The Rucksack Wanderer Secret Destinations:

Koh Rong, Cambodia

Vagabonding around Asia I’ve found amazing places that I don’t want to write about for magazines or newspapers, because too many people arriving at one time would spoil the atmosphere. Since I’m only just beginning to publish travel writing this doesn’t pose a huge dilemma, but it does sometimes feel limiting. After all, the faintest trails often lead to the most interesting stories.

I think Matador is an ideal forum for an underground travel wire. This online gathering is still small, but from the profiles I’ve seen the people here are exactly the sort of travelers who will appreciate this information and respect the places themselves. Personally, I find it amazing that I can sit here writing in an adobe hut in the foothills of the Himalaya and communicate with adventurers at all edges of the world. These are exciting times.

Let’s start with a warning: By definition, secret places are not easy to find. Some have no tourist infrastructure whatsoever. All are evolving, and many are on the verge of abrupt change, especially if the Matador audience is bigger than I estimate! I’ll do my best to give accurate information, but most of my description will be little more than basic directions. To reach these places, you’ll have to do more than just skim through this article, buy a plane ticket and make a hotel reservation. You’ll need patience, a good map, packaged food supplies and a quality my Grandfather would describe as gumption. If you’ve got Google Earth, go ahead and open it up.

The secret I’ll share in this inaugural article is the location of the most beautiful white sand beach I’ve found in Southeast Asia. The beach is on the Southwest side of Koh Rong, a large island off the coast of Cambodia. There is no regular transport to Koh Rong and no infrastructure on the beach at the moment, although a man from Finland is in the process of building bungalows at the southern tip, next to a burly Alaskan who lives in a sort of gorilla nest at the top of a sea pine.

Koh Rong Island is shaped like a dumbbell. The narrow section in the middle is flat, but the ends are mountainous and covered in thick, creeping jungle. There are a few fishing villages on the island but no roads, so the amazing beach is only accessible by boat. I chartered a long-tail boat from a village called “Baingon” on the Southwestern tip of Koh Rong, where the chief will put foreigners up in his attic. I felt lucky to find a local student who spoke enough English to arrange a boat charter, but unlucky when the long-tail motor cut out in open water.

The beach stretches in a gentle curve for about 4 miles. The Finn and the Alaskan are at one end, and there is a fishing village at the other, where you can buy basic supplies. A few shacks are set amidst coconut plantations in back of the beach. One of these houses is abandoned and the Cambodian farmers who own it somewhat bemusedly allowed me to camp there. Rumor has it that a Taiwanese investment consortium plans to develop the beach within the next few years.

A handful of travelers visit Koh Rong, most on daytrips from a mainland tourist town called Sihanoukville (often referred to by locals as Kompong Som). In one week on the beach the only foreigners I met were the Finn and the Alaskan, although once a luxury yacht motored into the bay. The Alaskan later told me the yacht belongs to an extremely wealthy Russian snake collector who lives on a private island near Sihanoukville. James Bond fans, I’ll leave that story to you.

The local Cambodians in the fishing village at the end of the beach are hospitable but very poor. Again, no one speaks English, but a few locals can communicate in Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese. This would have been more helpful if I could actually speak any of those languages. Food is fresh fish and squid, pickled vegetables, rice, instant noodles and bananas.

To get to Koh Rong, first make your way to Sihanoukville and then ask around about a boat. Another option is to approach the island from Koh Sdach, where the ferry from the Thai border town of Koh Kong stops. In Sihanoukville there are a variety of tour operators who can arrange a charter, but the price will depend on your ability to bargain and willingness to shop around. Off Beat Boats is one option, the hobby of a knowledgeable and only slightly eccentric old British man. A supply boat leaves Koh Rong twice a week or so and docks just to the north of the Sihanoukville ferry terminal, but the schedule is random. I paid only $5 for a ride from the island to the mainland on the supply boat, but was quoted prices that ranged from $50 to $100 for a charter from Sihanoukville.

If you’re already in Cambodia, Sihanoukville is a 4 hour bus ride on a good road from Phnom Penh. If you’re coming from Thailand, first take a bus to Trat from Bangkok’s Eastern Bus Terminal, located at the Ekkamai stop on the sky train. From Trat there are frequent minibuses to the Cambodian border. Unfortunately, the immigration officials at this crossing are the most corrupt in Cambodia The visa fee is 20 USD, but the officers usually demand the equivalent of $25 to $30 in Thai baht. Be calm and firm.

From the border, take a moto-taxi into the frontier town of Koh Kong. Look to pay around 50 baht for the ride and choose a guesthouse with care because Koh Kong is a prime hangout for the most vile sex tourists in Asia.

A ferry departs Koh Kong every morning at 8 for Sihanoukville. After one stop at a small island called Koh Sdach, where there is a pleasant guesthouse, the ferry passes by Koh Rong and arrives in Sihanoukville around noon. Sit up top for views but prepare to get splashed, especially beyond Koh Sdach where the waves tend to be bigger. If the weather is rough, consider delaying your trip because the ferry is a converted river boat that was not designed for the open ocean.

I chartered a long-tail boat from Koh Sdach directly to Koh Rong ($50 talk to a local named Ken) but it would have been easier to get to Koh Rong from Sihanoukville.

Why go to all this effort to get to the beach? Well, it’s absolutely stunning for one thing, a truly unspoiled tropical curve of sand so fine it squeaks underfoot and so white it hurts to look at without sunglasses. Thousands of crabs patrol the tide line and sea eagles dive for fish in the calm, green bay. At night, the lights of squid boats bob on the horizon and one day nomadic fishermen made camp and hauled in their nets at sunrise.

I had hoped to circumnavigate the whole island, but was unable to reach the Northwest shore. Two people have told me about a hidden cove there that is supposedly a smaller, more private version of the beach where I camped.

If you decide to go to Koh Rong, please feel free to e-mail me. I’d love to hear about your adventure. For general information on Cambodia, the best source is www.talesofasia.com or check out my Destination Guide here on Matador.

DANGERS

I put these last.

Unseaworthy boats, AK-47s inland (navy base and illegal logging camp), cobras and other poisonous snakes. Cambodia is not a frivolous destination.