After my wild night of raving in the jungle of Koh Rong and frolicking on the beach until the early hours of the morning, I still couldn’t sleep so I decided to take the first ferry from Koh Touch to its sister island Koh Rong Samleom. This ticket cost about $8 and there are 4 ferries that depart from Koh Rong daily depending on the boat service you choose. I decided to get off at Saracen Bay because it has the prettiest beaches and most bars and accommodations. M’pai Bay is more lively at night and attracts a lot of backpackers with its parties and cheap accommodations. However, Saracen Bay and the other parts of the island are quite relaxing and carefree in comparison.
The atmosphere here during the day was definitely more quiet and reserved than the main island, but it had a lot of restaurants and places you could stop for a massage as well as snorkeling equipment available for you to rent. Wifi is scarce here due to how remote this island was, but I was able to score it for a bit from a local restaurant I ate at. It was definitely the cleanest area in Cambodia I had been to and I was very impressed with all of the great views:
Similar to Koh Rong, this island also hosts jungle parties on Friday nights and Half Moon Parties during certain times of the year. Though I wasn’t able to attend one here this year, I’d really like to come back and go in the future. I loved staying at Treehouse Bungalows on the main island, but I would like to trying staying here in the future so I could get to know more of the locals. The island really has a great vibe and is off-the-grid so you can definitely make it your own. I just went here as a day trip, but I wish I could have stayed longer. It was great to relax here and reflect on all the crazy things that happened the night before.
For more information on Koh Rong Samleon, please check out the island guide from Don’t Forget to Move!