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Swimming in Sihanoukville
- Have a Weekend Getaway, Cambodian-style
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| Sihanoukville, also known as "Kampong
Som," is like a Florida resort town dropped
oddly on Cambodia's southern coast, on the
Gulf of Thailand. Founded a mere 50 years
ago as a deep-water port, Sihanoukville
experienced a tourist boom in the 1960s
when local and visiting beachgoers headed
to the coast, looking for sand and sun without
crossing into Thailand. As a result, much
of the shorefront property has been scooped
up by moderately luxurious resorts. Budget
tourists still have plenty of options, however,
with a few backpacker hotspots sandwiching
the posher hotels. |
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| Victory Beach's charmingly weathered bungalows
hearken the area's heyday as a gathering
ground for 70s hippie backpackers. The guesthouses
are cosy and the people are some of Cambodia's
friendliest, though the port on the northern
end of the beach makes for a mediocre swimming
experience. Occheuteal Beach, nicknamed
Serendipity Beach, is the newest traveller
hangout, with a long stretch of restaurants
and bars opening out onto beautiful turquoise
waters. |
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| There is no shortage of guesthouses on
either beach, each with rooms ranging from
the basic 3$ fan room to the more luxurious
10$ group-sized suites with A/C. On Occeuteal
Beach, GST Guesthouse and Rega Guesthouse
are two standout names, located a few paces
inland on the road behind the shore. Both
have clean rooms and tourist services at
the front desk, where adventurous beachgoers
can book diving and snorkeling trips to
neighbouring islands down the coast. Down
on the beach, Sunset Cafe arranges trips
to the exquisitely remote Bamboo Island
for about 5$. |
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| The clean sand, shallow water, and smooth
ground on the beaches makes Sihanoukville
a popular holiday spot for Cambodian students
and young families. Every weekend, the beaches
fill up with crowds of people swimming by
day and dancing by night. Unlike the party
islands in Thailand or the old French resort
towns in Vietnam, Sihanoukville is a unique
vacation spot where Western and local tourism
co-exist along the shore. Chatty restaurant
staff practice their English, pick-up games
of football are played out on the beach,
and children sit beside groups of backpackers
to build temples and chedis in the sand.
Interactions aren't all amicable, however.
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With
tourism as its economic backbone, the beach is
a well-trodden path for vendors, encouraging visitors
to buy their cold drinks, handmade jewelry, and
bright sarongs. The cute-but-aggressive boys who
weave bracelets for their customers speak some
of the best English in Cambodia, and they'll use
it persistently to make a sale. |
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Pushy
merchants aside, Sihanoukville invites a rare
social amalgamation of Cambodian and foreign beachgoers.
This is the best place to skip the pan-western
menu at your guesthouse bar and head to the beach
with the Cambodian vacationers for some inexpensive
and fantastically fresh barbecued seafood. Tasty
prawn, crab, and tuna are par for the course,
but daring eaters can sample the more avant-garde
local delicacies of fresh-caught shark and jellyfish.
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The
city itself is fairly unexceptional, offering
the standard amenities of banks, post offices,
and small markets. If the weather takes a turn
or travellers get waterlogged from the beach,
the town has some standout restaurant/bars that
will revive one's spirits. Angkor Arms is a British
pub that fares well with expats. It boasts a comfortable,
vibrant patio and all the draught you may be missing
from home. Down the street, Dusk til Dawn is a
rooftop bar whose liveliness that lives up to
its name. |
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Back
at the beach, a busy weekend means no shortage
of activity along the shores of Occheuteal Beach.
It may be difficult to separate the bars from
the impromptu dance parties as you walk down the
strip, but you will be welcome into either. At
the southern end of Serendipity Beach, the Dolphin
shack (look for the neon blue dolphin sign) employs
some of the nicest Cambodian bartenders you'll
ever meet. Take a seat with the witty owner and
let her funny, sentimental stories entertain you
all night. |
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Other articles by Anne Merritt:
Crocodile
Rockin' in Samut Prakarn - Lopburi
Monkey Festival - Saraburi
Sunflower Fields - Koh
Tao: Island Travel at a Turtle's Pace -
Doi
Suthep: Exploring Chiang Mai's Spiritual Side
- Full
Moon Party - The
Life of Pai Northern Thailand's Sweetest
Find - Sister's
are Doing it for Themselves - Coming
Together on Koh Samet - So
you want to teach in Thailand? - Halong
Bay: Vietnam's Jewel on the Water - Zen
and the Art of Marketplace Haggling - Laos
Lifts Us Up Where We Belong - Kuala
Lumpur: Off the Backpacker Route and Into the
Big City
- Water
Water Everywhere - the Songkran Festival Explained
-
Da Lat's Easy Riders - Swimming
in Sihanoukville - Thailand
Books for Travellers; a KSR Guide to the Backpackers'
Favourites - Luang
Prabang - Volunteering
with Elephants - Seeing
Kanchanaburi through the Eye of the Tiger
-
Hoi An - Strolling Through Vietnam's Prettiest
Colonial Town - Slowly
down the Mekong - Traveling
as a Couple; Some Tips in Thailand - The
Vegetarian's Guide to Thai Food - How
to Meet Local People - One
Week in Thailand - Trang
Underwater Weddings - Traveling
China
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Anne
Merritt is Canadian and has an English Literature
degree. She has worked as a journalist for a
university newspaper. She is currently living
in Ayutthaya as an ESL teacher and is sharing
her experience of Thailand with KhaoSanRoad.com.
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