Puppies and Rainbows on Koh Rong Samloem, Cambodia

As it was the theme of our trip, I knew it would be necessary to hit up some basic beaches while we were in Southeast Asia.  The region is known for its pristine (or what were once pristine, I should say) beach paradises – made most famous by Alex Garland’s book and proceeding Danny Boyle film, “The Beach.”  

I’d spent my fair share of time sunning my buns on beaches in the Gulf of Thailand, but never in Cambodia.  My times past had been limited to the islands of Koh Pha Ngan, Koh  Tao, and Koh Samet – each of which by now are long since discovered and, much to my chagrin, the predominating backpacker mentalities there are now more about sex and drugs rather than sloth and gluttony (my preferred travel sins).

So I did some research on where we could spend some time in the sun (albeit monsoon season) in Cambodia before heading north to the UNESCO towns of Siem Reap and Luang Prabang.  It seemed our best bet was one of the Koh Rong’s – Koh Rong or Koh Rong Samloem.  We opted for the latter, after hearing rumors of it having less development than the former.  What we wanted from our beach time was quietness, relaxation, coconuts, and maybe a little glow.

We woke early on our first full day in Cambodia to catch the Giant Ibis bus from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville.  I, of course, neglected the cardinal rule of travel in the developing world (allow extra time for EVERY. DAMN. THING.), and got us on a 9:30am bus – hoping to catch a 3pm boat to the island.  We nearly missed it, and weren’t able to have a lunch of happy pizza in the rather sad town of Sihanoukville before embarking to the island.

We arrived to the main dock of Koh Rong Samloem’s Saracen Bay to be greeted by a man from the Paradise Bungalows, who kindly waded with our bags to a longtail boat to take us to our side of the 2km long beach.  We unloaded our things, had a welcome drink, and let the relaxation commence.

I won’t paint an inaccurate picture for you of our time there – the sun rarely came out, and the rain fell more often than not.  But Koh Rong Samloem had everything we needed: very few tourists, a lot of really friendly dogs, and clean, ocean air.  Every sunrise and sunset the group of dogs owned (really, “overseen” would be a better word, as they roamed freely throughout the bay) by the Paradise Bungalows would frolic in the tide flats, chasing crabs, each other, and their own tails.  Walking up and down the beach, it was heartening to see most dogs were fixed and seemed to be taken care of.  Some cursory googling led me to Koh Rong Pups in Paradise, an organization that works on animal welfare issues on the neighboring larger island – often times with larger organizations based on the mainland. In fact, both on our way to and from Koh Rong Samloem, we saw strays being shepherded to clinics to be spayed and checked out by volunteer vets. Enough to choke up a couple of rescue dog lovers, for sure. 

So, instead of telling you about my killer tan, I’ve told you about the lovely remoteness and puppies of Koh Rong Samloem.  Maybe not traditional selling points for a beach paradise, but great ones nonetheless.  Should you make it to Koh Rong Samloem in the monsoon season, I should hope you have as great a time as we did.

PIN ME!

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Buses from Phnom Penh head to Sihanoukville fairly frequently.  There are 8:00 and 9:30 Giant Ibis buses that arrive about five hours after departing (they can pick you up either from your hotel or leave directly from their depot, directly north from the Night Market).  We bought tickets online, but you can save $2 per person by buying them in person.  

Ferries to Koh Rong Samloem leave at 9am, noon, and 3pm – you’ll only be able to catch the 9am if you stay in Sihanoukville the night before, and you’d be pushing the noon boat if you took the earliest bus from PP.  A bus rounds up the foreigners near where the Giant Ibis bus lets you off – there will be touts offering to take you to the ferry office – don’t take them, the ferry office is literally 100m down the road and around the corner (downhill from the bus drop off, and take your first right at the Two Lions sculpture).  

The bus shouldn’t cost more than about $12 one way, and the speed ferry we took was $25 round trip.  On Koh Rong Samloem, we stayed at the Paradise Villas and Bungalows – the second to last group of huts on the beach’s South side.  In the off season, it cost us $40 a night for a room with fan.  Be aware that electricity runs only from 6am-6pm, and outages are fairly common.