After a better than expected short stop in Phnom Penh it was time to wrap up our Cambodia trip in Sihanouk Ville, a port city in the south of the country and a holiday retreat for Cambodians. We arrived on Sunday 24th January after another early start and roughly a 5 hour trip on the bus. After checking into our resort, the Orchidee Guest House, we dumped our bags and headed to the closest beach for some sun and maybe a swim to cool down from the heat. We took a leisurely stroll along the beach, which wasn’t one of the prettiest we had seen on tour, but was still full of swimmers and water sport activities.
We settled on the Banana Restaurant and Bar where we made ourselves comfortable on their big comfy chairs overlooking the sea and enjoyed some people watching. This area is packed mostly with Israeli and Eastern European tourists. There are two downsides to this beach, it’s been spoilt and is quite dirty and it’s a local spot for hassling, from begging to selling goods and services and all were extremely slow to take no for an answer. Anyway we enjoyed our lunch but decided to make our way back to the hotel and swim in the pool, which looked a lot cleaner and more inviting that the sea water! We enjoyed a great late afternoon splashing session, much to the irritation of the holiday makers relaxing on their deck chairs. This culminated in a competition on who could swim the most laps underwater. After a couple of the boys almost turning blue it was “iron lung” Greg who won by a mile – he must be half fish!
After a quick nap in our rooms we all congregated outside our bungalows and made our way out for dinner, we caught a ride with the local tuck tuck drivers who congregate outside the hotel and barter for a decent fare. We settled on Mike and Craig’s Restaurant for dinner, a recommendation from the Lonely Planet and something a bit western for a change. Being a Sunday night they had a special on roast dinners and every one of us dived straight in for either roast chicken or pork – it was like home cooking which we hadn’t experienced for a long time! The food was pretty good and after a few beers and some wine for the ladies it was back outside to grab a tuck tuck and head home.
We stopped off at the local shop outside our hotel for an ice cream dessert, which involved every one trying to dive into the freezer to get the best choice first. Once we were all stocked up it was home to bed.
We woke up nice and early for breakfast on Monday which was an interesting assortment of breads, pastries, eggs and bacon. Kath arrived to join us for the day and we jumped on a couple of tuck tuck’s to make our way to Sokha Beach, a private resort beach which came highly recommended. We were not disappointed – the squeaky sand was stunning and the water crystal clear! We quickly unloaded our stuff and grabbed some sun loungers to lap up the very hot sun. We were all in and out of the water regularly to cool down, and then the boys tucked into a game of Frisbee which was very competitive as per usual. The resort also had a lovely swimming pool and bar area, so after a few hours of beach we hit the pool and enjoyed a swim and some lunch – the tastiest burgers we’d had in a while.
After a great day at this lovely resort we made our slow trip back to our hotel to swim a bit more and grab a customary nap. We met up later for our last dinner in Cambodia. We took a walk up and down our road to pick the best restaurant, all of which offer barbecues right on the road, and display their fish and meat for you to choose from. After much deliberation we finally settled on one, and tucked into everything from chicken, fish, prawns, and beef – all succulently cooked on the barbecue. It was a great dinner and farewell drink to both Kath and Clyde who we would be leaving in the morning. After dinner we did yet another ice cream run on the local shop and then hit the sack for an early start the next day.
We all met for breakfast at 8.15am on Tuesday to say our farewells and catch our bus to Phnom Penh – we would be catching our flight to India.... a long day of travelling lay ahead. Leise, Lara, Greg, Shandy, V and I then said our final farewells to Clyde and Katch who would be staying a little longer in Cambodia, and jumped on the 5 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh. We arrived there just before 2pm and caught the slowest tuck tuck from the bus station to the airport, which was another eventful ride amongst some of the craziest drives in the world. On arriving at the airport it was a frantic session on the Internet trying to get a hotel sorted for Mumbai.
With a hotel booked we made our way to Bangkok for a change of plane. Lara and Leise were spending a night here and joining us the next day so we said our brief farewells and then the Greg, Shandy, V and I tucked into some curries, sushi, and beers at the excellent Bangkok airport. Finally we checked into our flight to Mumbai with the thousands of Indians returning home from their electronics shopping in Thailand – there were plasma’s and all sorts of electronic goodies all over the place!
And so after just a couple of nights in Sihanouk Ville we were leaving Cambodia – here are our highlights and lowlights:
- Sokha Beach, a stunning beach and lovely resort to relax at for a day
- Our last night barbecue dinner, great food all round
- There is a lot of hassling in certain parts of this town which gets a bit much after a while
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