia!
The best way is to take a sleeper bus overnight (not on a full moon). The ride takes around 12 hours and costs around 14$.
If you're not on a budget you can also fly to Sihanoukville but this will cost you around 120$ + added baggage if you're not traveling light.
Bus from Siem Reap:
- Oneway ticket 14$
- Travel time around 12h
Sihanoukville is a really touristic city by the sea, with a nice beach and good street food. We spent one easygoing morning there while waiting for our boat to Koh Rong.
At first, it looks that there a lot of different options and companies to go to Koh Rong or Koh Rong Salome, but in truth, they're mostly the same with different departure times.
If you're in a hurry and don't want to spend some time in Sihanoukville, try to book a boat in advance. But if you don't mind walking around and waiting for a boat just go to the counter at the Serendipity Pier in Sihanoukville and book your ticket.
Buy an open return ticket it should cost around 20$. Open ticket means that you can go back at any time you just have to go the office one day in advance to reserve your seat on one of the bots for the way back. The trip will take between 45 - 70 minutes it depends on the wheater and they're not always on time.
Ferry Sihanoukville to Koh Rong:
- Open return ticket 20$
- Travel time 45 - 70 minutes
The ferry will first stop on Koh Rong Salome an then go on to Koh Rong. Koh Rong Salome is a smaller and more easy going island in comparison with the bigger and more party orientated island.
Yes, we made it to Koh Rong!
The main and most popular destination on Koh Ron is Koh Touch.
Koh Touch is the perfect mixture of easygoing a high active place. If you feel like partying you can do that and if you would like to just lay back and read a book it's fine too. The island has no roads. That means almost no traffic noise which is quite a luxury in Asia.
We stayed in Easy Guest House nice wooden cottages right next to the beach. A popular place to stay is also Monkey island which was already full when we arrived there.
Accommodation Easy Guest House:
- 4 people cottage 32$/night (1 person/8$)
What to do on Koh Rong?
Fishing trip 20$:
We went on a fishing trip with some friends we met, it was one of the best things we did! It included a barbecue of the fish we caught overlooking a beautiful sunset. You can read more about the trip here: https://steemit.com/travel/@zalb/prfect-fishing-trip-in-koh-rong-cambodia
Pub crawl 8$:
Koh Rong is well known for its pub crawl. Basically, the whole town of Koh Touch goes out and has a blast.
Full day boat trip (Adventure Adam) 25$:
Adventure Adam is an ECO agency that organizes really nice tours. We went on the one day trip. More information on the link below:
http://www.adventureadam.org/
Where to eat?
There is a lot of good restaurants with fresh sea food. But if I have to pick one I would really recommend that you go to Zigi's.
Zigi's:
Noodles to curry 4 - 6$
It's a one men band restaurant. Zigi is a chef who works in some of the best Asian restaurants in New York. Now he came back and opened this small restaurant that he makes everything by himself. It's really a pleasure to watch him cook your noodles you can immediately see that he's not doing this for money but because he just loves to cook!
Koh Rong was definitely one of my favorite places I've ever been. I highly recommend going here if you ever find yourselves in Cambodia. A 4day stay here went by very fast, could imagine myself staying here for a week or two. But you better hurry because large corporations are already buying land on the island with big resorts and casinos in mind.
You can also read part I (Siem Reap) of my travel in Cambodia here: https://steemit.com/travel/@zalb/travel-in-cambodia-breakdown-part-i-siem-reap
I hope it helps you plan a better trip and avoid some mistakes I did ;).
Feel free to comment below if you have some additional questions or different experiences.
Nice trip! Surprisingly sleeper bus looks much better than in Laos :). Have visited other countries in southeast asia? Been there few months ago, but i didn't make it to Cambodia. I will write about it some time soon, so pay me a visit @wbucko if are interested in checking my experiences. ;) Upvoted!
Hey!
This was a part of a bigger trip in Indochina. I've been to Vietnam before going to Cambodia, but haven't made it to Laos. Looking forward to your posts! @wbucko
Planning to write about Vietnam in the future. Stay tuned :)!
Similar here - but for me it was Thailand - Laos - Vietnam trip. Very interested in how you liked Vietnam. I will check that for sure later! ;)
Owe some Place I wish to go to this place for holidays love itðŸ‘🻠@zalb
@tieuhong It really is a magical place!
Nice view
Additional S'Ville travel tip: Take a taxi. A share taxi costs about the same as your bus ticket and is generally much faster. A whole taxi to yourself isn't unreasonably expensive either, and affords a bit more comfort.
Thanks for the extra tip! @secondstar Have you also been traveling in Cambodia?
I lived there for 3 years (moved back to the US about 3 years ago). Had an apt in PP and SV both and made that run quite a bit. If you're in SV still, check out Shooter's bar up on the hill and tell Shane that Denny sent you. ;-)
Damn good guys up there.
Nah, sadly I'm already back in Slovenia. But maybe next time!