Weekend in Sihanoukville, Cambodia

[CB79]

I'd say the beer is much cheaper in Sihnoukville than Pattaya. If you're drinking the draft Angkor which is quite tasty.

50 cents for a large beer in most places raising to a dollar.

The whores up on Victory didn't look the best although I didn't dabble due to being with my missus.

Occhetual (sp) is pretty good and lively although the local kids on the beach are a royal pain in the arse!!

[DrAndy]

although the local kids on the beach are a royal pain in the arse!!

they sell themselves cheaply, so I was told

[Phuketrichard]

note the pics. the national Museum is in PP not snooky.

I have driven just about every magor highway in Cambodia and this was in 2008-2009 and while some were quite good many were small and pothoeld but still drivable.
Also exitted Cambodia by 4 diferent borders to Thailand. Worst were the one from Battambang to the border of Pailin ( 105 kms of dirt) which i hear is now paved and then the one north from Siem Rep to the thai border very bad 110 kms of dirt. Thta one also might be paved by now.

I usually stay in PP but while in Snooky stay at the motel like place on Victory beach right across from the Holiday Palace casino ( which has a great stand alone coffee shop outside the hotel), right on the beach, great air con/cable and free wireless for $20-25 without breakfast. Also excellent seafood there but go early as it fills up with locals.
Best beach is hands down Otres, a bit out of town but worth it. go now for in a few years u wont recongize it

Beers are still cheaper than anything u wil find in Thailand. Happy hour $.50/draft and $1 cans of Angkor. I prefer Beer Lao which runs about $1.5.
Food is cheaper but not the same quallity of street food as Thailand.

Girls; On victory hill $10 st $15-20 all night but there is an area of Mama san baans above the port But if its girls ur looking for stay in Pattaya.

Note the best part of Snooky is getting out to some of the islands. many are starting to acquire bungalows but many are totally deserted.

Contact Rony as Sail cambodia for a sailing adventure.
There are plenty of pics of Cambodia in my below link

[lost the plot]

getting fed up with thailand,cambo looking good for the future.

[cambtek]

Most guesthouses at occateul are nice,victory hill has the grotty ones.
Hooha is a good cheap option at the beach.
Dont catch the cheaper khmer buses.go mekong espress- $7.
No such thing as a sane taki driver,busses much safer.
i stay in town at the fishermans den,$7 to $15.
kiwi brian runs the fishing boat and goes out often,lots of small fish caught.

[Frank68]

You can find fine private cars with driver who will get you at your PP guesthouse and drive you to where you want at Sihanoukville for 40$ to 50$.
It's a great deal if you are 3 or 4 guys with stuff.

[Baas Babelaas]

Snooky, circa today, is pretty seedy. Loads of scraggly backpackers trying to get their dorm room rate down from $5 to $3/night.

Mongers aplenty.

Friendly but very '2nd hand' pros if that's up your alley.

I'm gonna take a gentle ride out to Otres beach today, book my bus ticket to PP, get a shave and explore town central.

Tomorrow - Koh Rong for the day. Then I'm outta here. It's the skanky backpackers going on and on and on about the cheap weed that annoys me.

What can I say - I'm 36 and grumpy ( did meet a lovely French-Canadian in SR though. Yummy!)

[wackyjacky]

Mekong Express is $12/10 and excellent PP-SV. They're good if you're going back to PNH too. If going back to the Riverside in PP, they totally suck because they cut downtown & stop at O'Russei Mrkt 1st. That can add 45 mins to the trip. All in all Giant Ibis is the best choice for mini-vans. You're trip will take you 4.5 hrs on GI, on ME 5+. Good call on Holiday Palace, they're on a nice clean beach (Independence) & not crazy expensive. There's a great string of beach bars close by and a brewpub around the corner.

[cdnski12]

My GF & I traveled from Trat to Sihanoukville via the Had Lek - Cham Yeam Border Crossing in 2010. The Mini Van to the border was OK. PAying touts to get a Visa was a waste of money. I shudda had the sense to follow the French Bcakpackers who told the touts to F/O and just walked over the border and got a Visa @ the Cambodian Office. Best to have the forms filled out beforehand and several passport photo's. The Bus to Koh Kong was a bit dodgy. We caught a local bus to Sihanoukville. The Hwy was under construction, so it was in very rough shape. I believe it is decent today. After a few days in Sihanoukville; we caught a local bus to PP. half way there we got off at a rest stop. I inadvertently left my $500 digital camera in my shoulder bag on the bus seat. I never noticed it was nicked until we took a tuk-tuk from the PP Bus Station to the Hotel. Nothing to it but go to a shopping mall & fork out $350 for another camera. We were en-route to Angkor Wat in a few days. I think the Bus Attendant nicked the camera. I never took it out of the shoulder bag on the bus and a few people stayed on the bus ... so they must have seen the thief nick the camera. I suppose Cambodians have led such threatened lives, that no one dared to interfere. I shudda at least reported the theft to the bus company ... but I didn't bother.

[cdnski12]

My GF & I traveled from Trat to Sihanoukville via the Had Lek - Cham Yeam Border Crossing in 2010. The Mini Van to the border was OK. PAying touts to get a Visa was a waste of money. I shudda had the sense to follow the French Bcakpackers who told the touts to F/O and just walked over the border and got a Visa @ the Cambodian Office. Best to have the forms filled out beforehand and several passport photo's. The Bus to Koh Kong was a bit dodgy. We caught a local bus to Sihanoukville. The Hwy was under construction, so it was in very rough shape. I believe it is decent today. After a few days in Sihanoukville; we caught a local bus to PP. half way there we got off at a rest stop. I inadvertently left my $500 digital camera in my shoulder bag on the bus seat. I never noticed it was nicked until we took a tuk-tuk from the PP Bus Station to the Hotel. Nothing to it but go to a shopping mall & fork out $350 for another camera. We were en-route to Angkor Wat in a few days. I think the Bus Attendant nicked the camera. I never took it out of the shoulder bag on the bus and a few people stayed on the bus ... so they must have seen the thief nick the camera. I suppose Cambodians have led such threatened lives, that no one dared to interfere. I shudda at least reported the theft to the bus company ... but I didn't bother.

[wackyjacky]

It's still a pain in the ass to cross at Had Lek/Koh Kong. I just did it last month. SV - Koh Chang was 8 hrs and that's when everything clicked. The return was 11 when everything didn't. You can expect something in between. The trip from SV to KC goes like this: tuk-tuk - bus - taxi -walk across - mini-bus - songthaew - ferry - songthaew.

[Chittychangchang]

Took the speed ferry from Koh Kong to Sihanoukville, not for the faint hearted.

Tried to stay outside up top but they kept calling us in afraid we might fall overboard.

The AC and smell inside was stifling.

We stopped at this little weird island about half way and bought a few tins of beer, there was a sign being held up by a local with the words "guest house 100 baht" I was tempted..

[Exit Strategy]

Logged in to give my thought on this thread but it appears to be 200 years old.

[Exit Strategy]

Took the speed ferry from Koh Kong to Sihanoukville, not for the faint hearted.

Tried to stay outside up top but they kept calling us in afraid we might fall overboard.

The AC and smell inside was stifling.

We stopped at this little weird island about half way and bought a few tins of beer, there was a sign being held up by a local with the words "guest house 100 baht" I was tempted..

year

There hasn't been this ferry for years, and roads have improved, so I would suggest nice aircon bus.

As for Sihaunokville, Victory Hill is equivalent of Soi 6 in Pattaya, which may or may not be your thing. Decent - value/quality wise) places to live near Occheutal beach around the roundabout (and there is bar complex for the interested) there are plenty and much better value. Then a nice experience would be to head east so some quite inaccessable quiet hotel and feel the peace, sunset and dawn. Just ask plenty of insect repellent and of type that smells nice.

[cdjustice]

looking forward to visit there,i live close to border Aran,,,

[bronwen]

Ha ha...really interesting to hear, thanks. I hadn't realized it was so quick between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. The encounters with the buffalo would have made the journey more entertaining...

I was quite impressed with the buses. They were comfortable and there was enough room for a big lump like me. Also, the hostess seemed to be genuinely nice and helpful.

The road was good and the seating was OK but the AC was not very poor for the hot season. The thing which really freaked me out was the driver's tactic of speeding up when he saw buffalo on the road and the collective shriecks and groans of the passengers as the driver took corners at frighteningly high speeds.

I went with the more expensive private bus company but can't remember the name of it. If I did the trip again I'd try and find four other barangs and chip in for a sain taxi driver with a decent AC taxi.

[bronwen]

I just realized that too when I saw the bit about the car ferry!

Logged in to give my thought on this thread but it appears to be 200 years old.