Hariharalaya not only brought us all the excellence aforementioned in the other article, but in introducing us to Millie and James, shaped our destiny in another way. It brought us to Palm Beach resort on Koh Rong.

Palm Beach is bliss. Millie and James had said so, but you never quite believe people, or at least I don’t. I am glad to have given it a shot anyway. They also said that given that it is a long and reasonably pricey (not for what you get, but in relation to the other ferries to the island…more of that later) crossing, that we ought to stay a few days to make it even more bang for the buck. So, we booked 8 nights. To chill out, and relax, I thought I could simply while away the hours catching up on the website. Which I have indeed done a plenty. In fact I am sat in the resort restaurant this instant, at what has become my favourite table, looking out past the palms and the beach towards the see. Really a spot from which to write that is hard to beat, and it has indeed allowed me to catch up on a lot of writing that needed to be wrote.

The trip however started with a bus ride to Sihanoukville from Phnom Penh. It is fair to say when we saw that the only ferry to get there has a meet point at 1pm in Sihanoukville, we were a little alarmed and things started to get all a quiver. A few hours later, we had booked a bus, with what I only call a faultless service from Bookmebus.com. It really was insanely good. We went online to look and as we did we were offered to chat with an agent. I am writing this in the days following the moment when facebook shut down their AI chat bots for being too fucking smart. I think these might have been the same bots, either that or I genuinely had a great member of staff or two helping me out. I explained my situation, that I had a boat to be there for and they told me which buses could do it, but not only that they checked with them, and then they even told me which ones they thought would suit me best. Further still as on occasion the bus company could pick up from hotels, on my behalf they liaised with the company directly and they included free pick up, despite it not normally being available from the hotel or district we were in. Blinding. The next morning came, and we were running late as the pick up had not arrived and our check in time for our bus departure was closing fast. Conny once again got on the live chat and they called and confirmed that the driver was aware of us, en route, but running late and not to worry. Absolutely five star service I have to say. All for two 10$ bus fares. The bus itself (operated by Golden Bayon Express) was excellent. Clean, modern, spacious. Brilliant, and it got us right to where we needed with an hour to spare. It even took us past where our meeting point for the boat was and stopped about a hundred metres away (get off at the Golden Lions…it will be obvious if you are foolishly using me/us as some kind of guide).

Sihanoukville looks like a dump. I was not full of optimism upon arrival. The cafe that they use as a meeting point doesn’t actually operate as anything else but a meeting point and we couldn’t really get a drink or whatnot, but no worries, we were there.

The boat trip was immense. It was a rough crossing. We got on the boat next to David. An older gentleman with a Seaman Stains baseball cap and weather appropriate wet gear on. Even a seasoned passenger on this boat such as he said it was the roughest he’s seen. More about David later. The crossing was rough as balls. I had a blast. Less so the other guests. I think Conny, David and I were the only ones not to throw up! At times, I was daydreaming, imagining deadliest catch scenarios. Had the spray been violently cold and there been crab pots about, the scene would have been complete. Alas, none of either but the boat was swaying so much that as it leaned it’s rail was heading into the dip with the sea coming enticingly close to jumping aboard to drag us down. That said I didn’t fear it. The boys of the boat are clearly salty sea dogs and this is there bread and butter.

We get to the island, bags are dropped off in the restaurant/bar, which serves as the hub of the operation and we settle for a welcome drink and a greeting meeting from the team.

From the less than enticing start at Sihanoukville we had ended up on a little beach paradise in a laid back bar but really, everything about this place is a wonder. We stayed in a bungalow, not the priciest ones on the beach directly, but set a bit back into the resort. The resort is beautifully maintained. The whole team numbers about thirty with about the same amount of bungalows, although you wouldn’t know it, they are so well laid out it maintains a beach hamlet feel. Bungalows are basic, but pleasantly so. They are simple bamboo huts with a cold water shower (you really don’t want hot water) a bed with a fly net and a porch. Really they are everything you need and no more, but that’s how we like it. The locals busy themselves each day by keeping the paths spotless, Conny and I didn’t wear shoes all week. The resort is owned and operated by Roy and Mireille, with able assistance from Craig and a team of locals with Ah Sey a shining light in the service. It should be noted that they are all wonderful, but she has won a special space in our hearts alongside Tive. The food was lovely, the staff were super amenable to my chopping and changing of the menu despite a solid number of dishes on the menu having a vegetarian option already. To come here is a simpler way of being. No hassle. Nothing fancy or schmancy. Just good honest relaxing beach time.

That said there are some activities in which to partake. Craig organises these due to guest interest and weather. A favourite is the waterfall walk. We went in a troupe of 4 Canadians, 2 Americans and us along with Craig. This trip, Craig saved lives. Truly. We had walked past a mother Buffalo, and for some reason the calf had become upset, so mother went on the offensive, silently charging. It’s a good job we saw it, because she was quite close, but Craig, was instantly inbetween the guest and the beast. Big and loud he called out and the cow backed off, but with the calf still crying she kept coming and Craig stood firm. I must say, this isn’t the sort of thing that should put you off, indeed far from it. Such a thing is unheard of, but the lack of concern for himself above that of the guest was remarkable. I really have to say hats off to the guy. While I was there thinking…hmmm do I act…he just did. Of course he was a little nervy but it didn’t show. It truly is a measure of a better human being than most of us because that was a very dangerous situation to be in and he went at it regardless.

Less eventful but equally interesting is the village visit, where you can buy snacks or coconut oil from the locals, see their lives and if you are lucky Mr Hun will be about to show you around. He has a small restaurant by the mangroves which serves as a little cooking school too. We didn’t do that but a couple on their honeymoon did and they had a great time. Mr Hun however is a busy man, he is actually from Kampot and came to do some community work 3 years ago, now everything he does is geared towards educating locals, cleaning up the village and the sea and making sustainable work for them all to thrive responsibly.

Then weather permitting, Craig a keen diver, will organise snorkel trips or walks to lonely beach and such. The resort has beach bikes for hire or kayaks for free use. Conny and I decided upon a kayak trip, but as she is useless, it ended in the same frustrations as ever, still I got a fair workout.

All that active stuff aside, it’s both wonderful and superfluous. Don’t get me wrong it’s great, but what we really appreciated was the personal touch. The sense of a little community. We got to meet and chat with a few different groups. We stayed longer than most, they tend to be two or three night stops in general…one couple who were sick all the way here were only booked for one night…which probably didn’t work out too well for them!

But we spent evenings chatting to David, a wonderfully gentle man who has had one hell of a life, from living in huts on the Amazon with Indians to a floating house in a northern Thai lake with stints in London’s posh bits and many of the worlds poorest bits in between. He really was a gem. He drops amazeballs anecdotes about his life as if they were nothing and not in the slightest showy way. His life story would read like a fantasy akin to Walter Mitty but it’s all true.

We chatted with Bonnie and Hannah the American ladies who went on our walk, and I am sure that if we got in to the politic of the modern world we would have much disagreement but that did not matter, we instead just had a good natter and it is clear that they are lovely folk. The honeymooners were two guy from the Czech Republic, Daniel and Jacob, and they were wonderful, fun great human beings. We learned a new card game (Arsehole…they called it Asshole but I flat refuse) with some young newly graduated Canadian girls from Calgary. We swam with bioluminescent plankton with Craig and the Canadians, and on a different night Hannah from the US, plus a wonderful couple of girls from Cardiff, one called Anna and the other Chloe. We played cards and chatted with Craig, he even let me make a couple of drinks behind the bar a rare treat I love to do when I can. We even came runner up in the pool competition. Mireille is an absolute sweetheart and Roy is a funny chap, who occasionally pops out of the office with a side splitter of a one liner. He will just have picked up on something from afar and crashes the conversation at exactly the right moment to drop a humour bomb. Even the waitresses, in their second tongue English are charming and able to make jokes and have a laugh. Ah Sey is even also chief ice cream maker and her ice cream rivals that of my old friend Mike, who made his Swiss ice cream in Saanen and it is simply the best ice cream I know, so this must at least be the best ice cream in Cambodia if not Asia.

This was almost a holiday from our holidays and could not have been more perfect, that is until Mireille went and took it one step further and as we were umming and arring about staying a final night, she disappeared, only to come back with “if you want you can stay an extra night for free in the honeymoon suite”…

Errr. Yes thanks. Now I don’t think that this is to be expected, and I’m not even sure I should write it, as I wouldn’t want people coming here to push their luck or expect the same, we simply hit it off, but what a nice surprise. It is available due to low season and we stayed longer the most, but still, how kind can they be?

We took the room and will sleep in it tonight. It is beautiful.

Tomorrow we head to the mainland where David who lives in Sihanoukville (he comes frequently to the island and will even be building his own space here, as is the beautiful nature of the host couple) will meet us. He is lending me a motorbike and we are going to ride to Kampot, a place he has all the ‘ins’ and local knowhow. He will show us around and really that is about as good an end to about as good a stay as one could hope for, no?