Today we finally left the big city (relatively speaking, in a Cambodian sense) and headed into the Cambodian countryside towards the coastal town of Sihanoukville. We left by bus, and it was a four-hour journey which was still boring despite the bus being quite comfortable. Certainly, it was better than Bangkok-Sukhothai the previous time, and since Cambodia is smaller and buses travel only in daylight, we got there at a very decent time. We didn’t need an amazing stroke of fortune to find a roof for the night this time.
In any case, today brought yet another novel experience: riding pillon on a motorcycle. I must confess that I was initially afraid, but it was quite exhilirating after a while to feel the wind rush past, and I learned to revel in the flimsiness and lack of cover of the motorcycle. But I don’t think I have the guts to pilot one of them myself.
Following that very unique journey, we indulged in Sihanoukville’s two main attractions: cheap and astonishingly fresh seafood, and sandy virgin beaches. Lunch was a large fish, a piled of steamed prawns, black pepper crab, barbecued baby squid, egg fried noodles and too much rice for four people – all at the fraction of what it would have cost in Singapore. As a matter of fact, we didn’t have to look for food, or beachwear, or trinkets – we were swarmed by peddlers the moment we sat down. The poor waitress was hopelessly outnumbered, and had to retreat to await an opportunity to take our orders. In any case, the food, while not extremely cheap, was extremely fresh, and that matters a lot more. I purposely suggested steamed prawns because that is the best way to find out how fresh prawns are; I was not disappointed. Ditto for everything else. It must have all been caught just that morning or something.
We then spent an afternoon at another one of the beaches, which, sadly, was polluted with garbage. Dinner at a roadside restaurant was excellent as well. I’m really beginning to love Sihanoukville. It is so… unspoiled, shall we say. This is one place worth returning to.
Tommorrow, as Elgin has stated, will be a rest day. We plan to lounge on the beach all morning (if we wake up and it is still morning), all afternoon and all evening, and stuff our faces with seafood at the meal times. After that it is onward to Siem Reap and Angkor.
- Chun Wee
