After only a couple of days in Phnom Phenh we get an early bus to the south coast of Cambodia, Sihanoukville. This is the main beach destination of the country and with that we were under no false pretenses that it would be catered for tourists and probably would not be a true reflection of the real Cambodia or the nations people. That said we were looking forward to some beach action over my birthday period. We had managed to miss most of the coast in Vietnam and aware that we will probably not reach southern Thailand, this is our last opportunity to catch some waves and enjoy the relaxed pace of life that the beach brings.
Our bus journey took 5 hours and the bus was full, mainly of Cambodians, but also a handful of westerners. It was one of the worst bus journeys I have had since Bolivia. It wasn't down to the comfort, that was fine, it was down to the freezing air-con and being subjected to loud local music blaring continuously from speakers above our head. In the seats in front of us a poor woman continuously vomited into plastic bags for the entire journey. The rain came down in lashings about half way there and we hoped that this was not a thing of more to come!
Relieved to finally get off the bus we had landed outside of town. The rain had stopped and allowed us to get our bearings in the dry. With no guide book as a reference point we examined a blown up map in the station without a scale, surrounded my rickshaw drivers desperate for us to choose them. Eventually we bargained 2 moto taxis down to a dollar each to take us to the main beach stretch. The main beach was about 5km away from the bus station and we were happy that we had listened to the rickshaw drivers tell us it would be a very long walk if we attempted it!
Our fist stop was Monkey Republic, a hostel I had read about in the Phnom Pehn distribution. Apparently rooms for $3. On arrival we found that dorm rooms were $2.50 and doubles were $6. In Asia we knew we could do better than this, even if it was a tourist spot. The place was heaving with young trendy flash packers, including the two young couples that had been on our bus. The girlfriends we wearing matching waist high tiny jean shorts and salmon pink blouses. They were straight out of a fashion magazine. We decided to look elsewhere.
Our moto taxis recommended us a place 5mis from Occheuteal beach called GST. There we found a well organised enterprise of rooms, restaurant, shop and internet cafe. We took a small double en suite with fan for $5. It was ideal and as budget as we would get in this area. On check in we even got a 30min free massage coupon each. That was definitely going to come in handy!
Eagre to see the sea we headed around the corner for our first glimpse. Within minutes ominous black clouds burst, pouring heavy sheets of cold rain. People, including many locals were diving and jumping the rough but warm waves. We sheltered under a beach side cafe waiting for it to calm down a little. When we realised it wasn't going to for some time, we ducked and dived through the muddy river of a street to one of the many huts to line the street called Bamboo. They advertised 50cent draught beer, so we took shelter here and enjoyed watching the onslaught of the monsoonal rains. Behind the bar was a Russian couple who didn't appear to own the place but were just working there. The guy was friendly enough, but his girlfriend could only muster an icy look that was a clear signal she wasn't the chatty type. I wasn't even sure she officially worked there. When it came to wanting another beer I actually felt guilty asking her. Not the best vibe for a chilled beach-side bar playing reggae! Besides that we managed to sit there for some time watching the rain and relaxed after our day of traveling. An older Italian came to join us and we enjoyed hearing about his adventures in the nearby islands. He told us it was the first day it had really rained since he had arrived 3 weeks ago.
Nearing my birthday, Al and I went back to GST when the rain had calmed down. I was treated to some gin and tonics and ate good cheap food before flopping tipsily into bed. Unfortunately due to the layout of the rooms we were rudely awoken by loud obnoxious Americans stumbling down our corridor at 3am. (They repeated this for the next 2 nights. Surely a little more consideration is easy. Especially when they were repeatedly asked to keep the noise down each night. Rant over.)
Our fist day in Sihanoukville the clouds were moving fast in the sky and the monsoonal rains looked like they might be here to stay a little longer. We made a dash to the beach in a gap of cloud. It almost looked like the cloud could get burnt off, but it wasn't a dead set. We decided to explore and take a long walk down the beach aiming to reach Otres beach which had a good reputation for being a quieter beach. The walk ended up taking us about 6hours with many stops along the way. Our first important stop of the day was to sample the local seafood. There were so many beach vendors walking around with food in baskets on their heads. Large shrimps, or small lobster were plentiful. We bought 10 for $3 and stopped undercover whilst a small shower passed us. They were delicious. I was so happy to finally sample this kind of food. Al had often told me with fond memories of similar vendors in Vietnam, which we had not managed to locate on our recent trip there.
Further down the beach we passed many beach-side cafes and places to set up camp for the day on a deck chair. After a while there was still a lot of fine white sandy beach ahead of us before the black rocks indicating the end of the beach. The black rain clouds once again began to creep towards us on the horizon and before we knew it they were above us threatening heavy rain.
This time we dived under a shelter of a local vendor who sold basic drinks out of a cool box. She had hammocks strung up under the tarpaulin sheets with a fantastic view of the Gulf of Thailand. We hung out with a couple of beers in the hammocks for a couple of hours. At the beginning we had the area all to ourselves, by the the time the rain was persistently coming down many Cambodian day trippers had joined us under the shelter. It was Saturday after all. A little further down the beach it was absolutely swarming with youngsters all out for the day. It turned out that it was also the Queen of Cambodia's birthday, so it was a national holiday and many students had organised parties on the beach. It was a nice thing to witness the contrast in how the natives enjoyed the beach compared to the foreigners who took over the beach nearer our hotel. For one thing, they would all go into the sea fully clothed and they weren't phased by the constant rain. They strolled up and down the beach as if it was the best weather of the whole year!
When the rain finally eased we made a dash for it to Otres beach before the next prominent cluster of black clouds caught up with us. We climbed over the rocky headland which was actually a bungalow resort with an accessible path to the next beach. Finally on Otres beach, it was also beautiful white sand with many shells and sea urchin skeletons scattered over the surface. We fell into a beach-side cafe with pool tables and happy hour beers advertised. It was so good to chill by the sea and take in the fresh sea air. We were kicking ourselves that we had left the hotel without towels or swimming gear. The sea was warm and inviting with decent sized waves. In the end we gave into temptation and stripped down to our underwear and ran in. The beach was almost empty with people anyways, so ''what the heck'' we thought! We eventually came out as the swell got much larger and more heavy rain pounded down onto us.
For the rest of the afternoon we enjoyed some happy hour beers, played some pool and chatted to the landlord. He was a Scotsman who had moved there with his family recently. His teenage son took Al on at a couple of games of pool as I was being particularly useless. The rain didn't let up for the rest of the day and although it was fun getting marooned in places we were eager to get back before darkness. At an opportune moment we ended up sharing a rickshaw with the teenage son and his uncle, they dropped us back at GST. We got warm and dry then enjoyed the comforts of GST restaurant for the evening. They had a wide range of really good food. Their Cambodian curry was particularly great value.
Day 3 in Sihanoukville, I turned 27yrs! Woken by such loud rain. Al brought me my favourite breakfast in bed, pancakes and tea! For the whole day he treated me like a queen. It was so nice, and made even more fun that we felt like we were on our holidays at the seaside! With a morning of hard rain we weren't sure what the day had in hold for us.
We started off by using our massage coupons and paying for another hour so we could both have a full hour. The reception seemed surprised and unprepared that their guests might actually want to use their coupon, they took about 15mins to track their masseuses down. On the sign outside the massage room it gave us the choice of Khmer or Thai massage. Unsure of what either of these entailed we tried to understand by asking them. I am still not sure whether they were the most grumpy masseuses I have ever come across or if they really didn't understand us, but it seemed that we weren't going to get the choice. A very heavy handed massage commenced. I like hard massages, but I think there needs a little trust installed before getting yanked around for an hour. Al always seemed to be ahead of me, so when I heard groaning and cracking I knew what was to come. We couldn't help laughing in the end. Completely cracked, stretched and pummeled we hobbled out. Funnily, it was the best massage I have ever had.
We had heard there was a market in Sihanoukville. The rain had stopped, so we set off walking about 20mins inland. Away from the hotels and beach the place consisted of large roads with nothing much on them other than road side shacks and crumbling properties. The market was easy to find and we set about buying for unusual fruits. There were so many we didn't recognise. Some furry looking lychees, custard fruit and dragon balls are the ones we opted for; intending to take them to the beach with us. The market was inside with very low light levels and strong pungent smells. It wasn't the most inspiring of markets so we did not stay for too long. Instead we caught a moto taxi to Victory Beach.
Victory Beach is further north that Occheuteal. It is a lot quieter with less beach cafes and hardly any beach vendors trying to sell things or give massages, thread the hairs on my legs or give me a manicure or pedicure. The white sandy beach has low palm trees growing through the sand and making the beach look like a paradise postcard. The main business on the beach is a place called Airport. It is an old aeroplane hanger with a vintage plane inside with a spiral staircase leading up to the cockpit. The plane itself is an office and out of bounds for the punters. A little disappointing as this space could be used in so many creative ways. Inside the large space of the hanger, there is a DJ booth, dance area and two free pool tables. It is a unique place. We based ourselves outside on the white padded sun loungers and enjoyed a birthday cocktail, Tequila Sunrise.
Advertised that evening was an all you can eat bbq for $5 and happy hour beers. Perfect for my birthday. After a few hours lounging at the beach we left the beach and found another great little bar and restaurant that had free use of the pool if we bought something. Although we didn't have our swimming gear we stayed for a beer and then went back to the Airport for the bbq. It was good with lots of meat and salad to choose from. The rain once again came down torrential once it was dark. It was a good place to get stuck and enjoy the happy hour beers for a while though. Not many other people were there, but a group of beautiful Russian ladies were all very merry and dancing to Russian Rap.They turned out to be celebrating a 30th birthday. So I tipsily danced around with them before we tired of the music and headed to Monkey Republic for some drinks. Although we had decided not to stay there, we were intrigued to try our their much written about 'cheap' bar.
It turned out not to be particularly cheap, but there were lots of people to chat to and we ended up bumping into Marlin, the girl we had met in Hoi An and the HMC in Vietnam. It was really cool to see her. She had even taken all of Al's advice and bought 'A New Earth' by Ekhart Tolle and had applied to do a Vipassana course in Burma. Awesome to meet someone who didn't just talk about doing stuff but actually followed through.
The evening progressed and we bar hopped, bumping into the Russian ladies again. This time I managed to persuade them to JJs, a music bar on the beach. Humorously, I had all of them traipsing down the muddy dirt roads in their stilettos. A good, random night to end a really fun birthday by the beach.
A hung over day on the beach followed. We set up camp at beach cafe called Muselis on Occheuteal beach. We camped there for the day. The sun was finally out to stay so we had a full beach day.
The sea was calm and therapeutic to watch. Come evening we enjoyed playing some pool in Muselis. Despite it being destroyed by local girls who through it was amusing to throw the balls around when we weren't looking. BBQs are sold all along the beach for $3 so we picked one that smelled good and chilled watching the waves reflecting the stars roll in.
For the rest of our time in Sihanoukville our days were very similar to this. It was addictive to soak up the rays and relax on the beach. With the weather being unpredictable we made the decision not to visit any of the nearby islands. Weather wasn't the only factor to think about.We were worried to be stuck on an island where the cost of living was potentially too high for us. With GST serving great cheap food we became locals, eating most meals there. Even though it did mean having to put up with their limited play list of Barbarah Streisand and ''Dirty Bit'', which after hearing it around the world are getting very sick of it!
After 4 nights in GST we ended up having a spontaneous night in a beach bar called Sessions. They had good music, cheap beer and lots of fun loving people. They reminded us of our friends back home. They were all a bit mad. One of the guys, Danny, owned a hotel nearby called HooHa! where they were all staying. A day later we had been convinced to move in for the remaining 3 days we stayed in Sihanoukville.
Danny was generous and allowed us to stay for $5 when normally it should have been a minimum of $6. Plus he upgraded us to a 1 bed apartment with our own porch, fridge, large bedroom with A/C. It was a turn out for the books and made it even harder to leave and continue our travels.
On our last night we tried to make it an early night, but that seemed impossible with our friend Alan (who lives half a year in Goa and half in Cambodia) who insisted on sharing buckets of Mekong whiskey and coke and bought us goodbye beers. We were touched, but also drunk.
The following morning we had a horrendously early start a 7pm after only 2hrs sleep. It seemed the apt way to leave this party town for the much quieter river side village of Kampot, only 2hrs away in a mini van. With our heads rolling around as we slept, the van seemed to take no time at all before we drove over a large bridge and landed in the chilled Mekong riverside town.
Eagre to see the sea we headed around the corner for our first glimpse. Within minutes ominous black clouds burst, pouring heavy sheets of cold rain. People, including many locals were diving and jumping the rough but warm waves. We sheltered under a beach side cafe waiting for it to calm down a little. When we realised it wasn't going to for some time, we ducked and dived through the muddy river of a street to one of the many huts to line the street called Bamboo. They advertised 50cent draught beer, so we took shelter here and enjoyed watching the onslaught of the monsoonal rains. Behind the bar was a Russian couple who didn't appear to own the place but were just working there. The guy was friendly enough, but his girlfriend could only muster an icy look that was a clear signal she wasn't the chatty type. I wasn't even sure she officially worked there. When it came to wanting another beer I actually felt guilty asking her. Not the best vibe for a chilled beach-side bar playing reggae! Besides that we managed to sit there for some time watching the rain and relaxed after our day of traveling. An older Italian came to join us and we enjoyed hearing about his adventures in the nearby islands. He told us it was the first day it had really rained since he had arrived 3 weeks ago.
Nearing my birthday, Al and I went back to GST when the rain had calmed down. I was treated to some gin and tonics and ate good cheap food before flopping tipsily into bed. Unfortunately due to the layout of the rooms we were rudely awoken by loud obnoxious Americans stumbling down our corridor at 3am. (They repeated this for the next 2 nights. Surely a little more consideration is easy. Especially when they were repeatedly asked to keep the noise down each night. Rant over.)
Our fist day in Sihanoukville the clouds were moving fast in the sky and the monsoonal rains looked like they might be here to stay a little longer. We made a dash to the beach in a gap of cloud. It almost looked like the cloud could get burnt off, but it wasn't a dead set. We decided to explore and take a long walk down the beach aiming to reach Otres beach which had a good reputation for being a quieter beach. The walk ended up taking us about 6hours with many stops along the way. Our first important stop of the day was to sample the local seafood. There were so many beach vendors walking around with food in baskets on their heads. Large shrimps, or small lobster were plentiful. We bought 10 for $3 and stopped undercover whilst a small shower passed us. They were delicious. I was so happy to finally sample this kind of food. Al had often told me with fond memories of similar vendors in Vietnam, which we had not managed to locate on our recent trip there.
Further down the beach we passed many beach-side cafes and places to set up camp for the day on a deck chair. After a while there was still a lot of fine white sandy beach ahead of us before the black rocks indicating the end of the beach. The black rain clouds once again began to creep towards us on the horizon and before we knew it they were above us threatening heavy rain.
This time we dived under a shelter of a local vendor who sold basic drinks out of a cool box. She had hammocks strung up under the tarpaulin sheets with a fantastic view of the Gulf of Thailand. We hung out with a couple of beers in the hammocks for a couple of hours. At the beginning we had the area all to ourselves, by the the time the rain was persistently coming down many Cambodian day trippers had joined us under the shelter. It was Saturday after all. A little further down the beach it was absolutely swarming with youngsters all out for the day. It turned out that it was also the Queen of Cambodia's birthday, so it was a national holiday and many students had organised parties on the beach. It was a nice thing to witness the contrast in how the natives enjoyed the beach compared to the foreigners who took over the beach nearer our hotel. For one thing, they would all go into the sea fully clothed and they weren't phased by the constant rain. They strolled up and down the beach as if it was the best weather of the whole year!
When the rain finally eased we made a dash for it to Otres beach before the next prominent cluster of black clouds caught up with us. We climbed over the rocky headland which was actually a bungalow resort with an accessible path to the next beach. Finally on Otres beach, it was also beautiful white sand with many shells and sea urchin skeletons scattered over the surface. We fell into a beach-side cafe with pool tables and happy hour beers advertised. It was so good to chill by the sea and take in the fresh sea air. We were kicking ourselves that we had left the hotel without towels or swimming gear. The sea was warm and inviting with decent sized waves. In the end we gave into temptation and stripped down to our underwear and ran in. The beach was almost empty with people anyways, so ''what the heck'' we thought! We eventually came out as the swell got much larger and more heavy rain pounded down onto us.
For the rest of the afternoon we enjoyed some happy hour beers, played some pool and chatted to the landlord. He was a Scotsman who had moved there with his family recently. His teenage son took Al on at a couple of games of pool as I was being particularly useless. The rain didn't let up for the rest of the day and although it was fun getting marooned in places we were eager to get back before darkness. At an opportune moment we ended up sharing a rickshaw with the teenage son and his uncle, they dropped us back at GST. We got warm and dry then enjoyed the comforts of GST restaurant for the evening. They had a wide range of really good food. Their Cambodian curry was particularly great value.
Day 3 in Sihanoukville, I turned 27yrs! Woken by such loud rain. Al brought me my favourite breakfast in bed, pancakes and tea! For the whole day he treated me like a queen. It was so nice, and made even more fun that we felt like we were on our holidays at the seaside! With a morning of hard rain we weren't sure what the day had in hold for us.
We started off by using our massage coupons and paying for another hour so we could both have a full hour. The reception seemed surprised and unprepared that their guests might actually want to use their coupon, they took about 15mins to track their masseuses down. On the sign outside the massage room it gave us the choice of Khmer or Thai massage. Unsure of what either of these entailed we tried to understand by asking them. I am still not sure whether they were the most grumpy masseuses I have ever come across or if they really didn't understand us, but it seemed that we weren't going to get the choice. A very heavy handed massage commenced. I like hard massages, but I think there needs a little trust installed before getting yanked around for an hour. Al always seemed to be ahead of me, so when I heard groaning and cracking I knew what was to come. We couldn't help laughing in the end. Completely cracked, stretched and pummeled we hobbled out. Funnily, it was the best massage I have ever had.
We had heard there was a market in Sihanoukville. The rain had stopped, so we set off walking about 20mins inland. Away from the hotels and beach the place consisted of large roads with nothing much on them other than road side shacks and crumbling properties. The market was easy to find and we set about buying for unusual fruits. There were so many we didn't recognise. Some furry looking lychees, custard fruit and dragon balls are the ones we opted for; intending to take them to the beach with us. The market was inside with very low light levels and strong pungent smells. It wasn't the most inspiring of markets so we did not stay for too long. Instead we caught a moto taxi to Victory Beach.
Victory Beach is further north that Occheuteal. It is a lot quieter with less beach cafes and hardly any beach vendors trying to sell things or give massages, thread the hairs on my legs or give me a manicure or pedicure. The white sandy beach has low palm trees growing through the sand and making the beach look like a paradise postcard. The main business on the beach is a place called Airport. It is an old aeroplane hanger with a vintage plane inside with a spiral staircase leading up to the cockpit. The plane itself is an office and out of bounds for the punters. A little disappointing as this space could be used in so many creative ways. Inside the large space of the hanger, there is a DJ booth, dance area and two free pool tables. It is a unique place. We based ourselves outside on the white padded sun loungers and enjoyed a birthday cocktail, Tequila Sunrise.
Advertised that evening was an all you can eat bbq for $5 and happy hour beers. Perfect for my birthday. After a few hours lounging at the beach we left the beach and found another great little bar and restaurant that had free use of the pool if we bought something. Although we didn't have our swimming gear we stayed for a beer and then went back to the Airport for the bbq. It was good with lots of meat and salad to choose from. The rain once again came down torrential once it was dark. It was a good place to get stuck and enjoy the happy hour beers for a while though. Not many other people were there, but a group of beautiful Russian ladies were all very merry and dancing to Russian Rap.They turned out to be celebrating a 30th birthday. So I tipsily danced around with them before we tired of the music and headed to Monkey Republic for some drinks. Although we had decided not to stay there, we were intrigued to try our their much written about 'cheap' bar.
It turned out not to be particularly cheap, but there were lots of people to chat to and we ended up bumping into Marlin, the girl we had met in Hoi An and the HMC in Vietnam. It was really cool to see her. She had even taken all of Al's advice and bought 'A New Earth' by Ekhart Tolle and had applied to do a Vipassana course in Burma. Awesome to meet someone who didn't just talk about doing stuff but actually followed through.
The evening progressed and we bar hopped, bumping into the Russian ladies again. This time I managed to persuade them to JJs, a music bar on the beach. Humorously, I had all of them traipsing down the muddy dirt roads in their stilettos. A good, random night to end a really fun birthday by the beach.
A hung over day on the beach followed. We set up camp at beach cafe called Muselis on Occheuteal beach. We camped there for the day. The sun was finally out to stay so we had a full beach day.
The sea was calm and therapeutic to watch. Come evening we enjoyed playing some pool in Muselis. Despite it being destroyed by local girls who through it was amusing to throw the balls around when we weren't looking. BBQs are sold all along the beach for $3 so we picked one that smelled good and chilled watching the waves reflecting the stars roll in.
For the rest of our time in Sihanoukville our days were very similar to this. It was addictive to soak up the rays and relax on the beach. With the weather being unpredictable we made the decision not to visit any of the nearby islands. Weather wasn't the only factor to think about.We were worried to be stuck on an island where the cost of living was potentially too high for us. With GST serving great cheap food we became locals, eating most meals there. Even though it did mean having to put up with their limited play list of Barbarah Streisand and ''Dirty Bit'', which after hearing it around the world are getting very sick of it!
After 4 nights in GST we ended up having a spontaneous night in a beach bar called Sessions. They had good music, cheap beer and lots of fun loving people. They reminded us of our friends back home. They were all a bit mad. One of the guys, Danny, owned a hotel nearby called HooHa! where they were all staying. A day later we had been convinced to move in for the remaining 3 days we stayed in Sihanoukville.
Danny was generous and allowed us to stay for $5 when normally it should have been a minimum of $6. Plus he upgraded us to a 1 bed apartment with our own porch, fridge, large bedroom with A/C. It was a turn out for the books and made it even harder to leave and continue our travels.
On our last night we tried to make it an early night, but that seemed impossible with our friend Alan (who lives half a year in Goa and half in Cambodia) who insisted on sharing buckets of Mekong whiskey and coke and bought us goodbye beers. We were touched, but also drunk.
The following morning we had a horrendously early start a 7pm after only 2hrs sleep. It seemed the apt way to leave this party town for the much quieter river side village of Kampot, only 2hrs away in a mini van. With our heads rolling around as we slept, the van seemed to take no time at all before we drove over a large bridge and landed in the chilled Mekong riverside town.