The island of Koh Rong off Cambodia’s southern coast was once known as a party island because it hosted all-night parties on Police Beach, a short walk from the main tourist pier at Kaoh Touch. They were raucous drugs and alcohol-fuelled parties with DJs whipping people into a frenzy with loud techno and trance music on Wednesday and Saturday nights. There were additional parties at Police Beach on full moon nights that didn’t fall on a Wednesday or Saturday. It was the reason that many older travellers avoided Koh Rong and headed to the smaller and quieter island of Koh Rong Sanloem.

But the Covid pandemic put an end to the all-night (10pm to sunrise) parties. Now Police Beach is deserted aside from a few local families processing their crab catches on the beach in the mornings. The beer bars are overgrown with tropical vines and the wooden structures are falling into disrepair. I was told by locals that there are no plans to resume the parties after Covid.

The header photo to this blog post is from the ‘Koh Rong Official Travel Guide 2020’ (which has not been updated since Covid), whilst the photos of Police Beach today in the gallery below are all mine (© David Astley).