Kong Island and Cow Roundabout

Having crossed the border, my nerves in Shatters and Nic just coming down from her mighty victory, we were in no mood to go scouring our stop over town for the best value place to stay. We were in Koh-Kong, which translates to Kong Island! Disappointingly, it was neither an island nor the home of a giant ape, it was in fact a simple non-touristy border town with a couple of tarmac'd roads and a scattering of guest houses. We would be getting a ferry the next morning at 9:30 and found the nearest hotel to the pier, checking in with little negotiation.

We boarded our ferry at 9.15 and at 9.45 another boat turned up full of boxes of fruit. They then proceeded to cross load the lot, a process that took an hour, and with a third of the emergency exits blocked, and an alarming list to the port side, we chugged out to sea. The state of the boat would terrify most people in the west, but as it was, this one looked probably-likely to make the journey, which is more than can be said for some of our previous marine excursions, despite the fact that the windows on our side were about 8 inches from the water level and the other side were about a good two foot. Thoughtfully, a plank of wood had been laid on top of some of the boxes allowing anyone who needed the toilet to climb up and walk the plank to the rear of the boat, stooping as they went. We didn't dare venture down to find what horrors awaited, instead we endured the noise of the TV down the front, turned to full volume, and pumping out of every speaker on the boat, as it distorted and pierced our brains for the best part of the 4 hour journey. We happily entered the beach resort of Sihanoukville in the afternoon and got a Tuc-Tuc from the port down to the beach where we found a suitable place to stay.


Although, considered Cambodia's premier beach resort, Sihanoukville, would be better considered Cambodia's best attempt at a beach resort. But don't take that as a criticism. Working from the water, and back to shore it can be succinctly described.


Water - Not as warm as Koh-Chang, but perfectly swimmable, possibly the clearest we have seen.


Sand - Beige coloured, grain score 3, where 1 is super fine and 10 is super coarse, probably about 10 to 20 meters between water and back of beach, depending on tide. Sadly, not combed, and there is a trickle of rubbish the length of the beach.


Development - No high-rises, no concrete, but the length of the beach is fringed with single storey wicker and cane restaurants and bars, all with loungers and chairs on their beach front, free to punters.


Food & Drink - The 50 or so bars all have similar menus offering, fried rice dishes, pizzas, BBQs, burgers etc. Cost are very reasonable, a meal for two and a couple of drinks each costing about US$7.

Patrons - Sihanoukville attracts a lot of Cambodians at the weekend, during the week it's almost all western backpackers. The beach has a lot of beggars doing laps of the sand, and young children trying to sell brick-a-brack souvenirs.

Behind the beach - grassy, bushy wasteland with the odd worn path leading up to the road which runs about 50 metres back from the beach with a string of 2 or 3 story hotels. There's no posh hotels here, with beach side pools, or 5 star restaurants, and no convenience stores.

There is a wonderful charm about Sihanoukville, as if it knows what it's more affluent competitors have, but that it is perfectly content with it's own style. It is very much not for the luxury resort dwellers, or those who want a pool to paddle in. It is for those who want to do nothing much and want to spend little doing it. There is a large roundabout a distance back from the beach, with two giant gold lions in the middle of it. It is an idiosyncracy given the size of the town it serves, but it meant that when we saw 7 or 8 cows take it upon themselves to go for a wander, against the trafficflow round the roundabout, there was plenty of space for everyone. The cows here aren't penned into fields. They are free to wander where they want, whether it be down the road, up to a restaurant (a dangerous endeavour if you ask me) or down to the beach, where we saw one bovine bather enjoying the scene as much as anyone else.


Three days in and having strolled the beach a few times, had a few meals and been made to feel really guilty as we drank our beers and got begged upon, we took a stroll to the town centre, an hour's walk away, and passed the golden lions. Mid stroll, we stopped in for relief from the sun and bought a couple of 'bubble-teas' to find out what they were and left none the wiser, both uncertain what exactly we had just drank (we think they were cold teas with marshmallows or jelly in them). With the town done in half the time it took to get there, we were ready to jump on a bus the following day and head up to Phnom Phen, the capital of Cambodia.