Wanderings Around an Empty Town
Phnom Penh -> Shianoukville, 9th
June 2002 (Part 1)
In hope to see a bit more of Cambodia (and maybe even a nice beach)
I took a trip down to Shianoukville, a small seaside town on the Gulf
of Thailand. I'd originally intended to spend a couple of days
there, then move onto Kep (another seaside town) and also pay a
visit to a National Park. However, as I things turned out, I went to
Shianoukville, then came straight back to Phnom Penh the next day...
The bus journey from Phnom Penh to Sianoukville was amazingly easy,
it's the best road in the whole of Cambodia, possibly because it
links a major port and the capital city. After a few smooth hours on
the road, I reached my destination with no problems.
I then took a short moto ride to a nearby beach that was very
popular with backpackers (i.e. it was cheap), called Victory Beach.
Choosing accommodation choices from the guidebook, I picked the
imaginatively named `Victory Guesthouse', mainly because it was the
only one I knew how to pronounce correctly!
The guesthouse turned out to be a bit of a mistake, and I made a few
cardinal errors. Don't ask me why, I'm supposed to be a seasoned
backpacker now, I just had bad day. The rooms were pretty grotty, no
horrible, but bearable. There must be better, newer places around,
but now that I had somewhere to dump my bags, I couldn't be bothered
to check out the other places, thus breaking the `backpacker code'.
I then, like a fool didn't negotiate their stated price. The
guestbook showed that the last visitor here, came 6 days ago, so I'm
sure I could have halved their asking price. D'oh! They say a
backpackers life is easy...but you've always got to be on the ball! Oh well, everyone has
their bad days.
Of course, once I paid up and walked around town a bit, I found a
dozen newer, nicer guesthouse not in the Lonely Planet. Damned
outdated guide book. (This is the lesson that all travellers
learn sooner or later...and now I'd learned it, I had made the
transition to 'experienced backpacker'!)
After I'd checked out the small town, I was at a bit of a loss for
what to do. The town was absolutely dead, hardly anyone around. The
only attraction nearby was the beach, and it wasn't sunny at all!
Clouds blocked out all but the slightest sun. No sun=no beach, thank
you. I asked one of the English guys working here about the weather,
and he said I'd come at the wrong time of year. Chance's of sun were
slim at the moment, which is why so few people were around. That'
when decided to return to Phnom Penh the next day. There's no point
being at a beach resort when it isn't beach weather!
But, for something to do, I thought I might as well pop down and at
least have a look at the beach. However, as scrambled down a rocky
path, I found my path blocked by 3 huge, angry looking cows with big
menacing horns. (They probably actually looked quite placid, but my
imagination paints a different picture). After trying to negotiate
various ways round my bovine obstructions, I realised I was too
intimidated by their large cowishness, so I gave up. Oh well, it's
probably just an average beach anyway.
With not much to do, I wandered around for a bit more, before
deciding to head back to my hotel to make us of the hotel. On the
way I, I received the usual hassling by persistent moto drivers. at
first I ignored them, then one of them asked if wanted to go to the
top of the mountain for a sunset view. Hmmmm, sounds like something
interesting to do. So after a bit of bartering, we agreed on a price
& a time to meet (sunset wasn't for a good few hours yet).
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