Sihanoukville / Otres

We had mixed feelings about Sihanoukville, it wasn’t originally on our list of places to go, but as we were in Cambodia we thought it might be worth a visit, as a number of our friends had told us to make a stop off there. We arrived In Sihanoukville after a 6 hour Mekong express bus journey (should have been four, but they’re never on time) which set us back $12 each. We were staying at Otres village which required a tuk tuk so we hopped on one outside the bus station. On our way, the driver pointed out the rows and rows of Chinese casinos and luxury hotels that had taken over the town and explained to us how the Cambodian government (looking for quick money after the economic destruction left by the Khmer Rouge) had allowed Chinese developers to buy up most of the land in the town and develop it into high end resorts, thus outpricing the locals and ruining local business. Our hotel in Otres Village was called Om Home ($10 per night), a cute little collection of bungalow style huts run by a friendly French lady. We dropped our bags and headed to explore but just as we did the heavens opened! Luckily we found out we could get take out from the local restaurants, so as it was late and rainy we decided to order and eat in our hotel. 

The Beach

The next day we set off for the beach, walking through the old school hippy vibe village, we noticed most of the bars and restaurants were owned by expats, and there was a real sense of community here, with all the owners knowing each other and speaking as they met on the street. With vegan food, meditation and yoga classes on offer, this felt like a little haven away from the hustle of the cities. Our feelings however changed significantly, very quickly, as we left the village to head to the ‘beach’. There are apparently two beaches in Otres – Otres 1 and Otres 2, however as we walked up to the coast line, we were taken aback at the sheer devastation that we saw, it was like the town had been hit by a tsunami! We were surrounded by rubble, rubbish, cement mixers, trucks and were essentially in the middle of a building sight. The beach was not much better, covered in litter and debris we quickly realised that this clearly was not how this beach used to be and were both filled with a strong sense of anger and sadness at what had been allowed to happen, with rows of trees cut down and rivers of polluted water going straight into the sea.

The Village

We headed back to the sanctuary of the village. Everywhere was quiet as we’d apparently come out of season, though most businesses all had for sale signs on them so it was clear that the days of this hippy utopia were numbered by the Chinese developers. We found a local hostel (Sky Blue Bungalows) with a pool and decided to head in for a drink and a swim. The place was really laid back with the owners sat having a drink and smoke with other residents of the village. We chatted to them for some time about what was happening, and as we suspected, everyone was selling up and moving to different parts of the world in search of a new paradise. We ate at a place called Stray Cats and their coconut shrimp and peppered seafood was a great meal, I loved their fresh summer rolls too, we got a lot of food for around $8.

Mixed Emotions

We spent most of our time here making travel arrangements, working on the blog and just relaxing in the village which was needed after the craziness of Phnom Penh. We feel lucky to have seen the remnants of what at one time was probably a small utopia but we probably wouldn’t advise anyone to go here now, as it will only make you angry/sad about the way the more pristine and beautiful areas of Cambodia are quickly being destroyed for profit. Coming from a government who know all too well the consequences of a strongly divided rich/poor country it’s difficult to understand how they haven’t learned anything from Cambodia’s history.