Koh Rong – 4th to 7th May

The next step of our tour of Cambodia took us to the south coast, onto one of Cambodia’s beautiful coastal islands.

Koh Rong was to be our home for the next few days. Serval times over the past few days we were told, the place to stay was a beach club called Nest, we’d be told this is the only lively place to stay. I managed to book us a couple of beds in a couple of different dorms for our 4 night stay. Or so I’d thought.

On the bus towards the port I realised I’d actually booked one bed. Whoops! In fairness I’ve been travelling alone for quite a while now. I’d tried to call them but they weren’t answering. So I told Steve of my mistake and we agreed there wasn’t much to do but turn up and chance it.

Our boat drops us off at the dock about a 20 minute walk around the coast from Nest. After a bit of lunch we head across. At check in, I tell the lady what I’ve done. And magically she sorts us out. There was already a waiting list for extra beds however, as we were there already I guess she thought it would be more hassle moving us on than letting us stay. Essentially we nicked some other people’s beds. It’s a dog eat dog world out there.

The beach was stunning, palm trees and pure white sand eventually giving way to the warm blue sea. Not a stone in sight! We were staying Wednesday to Sunday (4 nights). The hostel itself had big beach bar kind of vibes, then the dorms were tucked behind the communal bar area into the jungle / swamp behind. 

Our first night, we joined the party in the evening and made some friends. I don’t remember much to be honest.

Luckily for us hangovers aren’t so bad when all you have to do in the day is lie on the beach recovering. We quickly discovered that power was intermittent at best however, so that included the aircon at night. Not ideal.

Thursday evening I couldn’t face another big night so I didn’t. Oh and it turns out the suncream I’d bought in India was actually just cream and lacked any sun protection. So I got an unhealthy amount of sunburn across my chest while trying to read / get a tan. That’s the last time I bother with tanning! 

Friday however, was another story. The activity for the night was music bingo. We’d made friends with some Canadian lads (and two Brits), and we formed our team of about 13 people. Each team was given a bingo sheet with songs on it. And as the night went on the game was to tick off the songs as they were played. A fantastic idea really.

The first maybe 20/30 songs played and we hadn’t ticked off a single song. We managed to get quite drunk but were finding no success in the bingo. We had pretty much written ourselves off at this point. However, steadily we started ticking a few off, and still nobody had claimed a prize. In the end we won two rows and a column. Winning us all a shot of tequila and 3 jugs of long island iced tea. After these we were hammered. Honestly, the photos will illustrate this more than I ever could. Me and Steve as brits at least managed to get to bed – we can handle our drink-ish. Although as an aside, I recall a time previously, in Vietnam a few years ago, where Steve had passed out on a sunlounger all night after a particularly heavy night drinking (also on an island type get away).

The Canandians however had a rough night. One of them was found by his mate, passed out right outside of his dorm. He came so close but didn’t make it in. Given the dorms are in the swamp he was completely covered in bugs; much like an Indiana Jones movie type death. Thankfully unaware, but gross still.

Another one of the Canadians was found, again passed out, hugging the toilet bowl. 

All in all it was a bad night for them.

However, there was no time for recovery as Saturday was Nestival! The island’s tourists flock to Nest to join the festivities. The event of the week started at around 2pm. From this point onwards the free drinks flow throughout the events. Teams are formed (some teams had some incredibly offensive team names, we opted for the safe Cambod-a-beers). The teams then compete in essentially a drunk sports day on the beach.

From wheelbarrow races, to tug-of-war, to the sack race where to complete the race the final competitor had to shotgun a beer. I hope that gives you a sense of the tone. Oh and of course, they had provided body paint to help identify the teams. At the beginning of the events people had lovely designs and some funny slogans, but as the day went on it smudged and people were covered in huge splotches of colour – which didn’t really wash off in the sea either. Our team’s colour was green. I’d painted myself a watch and given myself some swirls. I’m not sure what Steve went for design wise, but it very quickly descended into a shrek cosplay.

Our first event was the sack race. Where we came second behind the Canadian lads. We had one ringer on our team who let us down with a terribly slow leg.

I said to the team ‘ah well, second is still good guys.’

Steve turns to me and says with all seriousness ‘if second is good enough mate, you’re off the team.’

My personal best event was the cup chug and flip. Where you neck a beer from a cup, then have to land a cup flip. I believe this was the only event we won actually. Of course, I led the team through the breach and ultimately to victory.

If you’re wondering about prizes for winning? Of course, it’s free drinks. They would just pour alcohol directly into your mouth. And I should mention the losers also got the same, but you joined the losers queue rather than the winners queue.

I did have a bit of a mare in the wheelbarrow race. Me and ringer (Liam by the way) were leading us out of the gate, with me being the barrow part of the equation. We started strong, taking a steady pace. However once we’d cleared the halfway point I got cocky and told him to pick up the pace. He started a jog and immediately I ate a face full of sand – making it about 6 inches further on my face before friction stopped me. We lost some time there. Steve and our other friend however, made blistering pace. Like a well oiled, well, wheelbarrow. Again another 2nd place for us.

The teams of four were brought together for the tug-of-war where our much larger team had another disaster. As soon as the teams were divided up we knew our chances were slim. Their team had mostly large men and we didn’t. However, we thought through organisation we might stand a chance. A plan was developed and discipline installed. The rope was laid out near the sea on the flattish sand. As part of our strategy we all stood on one side of the rope, our fatal error here was standing on the sea side of the rope rather than the beach side. Very quickly we were fully in the sea trying to keep our footing in the wet sand. It did not go well for us.

But all in all a great bit of fun.

That evening the party really got going. I don’t remember a huge amount but it was a good laugh for sure.

With our very, very, boozy stay in Nest complete it was time to leave the mostly powerless island of Koh Rong behind. And head to the much more chill island of Koh Rong Sanloem. For what Steve promised me was going to be some ‘chilled island living’.

As the time arrived to depart our lively Island home, we needed to arrange our travel to the next island along. The hostel offered a slow boat service for £10. Steve sensibility opted for this. I opted to walk into town with my stuff in search of a better deal at the dock (and I fancied the walk to be fair). I get to the dock and the tickets are a tenner as well. I buy my ticket and eventually board the boat, expecting to rendezvous with Steve later. It’s pretty quickly I figure out the boat is on its way to Nest to pick up new passengers. Steve gets on the exact same boat which was a funny moment for him.

However, I think I got the last laugh. Steve had it in his head the boat to the next island was 10mins. It turned out to be 2.5 hours crossing, through a choppy sea, in a small wooden boat battling waves bigger than us. I’m somewhat enjoying the ride, but Steve is sitting next to me, his pale grey face in his hands, looking honestly terrible. I think the mix of the hangover and the sea was a deadly combo for him. He battles through and we safely arrive after the lengthy boat ride.