Cambodia: Days 7-9 (Phnom Penh - Sihanoukville & Home)

Day Seven – Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville
Today began an hour behind schedule, as I mis-set the alarm to 6:30am, rather than 5:30am. As such, I began sans-shower, which is not such a great way to begin a day-long bus trip through rural Cambodia. Ah well, at least I feel less touristy. We left at 7:15am, after meeting Nat, Soren, Gitte & Jonas, who were also heading to Sihanoukville.

The bus is an experience in itself, with more locals than tourists, and more backpackers than tourists. We also had an array of t-shirts and people who made it all the more interesting. Among the best were the Khao San Rd tshirt (“You know you’ve been to Khao San Road when you…”), and the Aussie hippy with the “I Love Acid” tshirt. The worst was the tourist with her “No money, no honey” tshirt – REALLY inappropriate for Cambodia! I mean, c’mon, it doesn’t take much sense to realise that in a country where most people earn less than US$100 a month, such a slogan would be in bad taste. Argh!

Sihanoukville is probably the closest Cambodia has to a “beach resort”. It’s FAR more developed than I expected it to be, but at the same time, it’s not that developed at all. It’s still in its infancy, but its shaping up to be quite a tourist destination. 99% of the city is geared towards tourism – from the plentiful guesthouses, to the endless restaurants on the beach. There isn’t a space on the beach that isn’t taken up by a café or bar, which is sad, but a good sign that at least people are visiting. Coming from the bustling city of Phnom Penh, which was almost devoid of non package-tour tourists, it was a nice change.

We eventually arrived at our Guesthouse – G.S.T – run by the same people as the buses. Methinks there is a substantial commission given to this guesthouse, as despite our insistence that we wanted to try somewhere else, we were taken there. It turns out the other NUS exchange students were staying there also, and we looked at the room, and it seemed ok, and really spacious. We paid US$9 for one room (two dbl beds, TV, bathroom). It’s located on Occheutuel Beach (away from the main tourist beach I believe, so I’d hate to see what the “main” tourist section looks like).

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the beach, which as mentioned above, was hardly a peaceful affair. Despite all the interruptions for fruit, spring rolls (fried and Vietnamese), bracelets, massages, and the like, it was the first time since arriving in Cambodia that we had time to just stop and relax. It was fantastic – really really nice. Dinner was had at the Bamboo Light Café, which was one of the many places we received flyers for during our time at the beach. Paid US$3.50 for a delicious buffet dinner, and 50c for an Angkor beer.

Despite all that I have written above, Sihanoukville was far from busy – there were tourists here, and very few locals, that is for sure – but there just weren’t that many! Walking along the beach that night made that obvious – all the bars were open, but none had more than 5 or 6 people in them, despite capacity for about 30 each. It was disappointing, and I can’t see how these places survive, but then they appear to do fine, so I guess the low overheads work in their favour.

Day Eight– Bokor National Park
We knew when we arrived in Sihanoukville that we didn’t want to just sit around the beach all day, despite that sounding very enticing! After all, it is not every holiday that one gets to travel to Cambodia, so we wanted to make the most of it. Thus, we chose to visit Bokor National Park – a deserted hill station on the top of Bokor Mountain (US$20/person + US$5 park entry). If you choose to do this (and I highly recommend it), allocate an entire day (7am to 5:30pm), and be prepared for some bumpy roads, unlike any I’ve ever seen. These roads have to be seen to be believed, and make a long journey even longer. However, this is part of the experience, and it meant that the actual hill station was deserted save for two other cars. This really added to the atmosphere, and gave an already creepy place an almost sinister edge.

It took 4 hours to reach the first stop – the old Palace – where a French religious group were holding a discussion of some description on the floor of the old living room I guess. This was the least interesting of the buildings for me, because it just looked like a house. The rest of the hill station, on the other side of the ridge, was far more interesting. Walking through the old hotel, church and casino, you really got a feel for what it was like in the heyday of the French colony. The casino especially, as everything bar the interior is intact. You walk into the reception area, and then follow around a corner and it’s just a big open space. It’s very easy to imagine roulette wheels, poker games, and the like being played under chandeliers.

Describing the hill station really does not do it justice, and I know that by now you are probably really bored of reading all about my trip to Cambodia, so I’ll leave it to my photos to speak for themselves. Really nothing compares to being there, especially as, later in the afternoon (around 1:30pm) the fog came up over onto the ridge and began engulfing the smaller buildings. It was as if nature was reclaiming the area, telling us to leave!

Dinner was had at the Dolphin Café, on the other end of the beach. We ate really well, except I think it was this meal that gave me violent food poisoning for the next 48 hours, however it could have also been the local lunch we were given at Bokor. I am more inclined to believe it was the lunch, however Bernd and Nina ate exactly the same thing … hmm. I guess I’ll never know.

Day Nine – Sihanoukville – Phnom Penh – Bangkok – Singapore
This was our big travelling day – the end of our amazing trip to Cambodia and Thailand – and I was violently ill the entire way. I am sorry to everyone who had to share buses, planes and taxis with me, because I can’t have been a particularly pleasant companion. I have to thank everyone who I knew on my flights and buses (Jonas, Bernd, Natalie, and Nina especially, as well as Andy, Soren, and Gitte), who lent me painkillers, sweaters and sick bags to make my journey easier. Also, big thanks to Phnom Penh & Bangkok Airports for having clean and plentiful bathrooms.

We left Sihanoukville around 7am, caught a bus to Phnom Penh, and then flew Bangkok Airways from Phnom Penh to Bangkok (US$85 online), and then AirAsia from Bangkok to Singapore (~S$60). The cheaper alternative (especially to avoid departure taxes from Cambodia – US$25) is to take a bus back to Bangkok, either from Sihanoukville directly, or Phnom Penh.

The trip was one I will never, ever forget, and I am really sorry I had to leave on such a negative note. I lasted 10 days without incident, and then, bam!, the last meal caught me out. Next time I will just have to be more diligent.

Ciao!