What Goa is to Indians, Sihanoukville is to Cambodians. A perfect place with beautiful beaches, party atmosphere, sea food and of course shacks and bars. It should not come as a surprise that it is home to the largest brewery in Cambodia. The city is believed to have the best beaches in the country. We were keen to visit the secluded island of Cambodia- Koh Rong Samloem and Sihanoukville was our gateway to the island.
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| Stunning Beaches Of Koh Rong Samloem |
Since it was more of a pit stop we decided to stay closest to the pier and that happened to be the Serendipity beach. The most crowded and touristic part of the town. The best way to identify the area is by the massive Golden Lion Circle. The area is lined with bar, cafes, restaurants, hostels, hotels and not to forget the string of Casinos. Sihanoukville is a complete casino city solely aimed at the Chinese tourists. If party is on your mind and you want to go completely wild, then Sihanoukville is the place to be. The city is buzzing with life at night and is very lively with live music, lights, casinos lit up and of course people partying like there is no tomorrow.
Though we went with minimal expectations to Serendipity beach, it was pretty much a turn off to put it very mildly. We happened to see the darker side of tourism. Sadly the beach was eaten up by the eateries that have mushroomed around the shore. The beautiful beaches back home in South Goa are paradise. The strong stench, massive amount of garbage strewn around, beer cans floating and glittering in the water, hundreds of restaurants encroaching the beach and sparing all but one feet width on the beach for people to take a stroll. However, since this beach was one of the smallest stretches and the most crowded, this was the scenario. Other beaches such as Otres are believed to be better. There also seems to be a private beach - Sokha Beach owned by Sokha Beach and Resort, where visitors can spend time on the beach by paying a small fee.
We managed to walk around the local market and were amazed by the number of stalls around. While the Serendipity beach was not much fun, we enjoyed the amazing budget friendly cafes and spas which was the only silver lining of Sihanoukville. Most people of Cambodia are extremely nice and friendly, greeting us with a smile at every corner. Their charming smile lit up our day.
Invito Restaurant serves amazing wood fired pizza at a very budget friendly price. Their service was excellent, staff very friendly and the thin crust pizza was very good. The ambiance was top notch.
There are lot of activities that one can indulge in while in Sihanoukville from snorkeling tours to diving. There are a few reliable dive stores that are PADI certified and provide a great experience.
We had stayed at Monkey Republic Hostel Serendipity beach road near Golden Lion traffic circle. Our first hostel experience outside India and boy were we blown away! We had opted for the basic private "Only Fan" room and it was way better than some of the hotels that we had stayed in. The room had an attached bath, cleanest of sheets, soft mattress and pillow, very friendly staff, happening pocket friendly bar and lot to offer during happy hours. The hostel's location is a great plus with bus station, ferry points, serendipity beach, plenty of good eat outs and bars all at walkable distance. Their travel desk helped us with booking ferry tickets at no additional cost. The hostel is very safe. The best part about the hostel was it was very quite and they gave us two draft beers complimentary. They have a pretty good and clean swimming pool. A security deposit of USD 10 is taken for towels which is returned at the time of checkout. None of the hostels we stayed at during our South East Asia trip was a party hostel. We are too old to have neon glow paints on us or to look for any no strings attached. In all our research, we found hostel world to give good pricing than booking.com.
For our up journey from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville we opted for the Golden Bayon VIP Mini Bus Service. This comes highly recommended after/ second only to Giant Ibis. We were promptly picked from our hotel (for free) and dropped off at their office where our mini bus awaited us. Our schedule departure was at 8:45 am and we promptly left at 8:50 am. We chose seat number 5 and 6 and right in the middle. It is guaranteed that most of the luggage will travel inside the coach as there is very little luggage space. It was a very comfortable 250 km drive and the roads were in great condition that we could even catch up on decent sleep. The only thing is that it takes an hour to hour and a half to cross the city limits and hit the highway as the traffic scene is pretty bad in the capital city. If you plan to take the ferry on the same day to Koh Rong or Koh Rong Samloem islands, you would have an anxious drive as it would be cutting it too close. In our case, bus reached Sihanoukville at 2:35 pm and the last ferry to the islands departs at 3 pm. En route we had a 20 minute lunch break at a not so great restaurant. We decided to opt for coconut water and munched on the awesome local snacks that we were carrying.
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| Bayon Mini Bus |
Overall we would give Golden Bayon a 5 star rating for their on time pick up, safe driving, comfortable seats, very clean bus and also for providing a bottle of water and they charged us USD 9, which was USD 2 less than what Giant Ibis was charging. Budget saver tip: If you book online there is a USD 1 processing fee and the Forex conversion charge by banks where as if you go to the booking center or any of the travel agencies it is a flat USD 9. Saving USD 1 might seem cheap, but for a budget backpacker couple travelling over 75 days opting multiple journeys it adds up. Overall very professional service. Try and have your tickets booked a little in advance rather than a day before to get the best seats possible otherwise they tend to hard-sell the last 4 seats that could get quite uncomfortable. Though we did not use the services of Mekong Express in Cambodia, just by the looks of it, their minibus looked on par with the two big players.
For our return journey from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh, we opted for Giant Ibis Mini Bus Service. We were pleasantly surprised to see a bus in top notch condition and impeccable professional service offered by the crew. The previous night we visited their office near Golden Lion Circle updated our pick up location and the following morning we were promptly picked up from our hostel free of charge and the bus left right on time. Giant Ibis offers massive leg room than their competitors Golden Bayon. On board, we were served cold water and snacks from "Blue Pumpkin" bakers.
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| Giant Ibis Seat 1 A and B |
The driver was very professional, not driving rash and maintaining speed limits at all times. It was the most comfortable 250 km journey. Tip: Do not opt for seats 1A and B right behind the driver. The seats do not offer enough leg room and engine compartment would made it a very uneven and uncomfortable journey. The additional USD 2 that you pay for the ticket is completely justified. This journey made us even more excited and we were looking forward to taking their night bus service from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.
Not being too much of party people, we were craving for some secluded, calm and quiet beach time and we were definitely disappointed with Sihanoukville. Expecting the worse we set sail to "Koh Rong Samloem," which turned out to be the trip highlight!
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