Day 298: The last resort?

After packing up, we had a leisurely breakfast at Mr Heng and then climbed into our 11 o'clock tuk-tuk down to the port, giving us plenty of time to be on time for our 12pm speedboat transfer to Song Saa Private Island resort. Set up on sister islands in the Koh Rong archipelago (one developed, Koh Ouen, and one not, Koh Bong), Song Saa is Cambodia's first luxury private island resort. The islands were bought by an Australian couple for $15,000 and the resort they've developed, while very luxurious, is also has very good environmental and social credentials. Kate had read about it in a copy of Vogue while we were staying with my aunt in Switzerland at Christmas, and I managed to set up a press trip so I could write a story about it for Geographical. 

When we got to the port, the security staff refused to let us in, obviously sceptical that anyone turning up in a tuk-tuk could be on their way to Song Saa (with good reason, I think). We did a bit of quiet pleading and eventually they lifted the gate and let us in. We had read that the port was the terminal for cruise ships that visited the area, so we were expecting a big air-conditioned place with a kiosk and maybe wi fi, but instead we just drove into a car park and across to the water. We were directed to a nice-looking speedboat where a very friendly young man dressed all in white beamed a welcome to us. It turned out that the boat was there just for us, and we were asked if it would be okay if we waited while the captain finished his drink (heh, what, we were going to say no?). And then we were off, speeding over a millpond-flat sea to our luxury island resort. After turning some pristine-white chilled towels brown and eating some artfully prepared tropical fruit, we all went out onto the front deck, where the girls sipped soft drinks and Kate and I enjoyed a regularly refilled glass of sparking rose each. 

When we got to the island we were met at the dock by Bradlie, the resort's incredibly laidback Canadian general manager and a few of the staff. We were then shown around the island's facilities and then taken up the hill to our villa. Oh. My. God. It's enormous, with incredibly high ceilings and two separate bedrooms with en suite bathrooms and walk-in wardrobes located on either side of a huge central living area with a sunken lounge. There's a kitchen area with a massive fridge with a free, regularly refilled mini bar, as well as our own dedicated mojito station and a Nespresso coffee machine. Outside there's a wooden deck and a gorgeous little infinity pool with a spectacular view down over the overwater villas below and across to nearby Koh Rong island. The furnishings are all very tasteful and the whole effect is incredibly impressive. After we had settled in, and picked our jaws up off the floor, we went for lunch at the Driftwood Bar, the more 'basic' of the two bars/restaurants on the island.

After lunch, I tracked Bradlie down so that I could start to organise an itinerary that would get me everything I need for my story. Bradlie, when I found him, was having none of this, however, doing his best to instil me with the resort's 'just relax and take it easy' mantra. Suffice to say it didn't really work. I remained all too conscious that our stay was short, so after I got back to the villa I gathered everyone up and we went down and set ourselves up with some snorkelling gear. There's a small reef at the southern tip of the island, in front of the resort's main pool, so once we had our gear, we wandered down there and slipped into the blood-warm water. The visibility wasn't the best but when we swam out to the edge of the little reef, we saw some large schools of fish and some interesting, colourful species, including some lovely copperband butterflyfish, Moorish idols and batfish, as well as a few different types of garfish and three different species of barracuda – two quite small and one very large, reaching lengths in excess of a metre and a half. Afterwards, we went back to the villa and christened our infinity pool.

In the late afternoon, Kate and Zoe went off to do some yoga on the boardwalk that connects the resort island to its sister island, which has been left in its original, rainforested state. Their instructor was a young South African woman – a freediver and yoga teacher whom Bradlie had met while he was working in Bhutan. They apparently had some difficulty concentrating on their poses as fish jumped from the water around them and then three very large hornbills flew down and sat in the trees just above their heads.

Meanwhile, Sarah and I were sitting out on the couches at Vista - an overwater bar and restaurant at the opposite end of the island that's reached by walking across a sweeping boardwalk - sipping drinks and watching the fish jump individually and en masse as the sun set over Koh Rong and the fishing boats headed out to sea. When the others joined us, we walked back down to the Driftwood Bar for dinner – a selection of different curries from around Asia - beside the water. When we got back to the villa, the staff had set up a big screen and a projector, and as the girls watched Big Hero 6, someone arrived with a couple of bowls of popcorn.