Yesterday I had the pleasure of trying my first 3D latte in Tokyo, and boy was it amazing! Reissue was apparently the the first coffee shop to start this trend, and the latte artists there are extremely talented. They have a menu full of anime-inspired latte art to choose from, or you can request your own! I requested one of Yamper from Pokémon, and I think they did a very good job of bringing him to life:
If you’re not a fan of coffee, you can order hot chocolate or warm soy milk instead. The have green tea, caramel, and raspberry lattes as well. The shop is very popular, but fortunately I was able to walk in and sit down without a wait time.
When I first moved to Tokyo several years ago, I ordered a Goku latte as well from the same cafe. Once again, their precise lineart drawn in chocolate syrup was amazing:
With its beautiful character design and story that have captured the hearts of people from around the world, it’s no wonder that Sailor Moon is still a popular series today. As someone who grew up with the English dub of the anime in America, I am proud to say it is still one of my all time favorites. Though there have been a number of pop-up Sailor Moon cafes that last for a limited time, a new and permanent theater show restaurant called Shining Moon has permanently opened this year. I decided to check it out with one of my best friends and I genuinely enjoyed my experience here. The live performances definitely added a lot to it!
During dinner time two immaculate shows with professional actors are performed. One is recordable and the other is non-recordable. Both will keep you on your toes because they feature a lot of fighting, singing, and dancing with colorful visuals. One began with Usagi dancing at a ball with Tuxedo Mask, only to wake up and find it was all a dream! Another was completely original and showed the girls visiting different areas of Tokyo (like Harajuku and Asakusa), then being swarmed by villians that they need to defeat. The shows did a good job in showcasing each girl’s abilities and giving them equal time on stage. It really felt like I was watching a live version of the anime.
At this time the restaurant only features the inner senshi and it is unknown if other characters will be featured. I see it being possible in the future as long as this restaurant continues to attract customers (which it is).
Before entering the cafe, you must make a reservation online in advance (we did a few days before) and pay by using credit card. This cafe is a bit more expensive compared to the other themed ones; dinner is 8500 yen for S seats and 7500 yen for A seats. The lunch time option is only 3500 yen but doesn’t include the show. However, a drink and a meal is included in all of these prices. Here are some of the things that we ordered:
I genuinely enjoyed the Jupiter Seafood Pasta and Venus Crepes I ordered. They had drinks for all of the Sailor Scouts too! Every food item that you order comes with a free Sailor Moon plate which makes the entry fee worth it. They also have a gift store you can buy special goods from. The menu items seem to rotate every month, so please check the online menu in advance to see what’s available. Fortunately they had some vegetarian options available.
At the end of the shows, all of the actors will come out and wave at you! It was amazing to see them up close. Their outfits were very detailed and they stayed enthusiastic until the very end. It was a very memorable experience!
Address
〒106-0045 Tokyo, Minato City, Azabujuban, 1 Chome−10, ジュールＡ
Pop-up Sailor Moon Cafe (2017)
Earlier in 2017 I went to a pop-up Sailor Moon Cafe that was available for 2 months in Omotesando. Here are some old photos that I took. I really enjoyed the design of the Usagi and Mamoru pancakes, and the cotton candy Luna drink:
This cafe is now closed, but sometimes they have themed collaboration cafes that open in this rental space and it’s possible there will be another Sailor Moon one in the future. I will be sure to write about it if it happen!
Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever.
I never thought that I’d be spending the first night of my third trip to Seoul dressing up in Slytherin robes at a Harry Potter cafe, but recently life has been taking me to some interesting places. 943 King’s Cross Cafe is located in the Hongdae district and features magical concoctions, beautiful Hogwarts-inspired interior decor, and costumes you can borrow and dress up in. Immediately I was seduced by the Dragon’s Blood and eyeball cocktail upon entering (fortunately no advanced reservations were required). After my long flight, sipping on some vodka and relaxing at this 5 floor cafe seemed like the perfect way to relax.
I have been to the Harry Potter cafes in both Tokyo and Singapore before, but Seoul’s by far was the most extravagant. I appreciated the long boarding school-like tables they had on one floor, but they also had couches and tables for small groups on other floors. Each floor had a unique theme and the top floor even had a Christmas tree since I came here during the winter. Many paintings were hung on the walls mimicking the Hogwarts portraits. Although they couldn’t talk, under the fluorescent lighting they almost looked like they could! A dementor was hidden in one of the stairwells and gave me a great surprise. Luckily I didn’t stare it in the eyes, or else my trip would have ended there.
The menu had a lot of desserts that you could order individually, but unfortunately the food menu was designed for large groups (like many restaurants are in Seoul). Fortunately I wasn’t bothered by this because cocktails and desserts were all I wanted anyway! The main draw of this cafe is the free robes that you can borrow on the 5th floor. I had so much fun taking pictures and all of the people around me were genuinely thrilled to be here. There’s also a gift shop with some very cute Slytherin earrings that I almost bought (but I decided to look at the night market instead).
Experiencing childhood memories in a foreign country is truly something special. I would recommend coming here if you are a fan of the series because it is truly something magical.
Here is a collection of desserts that will make your heart melt in Seoul (Volume 1). ♥
Earlier I published Volumes I & II of desserts that will make your heart melt in Tokyo, so I figured I would do the same for my 2nd (3rd?) home which is Seoul.
I will be writing a full article series on my experience in Korea within the next coming weeks. Here is a collection of places I stumbled upon which I highly recommend:
「 T A P E 」
Located near Itaewon Station, this bakery and cafe was the first place I stopped at on my most recent trip to Seoul! CAFE TAPE is famous for its beautifully frosted galaxy cakes which resemble avant-garde paintings. The cake I chose had a fluffy texture and truly tasted out of this world. I also ordered an iced coffee to balance the flavor. The inside of the cafe has a unique metallic decor which resembles a spaceship. I was really impressed by the quality of desserts here and would gladly come back here again!
Stylenanda 3CE PINKPOOLCAFE
Pink Pool Cafe is a super trendy dessert bar located on the 5th floor of Stylenada (a popular cosmetics and fashion mall) in Myeongdong. They feature a sweets buffet and a number of fashionable cocktails you can order. Inside the cafe sits a swimming pool and deck chairs with neon signs you can take pictures of to your heart’s content. I enjoyed eating the coconut mousse and pink cherry martini–both of them were made with high-quality ingredients. Even though I came here in winter, I definitely felt the tropical vibe!
Haitairo
While wandering around Hongik University, I discovered the cutest little ice cream and coffee shop called Haitairo. Though it’s famous for its ice cream made with fresh honey, I decided to try its hot menu items since I came here during the winter. One day I tried the mochi with hot soy milk which was actually surprisingly good. The mochi melted a bit liked marshmallows when I dipped it in the warm milk and had a really sweet taste. I came back a few days later and tried the hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and an adorable smiling popsicle cookie. This was my favorite because it not only warmed up my body, but also my heart.
Sona Dessert Cafe
Situated in the heart of Gangnam, Sona is a fancy dessert cafe that simply cannot be passed up. The strawberry champagne ball filled with edible flowers is to die for. I also ordered another seasonal strawberry dessert that was extremely elegant in its display. Both desserts were very light so I could finish both. Definitely come here if you are a lover of aesthetic foods like I am.
Banana Tree
Banana Tree was one of the first cafes to start the flower pot dessert trend with the adorable shovel spoon. Now you can find this style of dessert in Tokyo and other big cities, but I originally tried it here in Seoul. I enjoyed “digging in” to my miniature flower pot filled with delicious pudding. I see from their website that they have recently added new flavors and designs, so be sure to check this place out if you are in Gangnam.
FRANK
Last but not least, one cannot pass up the opportunity to try rainbow cake in Seoul! I am proud to have tried both galaxy cake and rainbow cake in this country. I decided to go to FRANK in Itaewon since it was close to where I was staying at the time. I enjoyed the super powdery frosting and the delicious texture of the cake, much like I did at TAPE. It’s hard for me to choose a favorite because every cake I’ve had in Seoul is flavorful and delicious. I want to try them all!
Thank you for reading Volume 1 of my dessert recommendations in Seoul. Volume 2 is now published!
Over the weekend I traveled to Hiroshima Prefecture for the Pasocom Ongaku Club Nightflow Tour at two locations in rural Japan. The events touched my heart so I will be writing a detailed report about their music in a future post, but first I wanted to point out two amazing places I found along the way while backpacking!
Next to Hiroshima Prefecture lies Okayama Prefecture, which is less than an hour away by shinkansen (bullet train). I have traveled here before to explore Kurashiki, a famous canal town that attracts a lot of tourists, but here are some other off the beaten path recommendations I have for those who are visiting the area:
Shinju: The Okonomiyaki Serving Robot Restaurant
In this area of Japan, okonomiyaki–a pancake usually served with bacon, fried noodles, and vegetables–is an extremely popular dish. The name “okonomiyaki” literally means “to one’s liking” so you can usually customize your order with other ingredients (such as seafood) or ask for a vegetarian version as well.
At Shinju, the extremely hardworking “NUMBER-ONE-ROBOT” will serve the ingredients you order directly to your table so you can cook the okonomiyaki yourself! Wearing an adorable Disney hat and greeting you in a friendly tone, this robot does everything it can to make you feel welcome:
I decided to order the seafood okonomiyaki set with noodles. I’ve had this dish before, but it’s been a long time since I prepared it on a hotplate myself. The kind staff taught me the correct way to flip the pancake batter on the noodles to create the perfect okonomiyaki. If you are unsure of how to do this, they will be sure to assist you (it’s actually quite easy once you get the hang of it):
After about 10-15 minutes of cooking, we ended up with this delicious result:
The perfect seafood okonomiyaki with fried noodles, shrimp, octopus, and squid.
Not only is okonomiyaki delicious, but it’s also the perfect hangover food. Overall the service here was above average and the staff even sat down and talked to me for a while. I told them all about the event and how much I enjoy backpacking in Asia because it’s generally very safe to travel here.
The joke of the day was how the robot here resembled the robot on the Pasocom Ongaku Club Promotional flyer (drawn by Satoshi Kurosaki):
This was the best okonomiyaki restaurant I have ever been to, so I recommend it to literally everyone!
Remember when the dinosaurs invaded rural Japan? I remember, because I was there!
On the way back to Hiroshima for the 2nd event I was going to, I decided to stop by Kasaoka, Okayama, because it is the closest major city near the border. Here I was elated to find a park full of dinosaurs outside of the Horseshoe Crab Museum! Unfortunately I didn’t have time to go inside the museum, but I had a ton of fun photographing the dinosaurs in the park (which is free to visit).
I really find it odd that someone decided to put these dinosaurs all the way out here in rural Japan. What inspired this park, and are there deeper secrets buried here in Kasaoka that are waiting to be discovered? I will be searching for more places to visit like this in the future because I simply find them fascinating. There’s so much more to discover in Japan than simply Tokyo–epic finds are literally everywhere.
One of the best perks of living in Japan and being a gamer is having the ability to attend the amazing pop-up cafes that are available here for a limited time only. During my stay here, I have been fortunate enough to been able to dine at both the Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal Cafes held at two different locations. Making a reservation for these cafes can sometimes be a bit difficult as they are quite popular, but I will be sharing my experience in this post to hopefully help and inspire other people to come and visit!
The Original Persona 5 Cafe at Pasela Resorts (Shibuya)
If you’ve played the game, you’ve probably seen a building called “Pasela Resorts” located on the map. That is because ATLUS had a collaboration with the popular karaoke chain Pasela Resorts in Shibuya from 10/14/2016 – 11/23/2016 with the series. The original Persona 5 Cafe was located on the 2nd floor of this location and required winning an in-person lottery to attend (meaning it was so popular at the time that you could not make a reservation online).
This was quite a heart-racing lottery, but I was determined to win! I remember arriving at 10am, lining up with around 100 or so other people on a 6 floor spiral staircase in front of the cafe, and drawing a ticket from a box. Fortunately, I drew a winning ticket! However, many people were unable to win. I went on a Saturday morning due to my hectic work schedule at the time, but perhaps if you went on a weekday you would have a better chance.
Even though I went alone, I had a ton of fun! I ordered the Ann and Joker drinks as well as the Leblanc curry and dessert pizza. Being in a room surrounded by other Persona fans filled my heart with joy. This was one of the first themed cafes I had been to, so it really left a good impression on me.
Persona 5 Royal Cafe at SEGA Collab Cafe (Akihabara)
3 years later I made it to the Persona 5 Royal Cafe in Akihabara–but this time with friends! Since this was a collaboration held at the SEGA Cafe, the reservation process was much easier. Online reservation in advance was possible, but you could also look at the cafe’s available seats and walk in on the day you wanted to go if there was space. That is what we did as a group of six, and we all managed to sit together! Between all of us, we were able to order almost every item on the menu and swap coasters. This time they had coasters of both the new P5 art and chibi versions of the characters given randomly with every purchase of a drink or food item. This cafe lasted from 11/2/2018 – 12/1/2018. Though I have not played the game yet, I am super excited to now!
If you have missed the dates for these cafes, fear not! Whenever a new game, movie, or even musical are announced, usually these cafes pop up and you can always search for the special merchandise online. I hope to attend many more Persona Cafes and events in the future, as it is one of my favorite series that has taught me much about how social relationships can affect you and the world around you!
Laugh of the Day
On our way up to the SEGA Cafe, we noticed a very special claw machine game filled with dozens of Anns… and one sole Ryuji! What a lucky fellow–if only it were Morgana instead!
Sannakji (산낙지): Live octopus from a local shop in Sinsa, Seoul.
Since I’m staying in Seoul for the next few days, I decided to be adventurous and try some wriggling live octopus (called sannakji). I’ve eaten octopus sashimi in Japan many times and enjoy pairing it with soy sauce and wasabi, but the experience in South Korea is a bit different. Instead of thinly slicing the octopus like in Japan, here they carefully cut the tentacles into smaller bite-sized pieces and give you special spicy sauce to eat it with. Taste-wise I prefer spicy seafood, but texture-wise I prefer my octopus to be thinly cut so it’s easy to chew. Though the tentacles were slippery and difficult to pick up with chopsticks, I managed to almost finish the entire plate!
The octopus is selected from a tank outside and takes about 10 minutes to prepare depending on how busy the restaurant is. This dish is safe to eat when it is served to you, but due to the complex system of neurons in each tentacle, they still wriggle a bit even when they have been severed from the octopus’s body. If you really enjoy seafood (especially in Asia), then this is something you should try!
Pro Soy Crab is a popular restaurant where people in Seoul go to eat crab and octopus, but I chose to eat at a local shop nearby that had a Japanese menu. Sannakji is called “生きているテナガダコ” in Japanese, so you can also try looking that up (I cannot read hangal, so I rely on my Japanese skills here). Earlier this year I ate Dancing Squid in Hakodate, so if you are interested in other seafood adventures, please look at my post here!
Here is a collection of desserts that will make your heart melt in Tokyo (Volume 2). ♥ For reference, please see Volume 1 here.
Sweets Paradise (Akihabara Branch)
Sweets Paradise is an extremely popular buffet-style dessert restaurant with multiple branches in Tokyo. You can choose from an unlimited selection of multi-colored pastries for 70 – 90 mins. However, the branch in Akihabara offers a take-out option with cake that looks like actual ramen! Even the toppings are edible and have an extremely sweet flavor. The “noodles” are actually just thick layers of frosting. This is probably one of the most unreal sweets I have ever eaten (appearance-wise), but the taste was definitely worth it!
New New York Club
New New York Club became a meme because of its rainbow bagels stuffed with delicious cream cheese. These bagels sell out fast so sadly I wasn’t able to get one, but they do have multi-colored bagels you can purchase too! They still taste the same as a regular bagel despite their strange color, and I prefer them to most Japanese bagels because they are larger and softer in texture. Ikumimama Animal Doughnuts is another cute bakery that is right around the corner from here! Be sure to pick up some cute cat donuts if you still have an appetite.
Aoyama Flower Market Teahouse
Aoyama Flower Market is a popular florist chain that is often found in Tokyo train stations. Stopping here is convenient if you want to pick up flowers for a special occasion, but certain locations also have cafes with extremely aesthetic food too! I ordered this delicious parfait with pink jelly and fruit that looks like a work of art at the Kichijyoji location. They have a seasonal menu that rotates frequently, so be sure to check online to see what they are serving. All of the food here has an extremely appetizing look and taste.
Salon Ginza Sabou
This upscale restaurant exploded with popularity when they released their infamous green tea boxes. Under a thin layer of green tea-flavored chocolate topped with green tea powder that you break apart with your spoon, you will find the goldmine of all green tea desserts. Watch my video and see Sabou’s website for more information. Other restaurants are starting to copy this style of dessert, but this was the original place that invented it.
Liquid Nitrogen Kit-Kats
It’s no secret that Japan is infatuated with Kit-Kats. Walk into any souvenir store and the first thing you will besides the obvious Hachiko-shaped sweets is corn, sweet potato, green tea, and other strange flavors of Kit-Kats. The Kit Kat Chocolatory and Café offers a whole different level of strangeness with its liquid nitrogen Kit-Kats. It was surreal to watch the Japanese waiter pour liquid nitrogen onto a platter where it would perfectly chill a sweet commonly found in the US, but it was definitely worth the experience. You can customize your own Kit-Kats at this cafe as well! There are a variety of unique toppings you can choose from and the menu changes its featured items each season.
Doubutsuen Ice Cream/The Zoo
Doubutsuen was another dessert place that exploded with popularity in Harajuku due to its cute animal cones. I opted for the tripple scoop piggy the first time I came here. Originally you would buy a ticket from the front of the shop that looked like a vending machine and they would make your cone for you behind the curtain, but due to the mass amount of people waiting in line on the street, they moved their shop to the end of Takeshita Street under the name “The Zoo” so they could serve more customers. The ice cream here is not only cute but also delicious, so I highly recommend it!
Other Ice Cream Recommendations
Other ice cream spots I highly recommend trying are Edy’s Ice Cream for their cute customizable cones with unicorn and heart-shaped toppings, Milkcow for their rich and creamy soft-serve ice cream, Coisof for their black ice cream with crunchy colored toppings, and Godiva simply for their unmatched rich flavor of chocolate ice cream. It’s hard to find bad ice cream in Tokyo, it really is!
Bonus: Rainbow Sweets Harajuku
Last but not least, if you are looking for brightly-colored photogenic food then I would recommend coming to Rainbow Sweets Harajuku! This is right off Takeshita Street and attracts a lot of customers, but the food is all take-out so it doesn’t take much time to receive your order. I ordered the rainbow grilled cheese and the rainbow ice cream. These were fun to take pictures of, but the taste was so-so. Instead I recommend trying the ice cream places I mentioned above because they have a way better taste.
Thank you for reading Volume 2 of my dessert cafe expedition in Tokyo. If you have any recommendations, please drop them in the comments! I will be make more volumes in the future!
Here is a collection of desserts that will make your heart melt in Tokyo (Volume 1). ♥
This city has no shortage of of aesthetic foods so I will continue to share cafes that I stumble across in future posts!
Roll Ice Cream Factory
Roll Ice Cream Factory opened just 2 years ago in central Harajuku and has a colorful array of flavors and toppings that you can mix together to form quite beautiful creations. Similar to the New York style of roll ice cream, you choose the base flavor you want and watch them craft it into tiny little rolls. I chose the “American Dream” combo and added a taiyaki to the top of it for fun. This is patriotism at its finest! Roll ice cream isn’t quite the same as soft serve ice cream, but it still is worth trying at least once in your lifetime. They also have matcha and delicious chocolate rolls that you can try as well.
Harebare Pecori
For some of the most monstrous milkshakes in Tokyo, stop by Harebare Pecori in Shinjuku! Here you will find colossal shakes with ice cream, cotton candy, lollipops, cookies, whipped cream, and many toppings to completely satisfy your craving for sweets. Finishing one shake by myself proved to be a challenging quest, so I suggest you share one of these with a friend. I enjoyed the massive amounts of whipped cream and the creative placement of all of the toppings.
Milky Way Cafe
Now this place is classic. Likely if you’ve researched desserts in Tokyo, you’ve come across Milky Way Cafe in Ikebukero. This cafe has a different parfait for each sign of the Zodiac, and the quality of the food is really amazing too. You really can’t go wrong with anything you choose here because the presentation is amazing. I loved the mini chocolate cake on top of my parfait! It definitely made my day worth the trip.
Micasadeco & Cafe
This place became a meme due to its wiggly jiggly fluffy stacks of pancakes. You can wobble the plate and the pancakes will still stick together as if they are compelled by a magic force. I highly recommend taking a trip to Micasadeco & Cafe in Shibuya if the opportunity arises. I think these are some of the fluffiest pancakes I’ve seen in a while.
Patisserie Potager
If you are looking for cakes with interesting flavor combinations, look no further than Patisserie Potager! Here I found tomato cake and avocado pudding as well as other unlikely French-Japanese fusion cuisines that tasted amazing. Most of these desserts are lighter on calories than regular cakes so they are a healthier option.
Sakura Cafe Mukojima’s Tokyo Skytree Parfait
Like Tokyo’s infamous landmark, this Tokyo Skytree parfait at Sakura Cafe Mukojima mimics the real thing standing at 63.4 cm high, as the actual tower is 634 meters tall. Loaded with jelly, ice cream, fruit, mochi, and a giant soft-served ice cream cone, this dessert does not disappoint! I ordered the matcha flavor, but there are other fruity flavors available for purchase. I was very impressed with how they balanced all the ingredients to make it stand up.
Nanaya
On the subject of green tea and ice cream, Nanaya is another store that should not be missed because it has 7 different intensities of green tea ice cream and other flavors. I ordered three scoops and tried #1 (the weakest flavor), #7 (the strongest flavor), and the green tea rum raisin flavor. In my opinion, the less intense and lighter flavors tasted the best. The store name “Nanaya” means “Shop of 7 (flavors)”, so be sure to choose wisely!
Dominique Ansel Bakery (Now Closed)
Previously I wrote an article on Dominique Ansel Bakery in Omotesando praising their delicious pastries, but I am very sad to see that they have closed their Tokyo branches as of summer 2019. I will never forget the delicious hedgehog cake I had for my birthday last year, as well as the Zero Gravity Chiffon Cake that was light enough to float in a balloon. I am hoping that they open a similar cafe in the future!
Thank you for reading Volume 1 of my dessert cafe expedition in Tokyo. If you have any recommendations, please drop them in the comments! I will be writing Volume 2 very soon!
Koh Rong, a tropical island in the Sihanoukville Province of Cambodia, is an extremely attractive destination with its white-sand beaches, jungle full of waterfalls and wildlife, and its weekly parties on Police Beach. Though the island is about the size of Hong Kong, most of it is undeveloped so it feels like an untouched paradise. Most of the villages here only stretch for about a mile so everyone recognizes one another and knows each other by name. I compare a lot of the islands that I’ve traveled to The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, but this actually felt like an island straight out of an RPG the way it was laid out. There are tons of places you can freely explore on foot, and you can also take boat taxis to access more remote parts of the island. Or just stay in the main village and enjoy drinking with the locals every night on the beach!
Similar to Koh Phangan in Thailand, there are Full Moon Parties thrown here that attract a lot of backpackers, but the atmosphere of this island is truly rural and more off-the-grid than any other island I have ever traveled to. Most of the people I met here had already been to Thailand and were looking for a different experience. I learned a lot from the observing the life of the villagers here and am extremely excited to share my experience!
Getting to Koh Rong
In order to reach Koh Rong, you must fly or take a bus to Sihanoukville and take a ferry because there are no airports on the island. I opted to take an overnight bus from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville that I booked through 12goAsia for $25. The journey was 10 hours, but I actually slept quite well on the bus because I was exhausted from exploring Angkor Wat and the floating village.
When I first booked this bus, I was expecting to meet some strange people (like those you see riding the MegaBus in America), but I was surprised to see that actually everyone riding this bus was quite normal. Everyone around me were international backpackers trying to save money, so we opted for the cheaper route. I even cheersed the guy that was holding a beer beside me with my tiny bottle of wine. After about an hour, almost everyone was asleep so it was a pleasant ride.
Sihanoukville itself is a strange town full of construction and Chinese-owned casinos. The roads are absolutely chaotic, and though it has beaches, the ones in Koh Rong are much more beautiful so I would not recommend staying here. Go straight to Koh Rong and experience life in paradise instead! The ferry ticket there was only $11 and the ride was about 30 minutes long. Though the overnight journey took a while, everything I was about to discover on the island would make it worth it.
Staying in a Treehouse
Since the village of Koh Touch is near the weekly Police Beach parties, I opted to book a private room at Treehouse Bungalows. I paid around $50 a night for this room, but in my opinion, the stay was worth it! Not only is it quiet and more private than other hostels, but it also has a great view of the beach. I enjoyed playing music from my balcony and being up in the trees. There is a wonderful restaurant down below, and a massage place on the beach that I went to nearly every day. For those looking for cheaper options, please check Hostelworld (some dorms are only $5 per night).
I made a somewhat funny video to commemorate my treehouse stay which you can watch below:
Sunset on Long Beach, which I was informed by one of the islanders is the best beach to watch the sunset.
During my first day at Koh Rong I decided to explore the beach nearby my treehouse called 4K beach, and I also hired a motorcycle driver for $30 to take me to some of the other remote beaches. What amazed me is how truly undeveloped this island is. Most of the roads are made of dirt and some twist through the jungle, so I would recommend hiring an experienced driver or a boat taxi your first time. These can easily be found within the village, and the bartenders can also recommend you where to get a cheap ride. There is also a lot of abandoned property on the island. I really hope it is put to use someday, because the atmosphere of this island is lovely.
Sweet Dreams Beach was the first place that we ventured to. It was extremely gorgeous with its swimming pool and paved road to the beach. I saw a few families staying here because this is a safe and relatively quiet location away from the main village:
The next place we went to was Long Beach so I could go swimming and watch the sunset. My driver told me that in the fall season this is the only place where you can clearly watch it, so I was grateful to see this on my first night. I think this is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island because it is extremely quiet and pristine.
In addition to the beaches that I visited, you can find a fantastic Koh Rong Beach Guide here. There is also a nearby island called Koh Rong Samloem with a nice vibe that I will be covering in my next post. Overall I really loved staying on the main Koh Rong island due to all of the nice people that I met and the privacy of my treehouse.
Finding Happiness
Throughout the main village of Koh Touch (and other locations in Cambodia) you will see signs advertising “happy” consumables that you can buy, but also signs reminding you that you cannot buy happiness. What do these things all mean, and what is happiness to Cambodian people and travelers on this island?
Happiness is Khmer is “សុផមង្គល” (so ph mongkol), but rarely will you see the word written in anything but English. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and many of the country’s people were slaughtered by their own kind or forced into slavery during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. The country is still rebuilding itself from those times and the devastation from the war is very apparent. However while traveling here–especially on this island–I saw nothing but smiles from all of the local people. As a fellow traveler examines in The Happiness Plunge:
“When you live through a genocide, life is kind of like a miracle. And maybe the people here live each day like it’s a miracle.
I suppose when every day is a miracle, you see things you wouldn’t otherwise see – things that make you smile.”
A lot of backpackers come here to escape life and party on the beach to find happiness, as well as consume psychedelics and cannabis to forget their worries, but the miracle of happiness and life that Cambodian people have cannot be replicated by this. However, staying on this island gives everyone a chance to connect with one another and appreciate nature while learning about the culture of this country. This feeling cannot be bought because happiness is not a concrete thing or consumable, but it can be shared a celebrated with others and found within yourself. Though the horrors that Cambodia has faced in the past cannot be erased, we can do our best to pay our respects and look forward to a brighter tomorrow.
Happiness is both a journey and realizing to be thankful for what you have in life. Whether it takes a happy cookie or a long journey to realize this depends on you. But if you make it all the way out to Koh Rong, likely you will find happiness in some way or form. Life here is so different than living in the city or a first-world country. People have simple lives and because of it they are relatively carefree. You can learn a lot by simply spending a few days here. If you are living a high-stress life, then coming here may simply be the cure.
In my next article, I will be writing about the techno rave in the jungle I went to while I was here for my birthday and re-examine happiness once more. Thank you for reading.
