Kicking back on Koh Rong island

My daughter had been in Cambodia for the previous month as part of her gap year and one of the reasons we were in the country was to meet up with her. We decided to meet on Koh Rong island in the south of the country and 3 hours drive from the capital. There are multiple ferries departing from Sihoukville to the island and its smaller sister Koh Rong Sanloen, time your journey  well as Sihoukville is a town that hasn’t recovered post Covid. We got the fast speedboat which took 45 minutes and cost 30 usd return. Make sure you get the right destination though - we needed to go to Sok San pier. 

Life on Koh Rong is simple and relaxing. We stayed at the Golden Beach Resort on Sok San beach which is airy, with two pools and a number of villa types. We walked out of the hotel, and down a few steps onto the white sand and shallow sea. When we got tired of that we read our books by one of the two swimming pools, or went out on the hotel's paddle board or kayaks. The local Khmer village which we were on the edge of is a typical traditional rural place. We ate a few times at  The three brothers which was good and cheap for rice and noodles, and at our hotel some nights too. A walk to the Panorama bar at the end of the village looking straight out to sea hit the spot for sundowners. 

There are numerous hotels and hostels around the island, and one 5 star hotel. Pick carefully as some beaches are noisy and loud, some are incredibly quiet. We had to go to Kaoh Touch, the main hub for a phone shop and it was very much not our scene. However it you were a gap year backpacker on a tight budget it might have been ideal, though I would still have chosen somewhere else !