Koh Kong: An Adventure into the Great Unknown, Part 1

During my four months here in Cambodia I have had the chance to see a lot of the country. Where have I been? Phnom Penh (I live here), Siem Reap (a weekend trip; visited the famous Angkor Wat temples), and the beach town of Sihanoukville (twice). My most rural experience was in Kampong Cham for a 2-night stay in little Suong. That trip was arranged by my office and the purpose was part cultural orientation and part program orientation. My most recent trip was past weekend to one of most untraveled parts of Cambodia: Koh Kong. It was definitely an adventure!


Koh Kong is directly west of Phnom Penh and is the last coastal town before the Thai border. Koh Kong is known mostly for being a border town and a good way for tourists to go from Cambodia to Thailand (or the other away around) via land travel. I had never heard of Koh Kong until I began planning the staff retreat for this November. (Where is Koh Kong? See the Google map here.) One of my jobs as Interim Church Partnership Coordinator is to find the location and arrange the details for retreats that are sponsored by our church partners. In the past the Leader's Retreat has been held at a retreat center on the way to Sihanoukville or at the beach town itself. This year the staff would like to go some place new! So, the hunt began.

[Koh Kong: on the way to the Ta Tai waterfalls]

Armed with my trusty (yet, not always helpful) friend Google, I began researching Koh Kong. "Developing" is the word most used to describe Koh Kong and I have to agree! My internet research turned up a few possible hotels and many questions about what one could actually do during a visit to the beautiful land of Koh Kong. I read about possible waterfall trips, boat rides to islands, beaches, and mountains. What I didn't find were any details about these trips or any good descriptions about what they involved. It was clear that to plan a retreat to a new place, I would need to actually go there myself and check it out! So, I marked "Trip to Koh Kong" on my calendar and planned to make the trip with my roommate, Kerstin.

[A river in the mountains of Koh Kong]

I am, by nature, a "planner." I like to know what, where, how, when, and what to wear. My trip to Koh Kong, however, was less planned and more prepared for. I want to share about my visit to Koh Kong (and share pictures!), but I would also like to write out some information that might be helpful to other people (coming from abroad or within Cambodia) as they plan an adventure to an area of Cambodia that is still developing as a tourist destination.

Preparing

I packed a backpack with the basics for a 3-night journey: basic clothes (khaki pants, t-shirts, modest tank tops, long shorts, and pj's), swimsuits for waterfalls/beaches, Keen's for trekking, flip flops, toiletries, sunglasses, sunscreen, computer (which I didn't use), and camera (which I did use—a lot!). I went to the bus station in Phnom Penh the day before and bought tickets for the trip: $10 per person each way (from Virak-Buntham, St. 106 across from the river). I called the hotel in Koh Kong and made reservations for an air conditioned room. I was as prepared as I was going to be!

Getting to Koh Kong

I really like taking busses around Cambodia! It's relatively inexpensive and easy to navigate. We left our apartment around 7am and hired two moto taxis right outside to take us to the station (the "station" is a really store front on the corner and the busses park on the street). We decided to take motos to the bus and to carry our helmets with us to Koh Kong. I always wear a helmet when riding motos. (It's the law if you're the driver and it's just smart if you're the passenger!) Motos are usually faster than tuk tuks and cheaper as well. Moto ride from Toul Kork (NE corner of PP) to Virak-Buntham Bus Company (near Wat Phnom on the NW side): $1.

Since I woke up 15 minutes before we left (whoops!), breakfast didn't happen at home. Thankfully, we arrived at the bus with plenty of time to spare—and there was a lovely café just to the right of the bus company! Jaan provided the perfect breakfast to start a day of traveling: bagel with cream cheese (hard to find in Cambodia!) and a cup of really good coffee for $4. We had time to drink the coffee, but asked to take the bagels to go. The great people at Jaan packed up our food in very nice (but not very eco-friendly) containers.

[Kerstin: on the bus and excited about the yummy bagel.]

The bus was quite nice and the staff was friendly. It had air conditioning (essential) and some perks that I hadn't yet experience on the Cambodian buses: they gave each passenger a chilled bottle of water, a wrapped pastry, and package towelette to wash your hands. Wow! Such service! The bus ride was pretty uneventful. They played the standard Khmer karaoke videos (music videos with the words at the bottom that light up like karaoke). I listened to my own music, read, and napped. Kerstin did the same.

The scenery really was amazing as we made our way of the city, past rice fields, small town, markets, and into the mountains. Cambodia was changing before my eyes. I was thankful for a gorgeous day to take it all in. The trip was long, longer than the books said (4 hrs.), and we arrived in Koh Kong City around 1:15 pm, a little over 5 hours. Some road work and careful driving on the part of our bus driver (no complaints there) may have accounted for some of the time, but I think the roads probably aren't as good as they were three years ago when the travel books came out.

[Me at the "bus stop" on the way to Koh Kong.]

Our only stop on the 5+ hour journey was along the side of the road. Um, yes, in the middle of nowhere. Usually the bus stops at a roadside "bus stop" with vendors selling drinks, snacks, and Cambodian food—and toilets (of varying degrees of cleaniness). This "bus stop" was more rural; i.e. people went into the trees to rest. We got off the bus to stretch our legs and take in the middle-of-nowhere-ness. Oh Cambodia.

To Be Continued…