Koh Rong: A Beachy Idyll

Koh Rong ! Don’t walk here, run !

The Chinese already have their sights set on it. The Russians are Coming and Angelina’s already stopped by.

We hear the complaint all over SE Asia …”this place used to be so unspoilt”…so we give Koh Rong say 5 years. But at the moment it’s Goldilocks right.

This beach at night pumps out a strangly familiar melody.  Hmm. That’s it !  It’s from the time we wandered by mistake into the New Age section at Berkulow’s Book Barn.  The sound of lapping waves and birds and other creatures calling in the jungle.  You know the one ?  Koh Rong is where they recorded that.

We are surrounded by leafy ponds and flower-choked lagoons and are delighted to discover that a “Hall” (what IS the collective noun?) of toads and frogs sounds remarkably like cows mooing.

Add to this baritone serenade the shrieks and cackles, the throbs and trills and warbles of the bird life and the type writer chattering and whoo-hoo-hoo of the monkeys and you’ve got a regular concert night behind our palm-roofed bungalow. (The downside to this lushness are the giant mutant kamikaze mosquitos that leave vampiric bites (two punctures). – Bill is fortunate to have the human equivalent of mozzie ambrosia beside him ).

Our nightly walk is along the beach, with phosphorescent plankton and recycled plastic bottle lights twinkling our way.

The village is “rustic” but bright neons, fried foods, pizzas-a-plenty and music from the 70s and 80s seem to keep the youngsters satisfied. They all got the hippie fashion memo (nothing new, nothing ironed) – except the Japanese girls who are posing on the swings in their Laura Ashley frocks.

Most of the girls ignore the FOKR (Friends of Koh Rong) signs suggesting respect for the local people and culture and stick to eensy-weensy bikinis or radically abbreviated shorts. The cups runneth over with the well-endowed. Maybe in retaliation the local lads favour the midriff look.

A place where everyone dresses in pyjamas all the day long and breakfast starts being served from midday onwards – Bliss indeed!