From the crab market at Kep, a short wooden boat crosses to a single curve of sand that the French called Rabbit Island and Cambodians call Koh Tonsay. Twenty-five minutes is all it takes, and it is one of the gentlest day trips on the whole coast, though plenty of people find a reason to stay the night.
One beach, slowly
The main beach is modest and lovely, a shallow arc of soft sand backed by palms and a line of simple bamboo and wooden bungalows. There are no roads, no cars and no great list of things to do. You rent a hammock, you swim in the warm, calm water, and you let the afternoon drift. Fishing boats bob offshore, and the light softens into one of the better sunsets in the Kep area.
Seafood, where you sit
The island runs on the sea. Small kitchens along the sand grill the day's catch to order, squid, prawns and the blue crab that made this coast famous, often with the green Kampot pepper that grows in the hills just across the water. You eat at a plastic table with your feet nearly in the sea, and it is as good as any white-tablecloth dinner for miles.
Stay, or go
Most visitors come for the day and are back in Kep by dusk. But the island is at its best once the day boats leave, when the bungalow guests have the beach, the stars and the lantern light to themselves. A night here costs very little and buys a great deal of quiet.
How to be here
Buy your boat ticket at the Kep pier, bring cash, and do not expect much more than a beach, a hammock and a plate of crab. That, it turns out, is plenty.