Cam_Sihanoukville_Trip_100828

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Overview

Sihanouk Ville town sits in the center of a small peninsula that juts into the warm waters of the Gulf of Thailand. Several fine, near-white sand beaches, easily accessible from the town, line the shore around the peninsula. The main beaches are lined with little thatch roofed beach bars and seafood shacks offering cold drinks, beach umbrellas and chairs, seafood BBQ, evening parties, water sports and more. Ochheuteal and Serendipity Beaches are the most popular and the busiest beaches with plenty of nearby hotels, guesthouses, bars and restaurants. On the other side of town, Victory Beach at the base of Weather Station Hill (aka Victory Hill) is also popular but not as busy, offering a somewhat more tranquil atmosphere. Budget bungalows and guesthouses sit on the side of the hill and the beach sports seafood shacks, chairs, umbrellas and even a nightclub. Otres Beach is similar to Ochheuteal but far less touristed and has a relaxed, out of the way feel. Currently there aren’t any regular accommodations but plenty of little seafood shack and bars.

Day 1 - Departure from Ho Chi Minh city

We got up early in the morning, and ran to the bus station which located in the backpacking area of Saigon (an old name of Ho Chi Minh city). The weather was really fine for travel such a far distance.
We in group of four had plan such the trip to the most detailed. Everything (most of things :D) was planned. We even set up a website to upload information about the comming trip and also to correspond with each other. However, everyone just been through a very busy season, two of us were working for a tourist agency. The summer period (peak season started from June) just past.
Looking for weather information is always top of the list if you plan to travel to the beach. Who doesn't want to enjoy sunny days on beach. Unfortunately, the weather forecast showed bad news. The province - where we'we heading - was in risk of being hit by storm (small one). But everything had been set, we could not delay it further.
7:00 am
At 7:00 a.m the bus - as promised by the agency - departed from its station, loaded around 20 people. Most of them were young and just went for fun - no business. There were also a couple of Western, sitting at the rear of the bus.
The street was so crowded, it was Friday, like all time of the day. I forgot that they had another bus station on the way to the border (Cong Hoa St.). So the bus - as usual - stopped at the 2nd bus station and loaded more passengers on the back seats. More people, more messy. An old woman managed to get on the bus with so many stuffs she was carrying along. She was very old - lucky for her - and not agility any longer. It took quite a good time for her to sit still on her seat. The ticket seller said something with the driver - may be about the old woman. She demanded the driver to wait up for more 10' for her nephew to come and go with. Certainly, no wait more people. And they decide to dump her, force her to wait for next departure.
It took a round more than 1 and haft hour to the border. Like usual, it was still quite primitive. Just some houses, inns lying along the road leading to inner city. The view was quite boring. The bus stopped at an small inn for passenger to get down and had some food. Just few people ate simple soup. This inn is large with free bath room (WC), wash tub for passenger. Be kind people, you need to order something...
At the border, you can also pay for your bought stuffs in Vietnam Dong or Khmer Riel as well. Dollar is more than welcome. At this place, you can not enjoy good rate, the rate may be lower (normally) than inner city.
12:00 pm
Upon arrival at the bus station in the city, not too far away from the border, the first thing you need to do is checking your luggages (mind your pocket). Making a deal with the Tuk-tuk driver to the next stop is the second thing you'd better thing of. We cut a deal with a guy, who agreed to drove 04 of us to the market (Orrussey), nearby with 02 dollars, it depends on your skills. You can earn better price. I myself think that it was good enough.
Our final destination was SHV, not Phnompenh, so we got to the ticket office of Mekong Express. This service company is said to be one of the best you can find in Cambodia. Not like Ho Chi Minh city, there were only two departures a day, one at 7:00 and the other at 14:00. We had to wait for the next, it was 12:45.
The Orussey market is not a worth-to-say destination, it is like any usual market, the price here is normally cheap, the vendor can communicate English comfortably with customers. And you can buy Cell-phone, battery, sim card here. The price is better than picking at the border (VN-CAM).
14:00 pm
After more than 02 hours wait up at the office of Mekong Exp, the bus finally came at the station. Surprisingly, so many people chose this day to go, certainly most of them were tourists. Getting on the bus was an easy feeling. We were welcomed by smiling girls & boys stading at the front of the bus. Well, they even were even waving at us when the bus rolling its wheels.
18:45 pm
On the way to SHV, I was trying to reach some hostels and guesthouses over the phone to make booking. Unfortunately, It was not easy as we thought. The answers were the same "Please come and have a look first". Wow, that was so kind, but what if we could not have a place at night - I thought.
On the way to SHV, we stopped at worship house, where people got off the bus and prayed for a moment.
It was dark, and wet when we actually arrived at the destination. I felt like it got dark a bit sooner than usual. At the bus stop - not really it was - there were so many tuk-tuk drivers with maps and smiles welcoming tourists. No surprise. Same like in my country.
I was assigned to do the talking and bargaining in all aspects. It was raining. We tried to make a quick deal with a driver, and he seems to be nice. He drove us to some places and even help out with the receptions. Most good-view place was packed, so the most famous ones. At last, we picked the guesthouse on the way to Serendipity beach, it was clean and newly built.
19:45
We quickly filled out a form, and got two rooms on 2nd floor. Local people did not stay in this area, but foreigners.
It continued raining outside, so we decided to have dinner at the guesthouse. It was not bad. Some guests said it was good.
One hours later, we could get out and went to the night market nearby the roundabout - you can easily spot it on the map - where hawkers sells junk food. It looks ragged but cheap. We had some things like haft-boiled eggs, insects, and a bottle of wine then called it a day.

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