SIHANOUKVILLE

SIHANOUKVILLE

"Glorify party, embrace ruination or Stay Away!"

In my opinion, Sihanoukville was the most disappointing city in Cambodia. Usually, I like to go to places without doing too much research, but this time I regretted my nonchalance. What once was a simple and small fishermen's town called Kompong Som, over time has turned into an over-touristic, dirty and highly superficial party-resort for lost backpackers, sex tourists and beach fanatics. Unless you have yet to discover the Asian nightlife and a party is what you're looking for, you better have a good reason to go there.

Maybe the place was just  too 'cool' for me or maybe I'm just looking for other kinds of things than most people in Sihanoukville, but it only took me about 2 hours to realize I was going to leave this dump as soon as possible.

The city breathes party. It feels as if the air is saturated with toxic party-particles. All day long over-pierced and over-tattood teenagers with large dark blue eyebags and dazed, exhausted bodies, still recovering from yet another 'best-party-ever', approached me to promote the cheap booze and endless pounding beats on the dirty beaches. Whether it's on a beach with cheap cocktails or not, the Sihanouk kind of parties was not what I was travelling for. I can find similar or better back home. No need to fly to the other side of the world for that.

Sihanoukville is Cambodia's only beach resort town and therefore it is very popular and crowdy. It is disfigured by the hoards of tourists looking for a spot on the packed and soiled beaches. If that doesn't kill your mood, maybe the quantity of weed-selling tuk tuk drivers, begging kids and massage-offering women might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Of course I don't blame the women, the kids or the tuk tuk drivers. Neither do I blame the backpackers, sun and beach tourists or the I-want-to-try-out-my-dancing-feet (or want-to-try-out-other-stuff) teenagers. But the whole does not equal the sum of its parts.

Sadly, the times of Cambodia’s undiscovered and untouched beaches with images of white sandy shores as a cheaper and calmer alternative to Thailand, seem to have become history now.

Honestly, I felt relieved when I booked my ticket for the bus to Kampot the next morning. 

If Sihanoukville is on your road the better options, rather than hanging around the city center, are  going to Koh Rong or Otres beach. Now, I regret not having persevered a bit longer (if only to have more to write about) and going to the Otres beach the next day. Unfortunately the beaches were so disappointing and the atmosphere so depressing that I had to leave. As for Koh Rong: It was not so long ago that I spent over a week on the Thai island Koh Tao (comparable in many aspects to Koh Rong), I figured it was not the right timing for me to visit yet another island.

On the bright side: I had some really good white fish with rice on the market and tried some snake. "Crispy, salty and similar to chicken"

 

 

As I am aware of the fact I was only there for a limited time and therefore my picture of Sihanoukville can not be complete, I would be happy to hear what I might have missed out on. You might feel challenged to convince me to go back?