Beaches & Breakfasts

lazing in sea
see all photos »

We caught an early bus from Phnom Penh to the southern coast resort of Sihanoukville about 4 hours away. We had booked to stay on Koh Rong Saloem island in a couple of days time so we took the cheapest room in a hotel in the centre of Ocheteal beach for two nights.

Sihanoukville is a pleasant enough place with good beaches, beach bars and a fairly lively nightlife but we were looking for something a little quieter, which is why we pre-booked the stay on the island.

We swam out in big waves to an old fishing boat from the beach to make the 3 hour journey to the island, one woman also going to the island had to cancel because she couldn’t really swim. The boat ride was my (gav) worst nightmare, the sea was really rough, with big enough waves to be feeling uneasy about the safety of the crossing. Sure enough about half an hour or so in I gave the fish a free lunch as I lost my breakfast to the sea. After a bit of tiger balm under the nose I managed to hold out the rest of the journey, It had better be worth it!. It certainly was, we pulled in to a small bay with white sand and a jungle backdrop, and were greeted by the joint owner, an English guy Rich. ‘Lazy Beach’ was the only tourist accommodation on the island, it had only been open for 6 weeks and was basically a nice restaurant and 5 beach bungalows.

paradise
see all photos »

For $15 a night we had a slice of paradise and just what we needed, we spent the next 4 days snorkeling the reefs, swimming, playing frisbee and just lazing around. The food was really good cooked by Ken a Khmer guy that used to work in Siem Reap, his red curry was spot on and fish banquet we had one night was delicious.

We walked on a jungle trail for around half an hour to the other beach on the island, after spotting monkeys on the way we came out into a clearing and down on to a stunning white sand beach, the shallow waters were crystal clear, wow!, we couldn’t believe how great this beach was.