Approaching from Sihanoukville, the long gold beaches of Koh Ru (Bamboo Island) take the breath away. One of the first islands to capitalise on tourism, you might not be the only one on its two beaches, but you certainly won't be sharing with many. There's a small path through the middle of the island so you can hop between the two in only a few minutes should the crowds of 10 or so overwhelm you. If you decide you'd rather not drag yourself away at sundown, there are a few bungalows on both sides of the island, but it's better to reserve in advance as these can get booked up.
Stay at: BimBamboo Bungalows, pretty turquoise painted bungalows on the beach (double rooms $12 (£8.65) a night) or Coaster bungalows(double rooms $10 a night). Koh Ru Bungalows on the south side have the added bonus of being quieter and it's the place to be for watching spectacular sunsets (double rooms $10 a night;bookings@barrusihanoukville.com).
Getting there: Ana's travel agency in Sihanoukville will pick you up from your hotel ($15 for a day of island hopping including Koh Ru) or Coasters boat leaves every morning at 9.30am from Ochheuteal beach in Sihanoukville ($10 return to Koh Ru).
As you may or may not know we did eventually come to a decision about what we were going to do – either stay in Sihanoukville with all our mates and work on Koh Ru or go back to the UK… Well we are going home!
It was the sensibly choice really (not that we really do sensible) and a few things swayed it for us, if it hadn’t been such a quiet low season and we could have got more work then we would have probably stayed but as it is – there wasn’t and we’re not. So if your reading this from the UK then see you soon!!!
Armed with our decision we spent the last few days setting the homeward bound wheels in motion, flights needed to be changed and things needed to be planned. It was actually a day of mixed emotions, we are very attached to the people and places in Sihanoukville and after a week or more of thinking we were staying, suddenly going home was a hard thing to tell everyone there. But we then had the elation of being able to tell everyone back in England we will be home for the summer… Despite the sadness of leaving Sihanokville and all the amazing people there we knew instantly that we had made the right decision and put it away so we could carry on having fun with them all before we left.
With only a few days left we spent them wisely – top daytime priority was to get oily and horizontal on the beach so we could return to the UK golden brown – texture like sun. Sessions had another re-launch party, this time for the all new menu so that was a must and just like every other night at Sessions bar we all ended up completely pissed and having a large one. Oh and for the record the food was absolutely superb!
The next night was a slow starter and with no real plans we all sat about at Monkey Republic having a few jars. Jimbo (of Sessions fame) was working and that’s a man that likes it lively, so faced with a bar full of people half asleep he decided to have a cheese night, cheesy music that is. 1000 riel per song request and within half an hour shots were being lined up, people were dancing on the bar and we had already heard such cheesy classics as Meatloaf – Bat out of hell, Duran Duran – Rio and the theme tune to Cheers…
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