Around The World: Sihanoukville: Operation 'Try not to get ripped off'

--THE "TUC TUC"--

Here are photos from the view out of the bus window...

Bus ride to Sihanouk Ville

We got a little ripped off and pretty consistently in Phnom Penh.
SOooooooooooooo. We are on point and not putting up with anything.

From Phnom Penh we took a day bus to Sihanoukville. A neat beach town once you escape the touristic center. It was a hassle to get to this relaxation zone. We were told the 7:30am bus was booked so we arranged for the 9am bus. But, when we got on the bus there were 3 people sitting in seats 11 and 12 which were the seat numbers on our tickets. We tried getting information. Were they going to kick the locals off the bus? Would they honor our tickets? Do we now take our backpacks out from under the bus luggage compartment? They assured us we’d take the 10 o’clock bus. Not the case, at all. We waited and waited. I let off some steam with the owner. ? “Why are you over booking?” “Can we have a discount?” – Of course not. He had to buy us new tickets with another company. So the SEVEN misplaced tourists wait from 9am to 1pm with a lot of comossion and tansfers around town to finally get on a bus where the driver looked at our tickets thinking “what are these tickets?” We just went straight to our seats and ignored his expressions.

Instead of arriving in Sihanouk Ville at 2pm we got there at 6pm. NO RESERVATIONS. Everything was booked so we were overcharged for a room. Checked in and the only place available was called Beach Road, which was nice but too pricey for us.
So we utilized the swimming pool for the 30 minutes before closing the pool at EIGHT pm! We went to a restauarant that served a set menu of Mexican food for 5$. Not bad for the overpriced town. We ordered and sat ourselves. When a woman came to take our drink order we asked “was the order put in for the mexican special?” And her reply “we don’t have that anymore, too late” At this point we had such a displaced crumby day Kevin actually walked straight out the door. The inconsistencies drove us nuts. I followed him in support and laughter. We were pretty hungry by this point. We made our way to a completely empty restaurant called “CASA” and ordered the local KHMER (Cambodian) food. When we arrived we saw a sign saying happy hour (which actually included the food happy hour) and it ended at 9pm. We asked him (I think the manager or owner) what time it was. He said “I will extend happy hour for you.” We knew we were in the right place. Such a refreshing change of course. A kind local man. And the food was good.

The next day we woke up early to specifically hunt down another hotel or “guesthouse” as they are usually called here. They had some beach bungalows available, ONE room left. We took it at a price of $10 at Cool Banana. We then headed out to get breakfast and found a nice American Breakfast place at “New Sea View Villa” They had a great iced coffee there too. Most Villas, guesthouses, bungalows, Hotels and Hostels (whatever they call it) double or triple as a restaurant and/or massage parlor. At breakfast we ran into a great gal we met on the Mekong Delta Tour (Who reminds me of Molly F.). We chit chatted and planned on meeting later that night. Finally! To the beach!

To the beach!

Instantaneously, I was surprised by the lack of open beach and free space. There was a non-stop line-up of beach umbrellas all belonging to different bars or places you lounge for free. But it took us a 30 minute walk to find open beach and a sand plot of our own. On this 30 minute walk one could see floating trampolines in the water, along with inflatable obstacle courses all for both children and adults. Amazing!

Fun stuff

We then passed by tons of adults and children selling fresh fruit, post cards and bracelets galore! Non-stop “hey lady, you buy something” “HEY LADY!!” etc. The ocean water here was wonderfully warm and the sea was calm. Uninterrupted swimming for me.
The next day we explored Otres Beach. Such a neat beach community. This was a 20 minute bumpy tuc tuc ride to the beach. We had pizza at a suggested place “Cory’s Place” which was owned by a woman from Virginia, USA. Two hours after dinner we came right back to the main town.

The following day we woke up early with the intention to transfer to a place in Otres Beach. We were actually offered a room at Cory’s BY Cory for only $6. We took it. She was a wonderful woman who had made her way here and stayed 2 years hanging out, enjoying the ocean breeze and making pizza for everyone.