Sihanoukville 20 - 26 May

Our next stop was Sihanoukville, on Cambodia’s southern coast. We had heard that some areas of Sihanoukville were over-touristed and a little sleazy, so instead sussed out a chilled out beach to stay at; Otres beach. 

On our first day here, we went on a boat tour arranged by an American guy living and working at Otres. There were seven of us on this mini tour, and we had a stunning day for it. We visited Bamboo Island, a gorgeous island uninhabited apart from the one guesthouse’s cluster of bungalows. Here we swam and snorkelled about, went for a walk, and had a delicious seafood barbecue on the beach. We also went cliff jumping before heading back to the mainland.

Early one morning (around 5am) I woke up to a rustling noise in the thatching of our bungalow room. I thought it was a mouse or rat or something, so put on my glasses to investigate. To my astonishment, I saw a hole which had been made by parting the thatching, and through this hole, a large, human, eye staring at me. I shouted “hey!,” and a male voice replied “what!” before the eye retreated. I jumped out of bed and raced around to the outside to spot the peeping tom. All I saw however was a retreating back strolling away into a paddock. I was a little disturbed by the thought of someone apparently watching us as we slept. We changed places that day anyway, so no need to worry about a return visit. I did mention this to someone later however, and they explained there had been some robberies lately; probably our peeping tom was scoping out our room and valuables and would return later to pinch them.

We strolled down Otres beach’s one road, and settled in at Everything is Everything, another bar/restaurant/guesthouse. Our bungalow here was right on the beach, and caught the all-important cooling breeze. While the amenities were basic here, the location and the atmosphere was superb and we found ourselves staying a few days at Otres. Everything is Everything is run by two Aussie guys, and the whole vibe was super relaxed (also partly because it was the low season – for a couple of days it was just us staying there).

There were quite a few nice little guesthouses, restaurants and bars at Otres (although hard to find local food), and a great crowd there. Chatting to some of the expats who have ended up living and working in the guesthouses there, we could see the appeal. Towards the end of our stay at Otres however, the weather really started to pack in which was a shame, so we moved on, bidding farewell to our relaxing sojourn at the beach.