Sihanoukville/Otres Beach, Cambodia

Enough is enough, it’s now March, and it was time to find a beach! Sihanoukville is a place (our research told us), where all the young people of this part of the world come to party on the beach. A little east along the coast was to be a utopic place, away from the all night parties where one could relax, and enjoy the white sands and sun in a relaxed and laid-back environment. While still in Battambang, we decided to go go go!

A tour company said it would be a 6 hr ride on the “big bus” to Capital city of Phnom Penh, then a 1hr stop before a 5hr bus to Sihanoukville. We decided to book a night in Phnom Penh to break up the trip. This turned out to be a great idea! The 6 hr bus from Battambang ended up taking 12hrs! It was terrible! The driver went so slow, we were consistently being passed by…everyone. Tuk-Tuk’s, cars, scooters, and other big buses would speed past us on the 1 lane “highway”. We would stop, allow locals to get on and try to sell us stuff before they got off a few hundred meters down the road. We stopped at one place for washrooms and food for 20mins, then drove 10mins, then stopped again for 20mins for more food and washrooms! We had planned to be at the capital for mid day, to at least enjoy the afternoon, but when we finally arrived at our hotel at 8PM, it was time to eat and sleep. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like were going to experience much of Phnom Penh this go around. I’m not too upset by that though, because it is the 1 place in Cambodia where there are reports of robbery and theft against tourists. Most of the people we’ve met say that it’s a 2-3 night visit at best, and frown or cringe when they speak on the subject. Having said that, we did enjoy our ride through the city, and our dinner along the river. Living in Toronto, we’re not as enticed by visiting the metropolis anyway.

The next morning, we were ready for another 12hr ride, even though it was only supposed to take 5. This time however, it only did take 5hrs. We got to the bus station in Sihanoukville mid day, the second we got off the bus, the dance began. By now we were well accustom to the Tuk-Tuk drivers, so when we told them we wanted to go to Otres, I laughed when they said $15! $5 I said… “oh, no no… look I have a chart” They held up a laminated chart with all the possible destinations, Otres beach = $15. As I started to walk away, “ok ok $10”, then “$8”. I told him $6, he said no…Then we got on the next drivers tuk tuk, and for $7, we were off.

We arrived to our new home “NEW Pappa Pippo Resort”, about a 5min walk to the beach. It had a newly renovated courtyard, and pool, and some of the best Italian food I’ve come across (and we live in Little Italy, Toronto), $25 per night.

It was right in Otres Village, a wonderful place full of hippy backpackers who just wanted to relax and enjoy the tropical paradise. We stayed 4-5 nights, got Ellie’s 3rd vaccine shot, and again, lived on the cheap. One of the days we splurged though. We went island hopping where we snorkeled, cliff jumped, and relaxed on a beach on a uninhabited island. That night we had dinner right on the beach at Mr. Pippo’s other establishment and enjoyed Italian food, wine, and desert while watching the sun set.