NEW HORIZONS

FROM THE BEACH SHACK

RESTAURANT AT ALILA VILLAS KOH RUSSEY, the view out front generates a pleasingly sedative effect. Bookended by forested headlands, a kilometer-long sweep of honey-colored sand populated with pine, sea-almond, coconut, and ironwood trees cedes to the jade waters of the Gulf of Thailand. It’s a hallmark image of a resort that, along with the nearby Six Senses Krabey Island, has brought tasteful luxury to a part of Cambodia that can sometimes seem to be headed in the opposite direction.

Foreigners have long been drawn to the country’s compact south coast. Near the border with Vietnam, the town of Kep emerged as a seafront sanctuary for French administrators during the early 1900s, earning it the sobriquets of Kep-Sur-Mer and the St.-Tropez of Indochina. In the 1960s, following Sihanoukville’s establishment as a deepwater port, Khmer and international glitterati flocked there to enjoy the city’s endless beaches (Jackie