Phnom Penh airport to Koh Rong, our not so auspicious journey

Our plane touched down in Phnom Penh at 0750 and we were out within 30 minutes. Exiting the airport, we found ourselves amongst tuktuk drivers and the line for taxis. One good thing was that the tuktuk drivers were not aggressive and a simple no would suffice against their offers of a ride. We were planning to head into the city and catch a bus from a reputable company (Giant Ibis or Mekong Express) to Sihanoukville. So we found a tuktuk, agreed on a price (he kept pointing on his license with his particulars and company contact for reassurance) and got in.

First glimpse into Cambodia. And the wind, dust and other flying particles would attack your face so a mask would be ideal!

Our smiley driver gave us a welcome to Cambodia and asked us about our plans (and also tried to sell us his day tour to the Killing fields). This was when ROOKIE MISTAKE came in.

Rookie Mistake #1: Disclosing too much

We told him about our plans to catch a bus to Sihanoukville and that was when things went wrong.. He started suggesting this other route, where we would take a minivan instead of a bus at a point out of the city centre and along the way to Sihanoukville. He tried to convince us that the road to the city was jammed (which was actually true) and that this alternative would make more sense because we would pass by this area anyway should we start from the city centre. He also kept repeating that a bus was bad and crammed and a mini van was better and more spacious. He quoted us 15 USD which was a bit more than the rates we found online but we figured out that they’ll have to earn a bit so we took the bait (even though we were hesitant).

When we reached his suggested spot, his tune changed and he told us that the ride to Sihanoukville would now cost 20 USD. We were in an uncomfortable situation where we just arrived in a country, heavily disoriented and had no idea where we were, our driver was quickly rushing to drive his tuktuk away and his contacts where there to meet us and we were outnumbered and it was a pretty overwhelming situation really.. So we knew we were duped, were certainly not happy about it and if my guts was a person, it was definitely shaking it’s head in disapproval. I told you so.

Lesson learnt: Stick to the plan, trust your instincts and don’t trust other people so easily.

A motorcycle picked us up and dropped us at the minivan already filled with locals and got in. It was far from the spacious comfort our tuktuk driver dramatically described but we got the most comfortable seats (a small part of me argues that we deserve it for that exorbitant amount) and we started our journey to Snooky.

After 6 hours of paddy fields, villages and a stopover at a rest stop for lunch, we reached Sihanoukville. The van would actually make numerous stops and we stayed all the way till the end at the bus terminal in Sihanoukville. At least our minivan driver took care of us and bought us some fruit when he noticed that we were not eating at the rest stop.

We took a motorcycle to the Serendipity pier area, looked around for a place to stay and settled in for the night. The following morning, we walked to the Coconut beach bungalows office and got our ferry tickets and reserved our tents for Coconut beach in Koh Rong (all official rates so no worries of being duped again), walked to the pier, got our tickets validated and an hour after leaving mainland, we were in Coconut beach!

In the ferry

A not so auspicious leg (we only have ourselves to blame and we can only learn from our mistakes at this point) but we reached our destination safe and sound and for that I’m extremely grateful. Also, Coconut Beach was GORGEOUS.