And so we returned to Sihanoukville, after 3 idyllic days on Ko Rong Saloem. Being high season, we’d booked our accom for the next 3 nights before we went away, to save being stranded.
Disembarking from the boat and having to swim/walk to shore, we were wet from the chest down when we went to our next hotel to try to check in. Up the dusty, bumpy road we walked to Ocean Walk Inn, the next place we would lay our heads.
Conveniently, the Ocean Walk Inn is next to the Lazy Beach booking office, and run by a young English guy, Matt. Situated halfway between the beach and the Lion roundabout area, it’s not too far from anything, and pretty quiet. The only exception to this is when you’re eating there of a day, as the Cambodian Children’s Painting Project is just to the right, and the kiddies like to express themselves verbally as well as artistically 🙂
Our room wasn’t quite ready, so we had some cool drinks while we waited. Dom was well pleased when we got in – it had fans AND air-conditioning! You can imagine, we had constant fights about the temperature, as it was way too cold for me. The room was really big though, with mega high ceiling, 2 double beds, WIFI (!) a TV, table and couch – and a bar fridge – WAHEY!!
After settling in, we rented a motorbike and took off to explore the other beaches. First stop – Otres, via the Queens Hill Bungalows. They were really nice, and had a great vantage point overlooking Ochheuteal beach – not a bad place to stay if you don’t mind being out of ‘town’.
The Otres came into view. What can I say? We immediately felt at home, seeing the lazy chilled atmosphere of the very low key develoment (if you can call it that). The bungalow and beach bar operations were spaced nicely, so you could see ocean between them, and trees. The beach was wider there too, so plenty of room for walking along the beach without stepping on some bar-hopper’s toes.
Having heard good things about the Otres Shack, we headed there for cold drinks (again! you easily get thirsty in Cambodge). THIS is the Snooky we love, even if it wasn’t here the first time around. Yep, all the huts on this beach have been built since we were here last time, when the beach was almost deserted. Now it is the place to be, if you don’t want to feel like you’re in Ko Phangan.
We really wanted to stay on this part of the beach now we’d seen it, but then we wanted to stay in the thick of things for New Years Eve. Dilemma. We decided to stick with our booked accommodation, for now at least.
Lunch beckoned, and so it was back on the bike for a visit to a Khmer seafood restaurant with the funny name of M’lop Mean, in the downtown area. The plastic chairs were packed with locals when we got there, although we spotted a couple of white faces who were probably NGO’s. Everywhere people were chowing down on crab, squid, prawns and fish, and throwing the toilet tissue that they use for napkins, on the floor afterwards! Something you have to get used to in this part of the world 🙂
Weird blow up dolls, porpoises etc hung from the ceiling and it had a ramshackle quality to it. Nonetheless, the food was great –
WHEN you could catch their eye to serve you! We had prawns stir-fried in the famous Kampot pepper, with rice. And again with the cold drinks. By 2.30 the place had almost emptied – there’s definitely a rush hour around here, so you might want to have either an early or late lunch to miss the chaos.
WHEN you could catch their eye to serve you! We had prawns stir-fried in the famous Kampot pepper, with rice. And again with the cold drinks. By 2.30 the place had almost emptied – there’s definitely a rush hour around here, so you might want to have either an early or late lunch to miss the chaos.
We couldn’t believe how cheap it was when the bill came, either. At first we thought it was a lot – $17US dollars!! “Bloody hell, tourist prices!”, we thought. Then we realised – it was 17,000 riel – or $4.40 Australian. So, definitely a bargain.
A nap was definitely in order after the feed, and then a trip to rediscover a beach from yesteryear in the evening, possibly rounding out the night with drinks in the Monkey Republic.
Next up, we revisit Sokha, Independence and Hawaii beaches, chase glorious sunsets…..and celebrate New Years Eve with a mad Full Moon Party on Serendipity Beach. Stay tuned.
AU$4.40 for dinner? Oh yes please! Your room sounds, yay for hotels with wifi 😀
Thanks for reading, Violet! Yep, things are cheap there, and a lot of places have wifi. But we were too busy eating and "doing" stuff in Cambodia to update when I was there.
Many more places now have Wi-Fi with Castaways beach bar and Otres Shack being just two of the most popular but I am sure more will follow in the near future as Mains electric is imminent .
Tom Jarvis
http://www.castawaysbeachbar.com