Koh Rong, Bad Weather, Boat Tour
A day ago we travelled to Koh Rong. The journey from Battambang was long with 2 transfers. This time we spent a little more money to get a luxury company to book and arrange the trip for us with their vehicles. We had the best journey with a luxury minivan of just 4 people out of the possible 16 seats. The next bus was called an airbus with reclining seats and tv screens like business class on a plane. We even had massage seats! The final part of the journey was speedboat. We went during a storm and were convinced we would tip at any moment.
We arrived safely and checked into the hostel. The journey took 14 hours and so it was dinner time and then bed. Our sleep was disrupted by constant thunder and heavy rain. The storm had gotten worse. We had made some friends playing cards and had decided to meet them the next day.
We had a day of rain, wind, and cold temperatures. The storm continued on and the beach was unpleasant. We did go for a swim which was nice and the waves made it interesting.
In the evening we participate in the pub quiz. Expecting rounds like general knowledge and geography we were shocked with a porn abbreviation round and a round where staff members revealed very compromising information about each other. Making it worse, one of the staff member’s parents was visiting. You could not scoop his mums’ jaw off the floor for 3 seconds before he dropped another bombshell confession.
The next day the weather was much better with some sun! We had breakfast and organized an afternoon snorkel and beach bbq tour. On returning to our room to change a poor girl looked at us and asked us if we had any issues with the shower. Turns out the shower has become live and the poor girl had been electrocuted. Another guy was in the same shower and we heard him yell ‘ah fuck’ before running out in a towel. For some very strange reason the shower was zapping guests. We left a note and made reception aware so they could fix it. Both of those zapped were fine.
On the boat tour we stopped for some snorkeling. Although not as good as Thailand, we managed to spot some fish. The water was a lot warmer than Thailand; different season and more heat.
Then we stopped for fishing. This is where it started to go wrong. The boat was rocking violently side to side making a hungover Robin and I feel very sick. Due to the fishing lines, the only way we could be in the water was in a kayak with a makeshift paddle. We thought this was better than nothing and spent and hour paddling around fighting off our sickness. When we eventually got moving again we were so relieved to have some air through our hair as we recovered some more.
We stopped at another beach to chill. We watched the sunset from the waves and chased some sand crabs around the dunes. The sand was so fine and felt almost like kinetic sand when played with. After sunset we got back on the boat.
Things went wrong again. The workers lit the bbq using plastic cups filled with petrol and plastic bags meaning the plastic fumes were all we breathed and would be burned into the fish and meat. I chose to eat some rice and discovered a stone in my mouthful. The stone chipped a layer off my tooth leaving me very unhappy. No crack, just cosmetic and so I am going to leave it until back in England to have it looked at properly.
Things went wrong again. We had been promised a sightseeing snorkel bbq tour with plankton at the end. Not a party boat. The workers began sinking beers and downing regional whisky. They quickly shared with the guests. We were the only British with a lot of polish and French who lapped up the alcohol. How the tables have turned. We didn’t want to drink; that’s not the advertised experience.
The next 5 hours were spent sat having to watch and listen to people become progressively drunker. We did stop to see the bioluminescent plankton and have a 10 minute swim. As you moved your arms and legs, the water would illuminate for a split second with a turquoise hue. Very cool.
We got back to the pier 2 hours later than we should’ve due to drunk boat workers and swaying captain. We managed to get a refund from the hostel for our experience and an apology. We had some food before bed.
-M
