Our journey to Koh Rong, which means Monkey Island in Khmer, began with us boarding a local supply boat loaded with water, meat, ducks, and oh so much beer. No one spoke English, or really acknowledged us, but we found two other foreigners, and the four of us thought that that was a good sign we were on the right boat. And if not, at least we could be lost together.
Since the boat was full, we clambered up the outside of the vessel to sit on the roof, where mercifully, there was a supply of chairs being brought to the island. We had an easy 3 hour ride to the island, which has one main beach, but is otherwise pretty untouched. Wanting to avoid the main beach, we had booked into a place called Inn The Village, a guesthouse set in a traditional Khmer fishing village called Daem Thkov.
For anyone unfamiliar with bucket showers, let me try to paint a picture for you. First, imagine you’re squatting over a porcelain bowl in the ground that doesn’t flush. Then, you stand next to a vat of water, and pick up the plastic pot with handle. Using the pot, pour the cold, semi dirty rain water over your head. Then shampoo and condition and lather your body, using the pot to rinse off after. Despite the rough edges, we had a ball here, even extending our stay.
The village of Daem Thkov hasn’t yet been affected by tourism, and it was really interesting to see how the people live. There was a lot of karaoke singing, and the kids loved seeing us and touching our things.
Their main income is fishing, explaining why most of the homes are on stilts in the ocean, with large crab nets attached to their sides.
The Canadian owner of Inn The Village, who is married to a Cambodian lady, has been trying to educate them about pollution, and why they need to dispose of trash properly, instead of throwing it into the water.
Nearby there are 2 awesome beaches, Coconut Beach and Nature Beach. They are both pristine and beautiful, with white sands and turquoise water. We wasted one blissful day swimming and hiking, and another drinking rum on the beach with a few Germans. 
I stepped on a sea urchin, necessitating a Baywatch style rescue (read piggyback) from Paul, followed by me performing a rum fueled beachside mini surgery to remove the spikes from my foot.
Unfortunately one of the bikes dipped too far into the water and the engine was flooded. After 15 min of working on it, changing a spark plug, and push starting it, the boys got it working again. Finally, the road turned into a narrow, rutted path which abruptly ended at the sea, miles from our destination. Anxious to return to their Chinese New Year celebrations, the boys left us there. We put on our packs and proceeded to walk up the beach then through the jungle. Over 2 hours later, soaked and sore, we arrived at Lonely Beach.
And my was the journey worth it. This slice of paradise is miles from any type of civilization. There are a handful of bungalows, again with bucket showers, but these ones roofless, hidden in the jungle. The yellow sandy beach was long, covered in palm trees, and washed by a smooth, blue ocean. The food was phenomenal. Overall, it was a perfectly relaxing spot. We had a very, very hard time tearing ourselves away from this place.
One of the really cool things about Koh Rong is the luminescent plankton. When the moon is low, which it was, phosphorescent plankton are visible during nighttime swims. Basically, the plankton emit light when disturbed. We thought the surface of the water would glow green. Conversely, the ocean looked like any other ocean at night. But when we stepped in, little lights began to appear around our legs. When we swam, it was as if fairy dust was coming from our arms and hands. With a snorkel mask, it appeared as if thousands of fireflies were swimming in the water with us. It was truly awesome.
Leaving was really tough. This place was perfection. Back on the mainland, I went into a bathroom and realized it was the first time I had looked in a mirror in six days. And I hadn’t even noticed. I think it’s necessary, at least for high strung people like me, to have times when we get back to nature, eliminate distractions, and just take the time to relax. But, I must say, I really enjoyed having a hot shower.
