This place is unlike anywhere you have ever been. The owner of the bar where backpackers party until the morning is Turkish, the restaurant that rolls out dough and makes pizza among tropical trees is Turkish, or the owner of the boat that brings you to the island and the owner of the pier where the boat docks is Turkish. So why and how?
KohRong Island is the largest island in the group of islands that you can reach by ferry from the mainland. You arrive at KohRong Island after a boat ride of approximately 30 minutes. If you want to eat something while waiting on the mainland, you can taste Turkish food and drink a cold ayran at the cafe right on the pier.
While waiting in the ferry line, you will see that there are many travelers of different nationalities going to the island. While KohRong Sanloem island is an island preferred by families looking for a quieter holiday, KohRong is an island preferred by people who live faster, where there are endless parties until the morning. The reason why there are so many Turks on the island is not endless parties. It is a story of entrepreneurship. This story goes from transportation from the mainland to the island to the island’s electricity distribution and billing. In addition, many places are either run by Turks or the owner is Turkish. Of course, this does not mean the whole island, there are entrepreneurs from many different nationalities on the island.
Of course, the only feature of KohRong island is not that Turks are in the majority. The island was under the control of the army for many years, and opened to tourism in the early 2000s.The center of the island and the busiest place is the village of Soksan. If you are looking for a quiet holiday, I would not recommend you to stay close to here. You can come and have fun whenever you want. You can rent a motorbike or explore the sandy beaches in different parts of the island on foot. There is a tiny island directly opposite the island and there is a temple in it. You can take a boat and visit it.
Activities in Kohrong include scuba diving, boat trips and night plankton tours, and you’ll probably spend most of your time quietly reading and enjoying the ocean.
Recently, there is a serious pollution on the island due to the rapidly increasing number of tourists and changes in the tourist profile coming to the country. Depending on the direction of the wind, sometimes the garbage thrown from the mainland can be on the beach in front of you when you wake up one morning. Although the only beauty that brings tourists to the islands is nature, today we see concrete and high-rise buildings on the island. When this damage reaches a point of no return, the island will lose its charm and people will start looking for new destinations. This is a vicious circle that people insist on forcing, even though the same result is always obtained. I hope that KohRong residents will realize this before it is too late and a more sensitive tourism will be implemented.
