Thursday 7 May 2009

Sihanoukville

Beaches: Dirty
Weather: Raining
Travellers: Few

If I was ignorant, this would be my summing up. But, none the less, this was the case. It's apparently low season now in Cambodia which on one hand is good (things are less expensive - my $8 room cast $4 for instance) but on the other is bad (it's rained every day except yesterday and there aren't that many tourists).

There's about 7 beaches here spread across about 8km and i've visited 6 of them in my time here. They're all pretty much the same except for the amount of bars, number of touts and general busyness. The best however was a beach called Otres about a 6km walk away - empty, clean(er) and more importantly, it was the only day it didn't rain. My guesthouse is just off a beach called Serendipity which is always busy (even if it is low season) and full of people trying to sell you stuff so I try to avoid this one, instead walking or cycling along the coast to where it can literally be deserted. And strangely, walking along a deserted beach in a thunderstorm was actually pretty amazing, two fingers up at Mr. Sun.

The town is a bit of a non-event, a few decent book shops and a supermarket but nothing else really, I just venture in and venture out again with no reason to hang around. There's a market, a few resturants and internet cafes but most seem orientated at locals more than me, either that or I can do better along the beach or from mz guesthouse.

On the 4th I booked a ticket to Ream National Park (one of the reasons I came here) which is small cluster of islands and mainland 18km from Sihanoukville. We took a boat for about an hour and a half through the mangroves swamps to a completely isolated - and clean - beach where we spent the best part of an hour, before going on a 2 hour trek through the jungle, passing a local village and rendezvousing back with our boat via a lunch of Barracuda. Luckily the weather also was half decent so had a good day out, although to find out it wasn't the right season for the supposed Irwaddy dolphins was a bit of a let down.

Now I dont want to sound like a Negative Nora about Sihanoukville, I do like it here, I just think on this occasion the tourist season is against me. I have met some nice people here and enjoyed myself but ultimately the weather let me down on most occasions. Who planned this trip anyway?

The days i've had here where the weather has been good (all erm, 2 of 'em) have been fun, but I think im ready to move on... I think I have stayed here a tad longer than expected but that's mainly because I was holding out on the weather, I haven't seen a beach in over a month! Definitely indulged in too much T.V here though which is never a good thing. Anyway, tomorrow im off to the seaside town of Kampot (and Bokor National Park) for a few days before heading along the coast again to the smaller seaside town of Kep - good crab apparently! From there im heading back via Phnom Penh to cross the border into Ho Chi Minh city,Vietnam on April 14th.

X

P.s. My Y button is infact my Z button and visa versa, thus explaining anz mistakes :)

2 comments:

  1. Hi Tom it was good to come back from a week away and find a blog arrive. Get the distinct feeling that Cambodia is not nearrly as good as Thailand. Still suppose you it can't all be on the plus side.Don't know about the 'Y' and 'Z' think that ANT soup must still be having an effect as you are running a month behind in your onward trek to Vietnam sure you must mean May 14th not April. Fancy wasting time watching TV shame on you that's why you have probably missed the good bits, Ha Ha!! Hope things soon pick up and become more enjoyable. Take care love Christine and Malcolm P.S your mother's in Scotland knocking back Brandy and Whisky must be a pretty slurred state.

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  2. Ha. Days/weeks/months are all a blur to me.

    And on the contrary my dear Luckhursts, Cambodia is better than Thailand in alot of ways, if not all. Sure Thailand is a hive of activities but Cambodia is amazing on a personal level - it's hard to explain but something like that. It's beautiful in a different way, almost in an unspoiled, rustic way.

    And by the by, I didn't become like a couch potatoe - remote in one hand, crisps in the other (ha) - I just saw alot of CNN news and a few afternoon movies :)

    T.X

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