Adventures in Sihanoukville, Cambodia
When people hear "Cambodia", usually the first association that pops up in their head is "Angkor". My "usually" is a little different. After staying in this wonderful country, I now have only one association - a traffic accident. In total, during the week of our stay in the country, we were in three traffic accidents and survived a hell of a night crossing.
We guessed that in Cambodia we would not be bored as soon as we boarded a night sleeper in Phnom Penh (the capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia). We have never seen such a broken sleeper. As soon as we crossed the border of Vietnam and Cambodia, it became clear - we arrived! Such a sharp difference from Vietnam, and here it’s not even about dirt, but about people, nature, air. We crossed some river on the ferry, and already there were a lot of begging children.
In Phnom Penh we took bus tickets to Sinaukville.
I wanted the sea and relaxation and did not want to stay in the noisy and dirty capital, given that it strongly resembled Delhi.
Arriving at the bus station, we were told to wait a little, then a little more, then a little more ...in the end, our bus was two hours late. When he arrived, we were extremely happy, because we were tired and planned to swim in the sea in the evening. How naive we were...
Two hours passed on our way, I sweetly dozed off almost on the gallery of the bus, something pulled me out of sleep ...And literally in a second I felt a strong blow and saw how hell was happening outside my window! A huge KAMAZ combed the bus right next to me, there was a strong rattle, we were shaking. A sharp brake and a strong smoke pulled from the gallery. All this passed in a matter of seconds, and I didn’t even notice how I found myself on my neighbor’s knees, and he, waking up, could not understand why the hell I had laid on him.
The phrase “smoke, we crashed into the gas tank, everything will explode” clearly sounded in my head. I have already had such an accident, and then we actually crashed into the gas tank, but God saved us.
Our friends were sitting in the gallery, and in a matter of seconds they ran ahead of the bus, and the friend who was sitting behind me was covered in glass. Then I noticed that my backpack was in pieces.
I wanted to get out of the bus, but it turned out to be not an easy task - the KAMAZ closed the doors.
Just a couple of minutes later, the police were already at the scene of the accident, and we were all surprised how fast they were. In fact, it turned out that there was a site nearby.
We couldn't figure out why the accident happened. The road was being repaired and we were moving very slowly. How the driver of the truck did not notice us is not clear. His brakes were clearly intact, because then he himself drove to the site, while we were being towed.
We sat on the site for two hours waiting for another bus. We ate fruit stocks and were glad that everything worked out.
The new bus was not particularly new, but it was moving. The road was still long. It began to get dark and it began to get colder, and the air conditioner in the bus kept cooling and cooling. Our backpacks were in the trunk, and we only had fleeces and sweatshirts with us. My friend and I wrapped ourselves in one sweater for two, but this did not really save. Poor Cambodians got what they had - shirts, towels, put on socks. Everyone froze. People were indignant and asked the driver to turn off the air conditioner. After such requests, he turned it off for 5 minutes and then turned it on again. When it was only FOUR kilometers to Sinaukville, our bus was dead! It turns out that he was not particularly “healthy”, and the driver deliberately did not turn off the air conditioner so that the engine would not overheat. It was 10 pm, the second emergency of the day, the third bus. We were exhausted.
Thanks to the locals who realized that something was wrong with people, and you can earn money on a cart. For $ 2 each, we took a minibus to the desired sea ...
After Sinaukville we went to Siem Reap in a rented minibus. The road to Phnom Penh passed quickly and we slept peacefully, but after Phnom Penh, hell began. The road is so broken up that it is not clear how you can even drive on it, besides, it was the main road. Pit on the pit, stones, sand. Probably never heard of asphalt there. Our minivan was thrown in all directions. The seats could not stand it and jumped to the beat of the bus, a kind of accordion. We were squeezed, then unclenched, and it seemed that our car was about to fall apart. I still don't understand how we got there! ! We will remember this night crossing for a long time. I do not advise anyone to repeat it. Now it is clear why people prefer to travel this way by plane.
In Siem Reap, we also did not do without incidents.
When we were driving to Tonle Sap Lake, we slowed down on the descent and slowly moved down the hill when a local rickshaw with an elderly Malaysian couple flew into us. Naturally, our bus was not injured, but the rickshaw (whose wagon traditionally consisted of a moped and a trailer) suffered a moped, whose front fender was torn out. Well, the Malaysian couple almost flew out of an unstable cart.
These are the road adventures in Cambodia….
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Sihanoukville is Cambodia's only seaside resort. In the future, it will be able to compete with Pattaya or Phuket, but at the moment it is a fairly quiet and not particularly well-equipped resort. There are many guesthouses, hotels and bungalows right on the seashore. Sihanoukville is divided into downtown (center), seven beaches, with infrastructure adjacent to them and the islands. Before choosing a place to live, you need to clearly understand what you want on vacation.
We initially decided to go to the most developed area - the Sarendipity beach area. There are more hotels with an average price of $20-40 per double, a bungalow for backpackers for $7, or a bungalow on the seashore for $35-100. Finding a hotel at night is problematic, or rather problematic at a normal price. But after the eviction, there are many options. There are restaurants, cafes, music and dancing. Europeans take pictures of local beauties, in general, complete moral decay in the evening, but during the day everyone who walked at night sleeps. There are few people on the beach, peace and quiet. You can sit in a cafe on the seashore, drink cold beer and enjoy your vacation. However, we did not like the beach for swimming here.
In order not to get stuck in one place, and in Sihanoukville it would be stupid, you need to rent a motorbike. On the very first day, our men did just that, and immediately after acquiring "iron horses" we set off to conquer other areas.
Otres Beach is more deserted and calm.
There is no electricity, so many of the bungalows located there use generators that produce not only electricity, but also incredible noise. But further from the bungalow there is a deserted beach where you can swim in the clear sea, sunbathe naked on a not very clean beach, and drink drinks bought in advance at the supermarket, because there are NO shops here.
Before reaching Sokha Beach, we turned into some kind of gate and got to a rocky beach where local boys were fishing. The water here was very clean, and there were many palm trees with coconuts on the shore.
Probably the most famous beach in Sihanoukville is Victory Beach. Why - I did not understand. The beach is not very clean, the water is the same. There are a lot of cafes with sun loungers where reasonable prices. You can spend the whole day under an umbrella, enjoy a local massage. From the beach you can see the island of Koh Pous (Treasure Island) to which the bridge leads. The bridge itself is closed and only locals can drive over it.
Most likely this is due to the grandiose construction that is being carried out on the island. There will be a hotel soon.
There is also a Russian cafe, where you can naturally meet the Slavs. In general, "our brother" is not enough at the resort.
Downtown is a great place to shop. There are large supermarkets, a market, many more budget hotels and local catering establishments. We especially liked one place where you could overeat for $3. There were incredibly delicious stuffed tomatoes and crabs.
Conclusion: Sihanoukville is quite a pleasant place, prices are cheaper than in Thailand, almost at the level of Vietnam. Cleanliness is average. Beaches - to see everything and appreciate it, you need to take a bike. Sokha Beach is cleaner, but there are many locals who are chased by the caretaker. There are uninhabited (at the moment) islands, there is a snork and dive, but we did not appreciate it. In general, the place is normal.
