We've officially been in Cambodia for
two weeks now, although it seems like we've been here for months!
After spending 10 days in Phnom Penh we headed down to the beach for
a holiday in Sihanoukville. Our guesthouse was only 3 blocks away
from Occheteal beach and was owned /operated by a wonderful Khmer
family. We had a nice room with two queen beds and A/C for only
$15/night!
We arrived in the late afternoon and
our first mission, after checking into our guesthouse, was to find
cold beer and some good food. On the advice of Abbie (Mack and Sam's
cousin, who had visited Sihanoukville just weeks before), we went in
search of the nearest reggae bar. Thankfully we didn't have to walk
far, just down the street we found Jamrock, an Italian owned reggae
joint, that had amazing food and even better company! We met the
owners Irene and Andre who are Italian expats that have been living
in Cambodia for a year. We sat, ate and drank for 7 hours swapping
stories, advice and complaining about how hard it is to learn Khmer.
Cait, who studied Italian in college, carried on whole conversations
with them in Italian, which they really appreciated! It was an
amazing start to our holiday!!
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| Eating dinner at Jamrock |
We spent most days laying on the beach,
drinking $0.50 draft beers, eating fresh seafood, and practicing our
Khmer with the locals. Our favorite afternoon snack were mini
lobsters fried in mild chili paste that the locals sold on the beach,
we bought at least 10 per day! We met an amazing girl on the first
day selling lobsters, her name was Sang and we all became fast
friends. She would make a point to track us down everyday to sell us
her best lobsters at the best price. One day she spent an hour with
us teaching us new Khmer phrases and correcting our pronunciation. On
our last day, she gave each of us a present and hugs! We will miss
her and her lobsters.
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| Sam and Cait hanging out at the beach getting their legs waxed. Sam is enjoying it much more then Cait! =) |
One afternoon we spent a few hours
exploring Wat Leu (the huge Buddhist temple perched on top of the
tallest hill in Sihanoukville). The grounds were absolutely
beautiful, full of nature and ornate buildings. We arrived during
afternoon prayer, so we were greeted by the sound of Monks singing,
chanting and praying.
We also took two day trips out to
Bamboo Island. The trip cost us $15/person and included breakfast,
lunch, drinks, and two stops at little islands where we had the
opportunity to go snorkeling. We were all super excited about the
snorkeling until we were warned about the sea urchins and our fears
of sharks, whales, and large fish kicked in. We spent about 5 minutes
in the water, then promptly got out. Being out on Bamboo Island was
really peaceful! Next time we're at the beach, we plan to stay a few
nights to get away from the hustle and bustle of the mainland
beaches.
We had seen a few signs around the
beach for the once a week, Saturday only, 4pm-LATE, Otres Market, our
friends Irene and Andre had also recommended that we check it out, so
we did. We really had no idea what to expect and when we got there
our minds were blown! It was an amazing set up...at the time we
described it as the Oregon Country Fair on the Bayou. There were tons
of wooden stalls with expats selling their jewelry, clothing and
other goodies, as well as tons of food stalls and live western music.
We browsed the shops, got some food, then sat on the ground on the
beautiful wooden dock, played cards and listened to all the awesome
artists. We met some amazing people from all over the world, and
thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace.
One of our favorite things about the
beach was the easy access to delicious, cheap food. In addition to
the amazing fresh seafood we ate during the day, at night we would
feast on the best BBQ in the world (sorry Dad!). Beef, chicken,
squid, clams, prawns and fish barbequed to perfection and served with
cabbage salad, a baked potato and the best sauce in the universe. Our
last night we ended up ordering an extra plate because it was just
that good!
Overall our experience in Sihanoukville
was much different than our experience in Phnom Penh. In Phnom Penh
we spend all of our time doing the Khmer thing with Cambodian people,
in contrast, Sihanoukville was the first time we've done the touristy
stuff and truly felt like tourists. Just staying in the touristy area
was eye opening and at times extremely annoying. From sunrise to
sunset, the beaches were packed with Cambodian women and children
trying to sell you anything and everything; bracelets, fireworks,
massages, manicures, pedicures, leg waxing, eyebrow tweezing, Chinese
lanterns, fruit, and seafood of all kinds. Then when the sun goes
down, the sex industry comes out and is shoved in your face. It was
crazy how many old white men were 'accompanied' by beautiful Khmer
woman at dinner. And we were all disturbed by how disgusting the men
looked, gorging themselves on delicious food and cheap drinks, while
the Khmer women just sat there looking bored. It's very apparent that
with tourism, comes the sex trade, but we were all surprised how
blatant and in-your-face it was.
We were all truly heartbroken to see
all of the landmine amputees begging for money on the beach. Though,
even worse, were the small children out past dark, begging for scraps
and spare change. The whole experience was much different then we
expected. Thankfully, we were able to escape most of the negatives of
the tourist beaches by heading to the Khmer beach and hanging out
where the locals do. We still had the occasional person wanting to
sell us seafood or a disabled person asking for money, but it was
much less. And the best part was that the sex industry was no where
to be found.
Lesson learned, DON'T GO WHERE ALL THE
TOURISTS GO, get off the beaten path! Having said that, though, we
did enjoy some aspects of the tourist trade, for example we all
bought ridiculously awesome traditional Khmer trousers which are
simply too silly to be sold in Phnom Penh. Plus, Mack would start
going through withdrawal symptoms if she didn't buy a barbequed squid
on a stick from one of the wandering beach-side vendors at least once
a day. In fact, it was very noticeable how the vendors' treatment of
you would change according to your treatment of them. It's no wonder
that the vendors can be overbearing at times when the majority of
their customers dehumanize them by treating them as mere nuisances –
or, worse, by propositioning them for sex as they try to do their
jobs. A good example of this is Sang who at the start of the week we
affectionately called “our lobster lady”, but by the end we were
honored to call our friend. It was startling how happy it made her to
sit and talk with us, simply because we treated her like a person and
not an annoyance. We very much enjoyed her charming company when she
would take some respite from walking the beach by sitting with us. As
for many of the other vendors, a polite “no, thank you” in Khmer
was enough to send them smiling on their way, or to strike up a
conversation about how good our Khmer is!
We are back in Phnom Penh now and are
happy to be home. Next week our adventures will take us up North, to
Siem Reap to visit the ancient temples of Angkor and meet up with our
awesome Thai friend, Pope :)
