|
|
Sihanoukville is a rather sleepy coastal town
around 230
km southwest of Phnom Penh.
Sihanoukville has no past, it was placed on a cleared
piece of jungle in the 1950 ties to build Cambodia's only
deep water port. Now Sihanoukville has a bright
furure..the tourist are coming.
A good bus
service out of the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh makes
it easy to go there quickly.
Don't rent a
motorcycle in Phnom Penh and do it on your own, its
similar dangerous as in Thailand since no one cares on
any traffic rules and if you have a accident there is no
qualified hospital around where you can be moved to.
A
couple of pretty beaches are "in front" of Sihanoukville.
Don't expect a infrastructure like in Thailand,
everything is very basic. Only recently has the first
upper market beach resort opened the door for business.
The whole
area is in a state of flux since many people try to do
some business on tourism. The normality is, go there and
have a look, all what you need is there, internet,
restaurants, accommodations from $5 - guesthouse - to $250
- Sokha Beach Resort - a interesting nightlife, bars
where one can find a companion and so on. But exactly
this back to basic has its charm.
Plenty of
sea food is available in countless restaurants and the
beach is only a couple of meters away, so what else one
needs ? |
 
 
Photos by Don Pirot
Sihanoukville Cambodia, a Great Place to Visit.
'Beach town', 'port community', 'fledgling resort
destination' - all describe Sihanoukville, Cambodia's
premier beach town. Sihanoukville's white sand beaches
and warm Gulf of Thailand
waters combine with a laid
back, beachy atmosphere
 
to provide a great little
tropical getaway. Sihanoukville is a place to unwind by
the beach, enjoy the fresh from-the-ocean seafood, take
in a snorkeling or scuba trip, and generally slow-down,
lay back and chill-out.
Sihanoukville has a different look and feel than most
Cambodian towns. Constructed as a port city in the late
1950s, the town is much newer, more urban and
cosmopolitan than most Cambodian provincial cities.
Nowadays, Sihanoukville is as much a beach town as it is
a port town, catering to beach-going weekenders from
Phnom Penh as well as a steadily increasing number of
foreign visitors. Still, the pace of life in
Sihanoukville is very relaxed. Cows occasionally wander
the main road, outside town foreign faces draw smiles
and curious stares, and most of the beaches offer only
beach umbrellas, thatched roofed eateries, and a growing
number of restaurants, bungalows and hotels.
Sihanoukville has a more than ample supply of
accommodations,
including a 5-star resort complex on Sokha Beach, several mid-range places downtown and at
the beaches, a few 'upscale' three-star hotels, and
dozens of great guesthouses, especially on Ochheuteal
Beach. Considering the moderate number of visitors to
Sihanoukville, the town offers a surprising number and
variety of restaurants and bars. Fresh seafood,
especially crab, prawns and ocean fish, has always been
 one of the town's biggest draws, but there is also a
wide variety of places offering foreign cuisines -
Australian, French, Indian, German, Sri Lankan, British,
Italian, pizza places, a couple of western bakeries and
even a espresso coffee shop. And these days Sihanoukville offers a pretty good night life as well
with a wide variety of bars staying open well into the
wee hours, especially on Weather Station Hill, in the
downtown area, and the beach bars on Ochheuteal,
'Serendipity' and Victory Beaches.
While there are no regular flights to Sihanoukville,
-this might change- it is still pretty easy to get to.
Most people travel from Phnom Penh by bus or taxi (3-4
hours
From the Thai
border crossing at Koh Kong, either ferry (4 hours) or
taxi (6 hours) to Sihanoukville. Come to this great out of the way holiday town and
have a ball without bruising your wallet.! Author
Basil Murdoch
Sihanoukville, named
after a Cambodian King,
isn’t easy to get to, but it
is worth the hassle. If
you’re coming from Thailand,
the best choice is to cross
the border at Koh Kong and
grab a boat to
Sihanoukville. The boat
takes roughly four hours,
but beats taking on
Cambodian roads, which are
pure hell. If you’re coming
from any location inside of
Cambodia, try to get to the
major highway between Phnom
Penh and Sihanoukville as it
is the only road without
potholes, missing bridges,
etc.
Sihanoukville bends up
and around a point of land
on the Gulf of Thailand.
The town can best be
described as being like a
beach resort in Thailand
sans the tourist masses.
Rooms on the beach will set
you back five to 10 dollars
a night, which isn’t much to
watch a spectacular light
show.
Mother nature has a habit
of burning off excess energy
in the Gulf of Thailand
every December. This
particular metaphysical yoga
comes in the form of
lightning. Lots of it.
Starting around nine in
the evening, the sky
becomes a cascade of rolling
thunder and bolts of blazing
light. The entire show takes
place maybe twenty miles or
so offshore, so you get all
of the effect without the
risk.
The best place to watch
Mother Nature do her thing
is Ochheuteal Beach. The
beach is long and narrow,
but lined with little
restaurants. The tables for
these restaurants consist of
small footstools sitting
between to beach chairs next
to the water. The food is
good and you won’t find a
better seat in the house for
the light show.
The light show is
incredibly captivating.
The entire sky will light up
in one blast to then be
followed by a trail of
lightning strikes moving
across the sky. To enhance
the impact, the restaurants
have a habit of playing
music. As the show
progresses, one starts to
get the feeling the
lightning is happening in
synchronicity with the
music.
Hey, maybe Mother Nature
likes Pink Floyd!
more
|
|
| |
|
|
