Monday 4th - Friday 8th January. Sok San Beach Resort, Koh Rong.

I decided to make an effort, get off my ass and do something different for a few days. I have been to this resort before in 2017 so knew what to expect. Sadly, the resort and the village have gone downhill, This is obviously Covid related and they are doing the best they can, but if anyone is planning a trip to an old favourite haunt, this is probably the shape of most places at the moment.

The journey, from Riverside to the Dockside to 4 hours and 10 minutes, including going to the wrong place twice. We left at 5am and were past the airport in about 10 minutes. Stopping at red lights before 6am seems very optional and is likely to get you rear-ended.

Sok San's website boasted, up until a few weeks ago, of a dedicated check in chalet in Sihanoukville with pictures of happy people and saying "your vacation starts here". Google Maps helpfully showed it as pier 65, but that was wrong. Zoom in a little closer and another pops up. That too is closed, overgrown and looking very dilapidated. We called reception and got the correct information. They now share the boat service with Royal Sands Resort (much more expensive) and they pick up from Sihanoukville Autonomous port. No mention of this useful nugget of information was ever made when booking, maybe they think it's all part of the adventure.

Upon arrival, we went for lunch at the restaurant. No draught beer. No cold beer either. There is a problem with the fridge apparently and "not very cold". Hmmm, that one way of putting it. At $3 for local and $3.50 for Tiger and $4 for Beer Lao, they had better be cold. The actual food menu is below. It is probably the worst menu I have ever seen in a hotel. The website still shows two separate menu's, but these are now gone. This is blatant false advertising. The food is also very poor. My Caesar salad was a joke and the Tom Yum was apparently very poor. See my evening choice, the pasta carbonara, pictured below. It looked and tasted like a stoned student would knock up.

However, very cold beer is widely available in the village at 3-4000 Riel, so the cold beer problem was quickly solved. Sadly, Sok San village looks like there has been an actual deadly virus sweeping the world. It has certainly been deadly to business' here. Only the locals remain and the place has shuttered premises and accommodation everywhere. The very decent pizzeria, which I was so hoping to be open, is gone too. There are no western owned/managed places left. You are in with the locals or nothing at all. This is fine when it's cold beer you are looking for, but when it comes to food that is a much less appealing prospect for me.

Today I will be brave and try some local squid. GF spotted some live crabs and that's on the menu for her today. She is not going to suffer the rubbish food that Sok San are offering for very long and if Mrs Grumpy is to be avoided I am going to have to be brave on the eating front.

Photo's (and health reports) to follow.

Enough boring waffle, here's some terrible photos.







A far cry from the luxurious welcome chalet once offered. You feel like a piece of self loading cargo.







However, this is the view from the front door









The very limited menu.



Breakfast (served on the stupidest plate in the recent history of stupid plates)
By the way, this is your only choice of breakfast apart from cereal or a tiny plate of fruit. Tough luck if you're not into fried breakfasts. The choice of sausage is chicken or pork (pork not available!)

I’ll take it. Looks like heaven. Well done. Get in with local chow. Can’t go wrong with muoy Chan Bai char, dram samot. Beer, Tran nah.

Please excuse my awful sort of Khmer.

view out the door looks inviting>

am sure u can find mama in the village

Wow, literally 'on' the beach. Nice.

Chad Sexington wrote: ↑Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:18 pm Is that supposed to be toast on the stupid plate? It looks more like bread with piss stains on it.

It was very lightly toasted, maybe a cost saving technique. It tasted worse than it looks, if that's possible!