Our hotel, the Golden Sand, was rather grand
looking from the outside but inside was rather ordinary. The bathroom didn’t
have a shower per se, but was instead a wet room – i.e. there was a shower head attached to the wall and a drain in one corner. Fine in principle, but
not in practice. It simply meant the floor of the bathroom was almost
constantly wet, making it difficult to put your clothes on without them also
getting damp, and we got wet feet every time we needed to go in there. The
breakfast buffet was excellent with a huge variety of taste temptations – full
marks there! The wifi was intermittent and occasionally showed a login screen
in Russian – just shows who the majority of guests were!
We were a short walk from Ochheuteal Beach
which, to me, at first sight, was horrifying. Being a New Zealander, I am used
to mile upon mile of sandy shore, with plenty of space between beach-goers, who
carry along their own beach umbrellas and chilly bins and rugs and picnics. Not
here! The beaches in Cambodia are more reminiscent of European beaches, where
restaurants and bars compete for space above the high tide line and each have
their own tables, chairs and deckchairs lined up in front, almost down to the
water.
So, you can quite easily end up check-by-jowl
with some disgustingly huge beer-bellied male, offering a meal of his German
sausage to a pretty young Khmer woman waitress – yes, we did actually overhear
that conversation! We also saw many an older Western male with extremely
young-looking local girls –and I don’t even want to imagine what their
relationship was. I was, at different times, ashamed, embarrassed and disgusted
with my fellow Westerners who have brought their low morals and obscene habits
to a country where extreme poverty forces some people to do things they would
never otherwise dream of doing.
However, don’t let these things put you off
visiting this beautiful place. Ochheuteal
Beach is 5 kilometres
long – I know, we walked every inch of it – so, if you just keep walking, you
will reach a point where only the local people enjoy themselves frolicking in
the warm waters or, even further, to where you almost feel like you have the
beach to yourself. And there are several other beaches to vary your days.
Serendipity is just the name for one end of Ochheuteal, and is full of
restaurants and guesthouses but no golden sandy beach, so a place to eat, drink
and sleep but not to swim. Outres is a mini Ochheuteal, not as long, not as
crowded, but certainly just as beautiful. Independence Beach
is even quieter, though one end is reserved for guests of the resort hotel built
there. And Sokha Beach is the same – a blue-uniformed
guard blows his whistle at those beach-goers who dare stray on to the sands
reserved for those wealthy enough to stay at the Sokha Resort.
You can eat and drink well at any of the
beach-side restaurants and bars for a relatively small amount of money. Happy
hours that extend for several hours and offer two-for-one cocktails are the
norm, so it’s no wonder drunkenness is rife! Most bartenders make a mean
margarita; many, but not all, mix a spicy Bloody Mary – all for about US$2.50.
A simple chicken and vegetable fried rice would cost about the same, freshly
barbecued seafood or chicken perhaps US$4. There is also no shortage of women
wandering the beach, with huge trays of cooked seafood or fresh fruit
precariously balanced on their heads. Others carry raw food and a lit brazier
at each end of a long pole, supported on their strong shoulders, and cook the
food at your request.
Many other traders sell their goods along the
beachfront as well: sunglass hawkers, souvenir sellers and women who will give
various parts of your body a massage, provide manicures and pedicures, and even
thread your legs free of any stray body hairs! After a couple of cocktails one
evening, Marianne and I both enjoyed foot massages and had our toenails painted
bright purple.
Last, but most certainly not least, the sunsets at
these beaches are to die for! Whether by accident or design, there are usually
half a dozen of the local wooden longboats moored offshore, making for striking
silhouettes against the lowering sun. Combine this with a long cool cocktail
enjoyed while lounging in a deck chair at the water’s edge … bliss!
Sihanoukville may have its critics, and it
certainly does have an element of sleaze, but I would have no hesitation in
returning to its sandy shores.
Beautiful pictures! Yet again, you prove that walking away from the crowds of other tourists is the way to see the good stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks, John. I appreciate your feedback.
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