Sihanoukville Information

Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville, also known as Kampong Som, or Kampong Saom, is a port city in southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand. The city was founded in 1964 to be the only deep water port in Cambodia and its beaches are rapidly making it popular as a tourist destination. The city is named after King Norodom Sihanouk.


Geography

Sihanoukville is surrounded by palm-fringed sandy beaches and pristine tropical islands off its south and
west coast. Beaches here lies on the west contour of the city, from north to south, namely Victory Beach, Lamherkay Beach, Koh Pos Beach, Independence Beach, Sokha beach, Serendipity Beach and Occheuteal Beach. The most popular beaches are Occheuteal, Sokha, Independence and Victory. Tourist are allowed island hopping, diving, snorkeling and game fishing at the islands nearby.


Occheteal Beach and Serendipity Beach

Occheteal Beach is the all-rounder with long and narrow strip of beach lined with Casuarina trees, grass umbrellas, rental chairs and little drink huts. The sandy beach that stretches southwards is worth trekking down if any trippers want some privacy. Many of these huts were recently bulldozed by the government to make way for a supposed new resort. At the northern end is Serendipity Beach , which is a cool place for travelers to hang out. Serendipity beach also offers small guesthouse rooms right on the beach with occasional full-moon parties. However, the beach is filled with boulders that make it unfriendly for swimming.


Sokha Beach

Sokha Beach is located just west of Serendipity Beach . This beach is privately owned and is the first luxury beach hotel in Cambodia. It provides many facilities with a wide white sandy beach; if you are not staying at the hotel the guards may or may not stop you from going on to the beach.


Independence Beach

Independence Beach is located next to Sokha Beach on its west. The beach was named after the old Independence Hotel. This beach offers a good stretch of clean sand. Situated at the northern end of the beach is Independence Hotel and Koh Pos Beach, the nice tiny island only 800m off the coast. Koh Pos offers cool shades but rocky waters

Victory Beach

Victory beach is situated at the furthest north of the peninsula of Sihanoukville . It was the original backpacker beach and still popular with budget travelers. At the northern end of the beach is located the deep sea port. Thus, apart from white sand and blue sea, this beach offers a good spot to enjoy the scenes of sunset. At the further south of Victory Beach is another small strand of sand called Lamherkey Beach where the Hawaii Seaview Restaurant is located. It is the place where a French/ Cambodian construction team laid groundwork for the construction of the new Port of Kampong Som during 1950s. At this beach, you can hire a boat to nearby islands.

Islands

There are more than a dozen islands off the coast of Sihanoukville for tourists to hop around. Most of them are yet to be developed for an overnight stay with the exception of Bamboo Island, which is also called Koh Russei. Many guesthouses, restaurants and cafes on Ochteal Teal Serendipity beach offer trips and packages to these islands.

Soon Nail Island (also called Magic Island because it looks like a mushroom) will have a hotel run by the folks from the snake house. They already have a pier and most of the hotel and restaurant are finished


Koh Rong

Koh Rong is situated west of the Sihanoukville coast. It offers the fantastic strand of beach on its southwest, stretching about 5 km. It has fresh water resources on the island and a bustling fishing community on the southeast with basic supplies including fresh water, fish and crab.


Koh Rong Samlon

Koh Rong Samlon is a bit smaller than Koh Rong and situated on its south. Beautiful beaches are on the east coast, where a large heart-shaped bay with some shellfish cultivation is located, and on the north shoreline facing Koh Rong.


Koh Tang

Koh Tang is located quite far from the main shoreline of Sihanoukville. Going there needs trippers to stay overnight on board. It offers interesting diving spots most of which are not frequently explored. The island is home to a military outpost and travelers should expect to be boarded by military personnel when out at the island.

Understand

In a land with thousands of years of history, Sihanoukville is a colorful but tragic upstart. A mere fifty years ago, a French-Cambodian construction carved a camp out of the jungle and started building the first deep-sea port of a newly independent Cambodia. Named Sihanoukville in 1964 after the ruling prince of the kingdom, the booming port and its golden beaches soon drew Cambodia's jetsetting elite, spawning the first Angkor Beer brewery and the modernist seven-story Independence Hotel which, claim locals, even played host to Jacqueline Kennedy on her whirlwind tour of Cambodia in 1967.

Alas, the party came to an abrupt end in 1970 when Sihanouk was deposed in a coup and Cambodia descended into civil war. The town – renamed Kompong Som – soon fell on hard times: the victorious Khmer Rouge used the Independence Hotel for target practice and, when they made the mistake of hijacking an American container ship, the port was bombed by the U.S. Air Force. Even after Pol Pot's regime was driven from power, the bumpy highway to the capital was long notorious for banditry and the beaches stayed empty.

Peace returned in 1997 and in the ensuing ten years Sihanoukville has been busy picking up the pieces. First visited only by a few intrepid backpackers, guidebooks still talk of walls pockmarked by bullets, but any signs of war are hard to spot in today's Sihanoukville, whose new symbol seems to be the construction site. More and more Khmers and expats have settled down to run hotels, bars and restaurants, and the buzz of what the New York Times dubbed "Asia's next trendsetting beach" is starting to spread far and wide. After 30 years of housing only ghosts, the Independence Hotel is wrapped in scaffolding and scheduled to be rise from the ashes soon.

See

The reason to visit Sihanoukville is the beaches. Not as crowded as some of the Thai resorts, but they can be cramped on weekends and holidays. For diving go to one of the nearby islands. The town itself doesn't offer much to see. From north to south, the beaches are:

• Victory Beach - south of the commercial port with plenty of budget accommodation nearby on Weather Station Hill.

• Independence Beach - also known as '7-chann beach' after the defunct, seven-storey Independence Hotel.

• Sokha Beach - all but 100 meters of it reserved for guests of the Sokha Beach Resort.

• Ochheuteal Beach - the most popular beach, with many restaurants, bars and food vendors. Pronounced, roughly, "oh-chur-teal". The northern part is called Serendipity Beach, and offers guesthouses right on the beach.

• Otres Beach - south of Serendipity, this is the least developed and crowded beach.

          Other places of interest include:

• Kampong Pier Nup Lok - the old fishing port 2 km north of the commercial port offers some nice views.

Do

• Koh Russei (Bamboo Island) - can be reached by private boat for US$5, at the Sunset Cafe on Occidental Beach. Ask the owner the night before you want to go. On the island there are 9 huts, but as of early 2006 they were constructing several others on the back side. A wonderful place to relax - cabins are US$5/night.

• Scuba diving - there are many islands off the Cambodia coast that have lots of coral and fish. All the dive boats in Cambodia leave from the Sihanoukville port area. There are 2 PADI Dive Centers, 1 SSI Dive Center and instructors from NAUI and CMAS working at smaller dive shops in town. The main scuba diving area is the Koh Rung Group located 14 miles offshore. There is also some shallow diving at Koh Tas 6 miles of shore. The best diving is the overnight trips to the Koh Tang Group, 35 miles from Siahnoukville, where large pelagic are seen regularly, visibility is double what you will find at the close in sites. 2 dive day trips $59 to $70, overnight trips $185 to $195 all inclusive

• Snorkeling - is possible around most of the islands, with the best snorkeling being at the further our islands for visibility, corals and fish. $10- $25

History    

The history of Sihanoukville goes back only as far as 1955 when the area was known as Kampong Som. In August of that year, a French/Cambodian construction team cut a base camp into the unoccupied jungle where the Hawaii Seaview Restaurant now sits. They laid the groundwork for the construction of the new Port of Kampong Som - a project that had been set into motion by the 1954 dissolution of French Indochina.

Prior to 1954, Cambodia maintained international sea trade via the Mekong. But the end of Indochina meant the Mekong delta reverted to the control of Vietnam. Seeking unfettered access to the ocean, plans were made to construct a new ocean port. Kampong Som was selected for water depth and ease of access.

Construction of the port and Route 4 (the road to Phnom Penh) was carried out from 1955-1960. Funds for construction of the port came from France, and from the USA for the road. The town began as housing for workers just south of the port. Upon completion, the town was renamed Sihanoukville in honor of the King.

Sihanoukville’s heyday came in the 1960s. Although Kep was more popular as a holiday destination, the commercial success of the port led to a flurry of construction and expansion including the construction of the Independence Hotel (abandoned but still still exists on Independence Beach in a dilapidated state ), the original Angkor Brewery (closed in 1975 and reopened in 1991), a Truck & Tractor Plant, Wat Chotynieng (aka Wat Leu), St Michael's Catholic Church (constructed in 1960, closed in 1975 and reopened in 1993), dozens of villas on Ochheuteal Beach (destroyed in the 1980s) and other structures. There was also a second phase of port construction, which began in 1965 and halted with the Lon Nol coup d'etat of 1970.

Sihanoukville entered the history of the American/Vietnam conflict when, during the late 1960’s and early 70’s, it served as a transit point for weapons bound for anti-American forces in Vietnam. The town’s most direct involvement came on May 13, 1975 when the Khmer Rouge captured the S.S. Mayaguez, a U.S. container ship. As part of an attempt to release the ship, the U.S. attacked Koh Tang, an island near Sihanoukville, and met fierce resistance, suffering heavy losses. American bombers struck the naval base at Ream, warehouses at the Port, the old air field, the train yard and the oil refinery north of town. The ship and its crew were released May 15, during the battle. Check out http://www.usmm.org/mayaguez.html for more information

During the UN sponsored elections in 1992 and 1993, Sihanoukville played host to the Australian, Belgian and French contingents of UNTAC (United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia). After the elections, foreign tourists started coming to Sihanoukville for the first time, but tourism came to an abrupt halt with the tragic 1994 Khmer Rouge murders of 3 backpackers taken from a train on the way to Sihanoukville , and of 3 expatriates taken from a taxi on Route 4. With the 1997-98 demise of the Khmer Rouge and the political/military stability of the last couple of years, both the road and the train are now (in 2000) considered safe, at least from any military threat. But political and legal fallout of the murders continue as the home countries and relatives of the victims demand justice, and the UN and Cambodian government struggle with the political and legal complexities of bringing the perpetrators to trial


Legend 

At the crest of the Pich Nil Pass on Route 4 dozens of spirit houses line the road. Many of the houses are maintained for Ya-Mao, the deity who oversees the southern coastal region of Cambodia. When traveling Rte 4 people often display bananas on their dashboard and offer the the bananas, incense and a little money to Ya-Mao at Pich Nil. The offerings are usually made with the prayer for safe travels. There seem to be no two identical tellings of the legend. In one telling, Ya-Mao was the wife of a village chief in the area of Ream.

Her husband was forced by work to spend months away from her in Koh Kong. One rainy season she grew lonely for him and took a Koh Kong bound boat to meet him. On the way the boat was swept away in a storm, drowning everybody, including Ya-Mao. But her spirit was powerful and through dreams and spirit possessions she made it known that she was overseeing the southern coast and protecting the fishermen and villagers. She required only their good behavior and occasional offerings of phallic symbols

The main spirit house at Pich Nil is adorned with phallic symbols but why Ya-Mao makes this demand is a matter of debate. Some people say that she was seeking this in her ill-fated trip and so still desires it. Others say that she is angry at men because she died trying to get to her husband and wants a symbol of a severed phallus. Sidestepping the debate some more conservative members of the community think that Ya-Mao is now too old for phallic symbols and requires only bananas.

Phallic symbol offerings can still be seen on the beaches near fishing villages, usually in the form of a stick and incense stuck in the sand under a tree. Wat Khrom in Sihanoukville maintains a small but significant temple for Ya-Mao.

Culture

Sihanoukville sits on a headland ringed by pristine beaches and overlooks the Gulf of Thailand. Miles of lazy white sand beaches, warm surf, tropical sun and salty air, this is Sihanoukville, Cambodia's premier beach town. Most of the shoreline surrounding the town is beautifully unspoiled a place where secluded beaches and picturesque little seafood restaurants can be found.

But Sihanoukville itself, though still small town Cambodia, is no provincial backwater. As home to Cambodia's only deep-water commercial port, this town has a more international and commercial atmosphere than most provincial cities. And as a recently rediscovered tourist destination, Sihanoukville offers a surprising 900-hotel room and some of this country's finest dining and nightlife outside of Phnom Penh.

The chief attractions of Sihanoukville are the three beaches that ring the headland. Sokha Beach is the most popular beach-with enough sand even at high tide, and plenty of shade from the swaying palm trees. Cabanas and deck chairs dot the beach as far as the eye can see. Picnickers may sit around a low table, and order food and drinks from the stall holders, or from roving vendors hawking their ware-the latter usually young children. Independence Beach, Victory Beach and Ochateal Beach are other beaches frequented by visitors to Sihanoukville.

The white sand beaches are known amongst both foreigners and locals like, but what must also count as a prime attraction is the unhurried, almost laidback pace of life.

No visit to Sihanoukville is complete without watching the spectacular sunset, and Sihanoukville has various good sunset points, the most convenient being the beaches. Kos Pos Restaurant, which offers indoor and alfresco dining, also provides an excellent view of the setting sun amidst a broad expanse of sky and sea.

The Golden Lions Monument, also known as Vimean Tao Meas, is a prominent landmark located in the middle of the traffic circle between Sokha and Ochateal Beaches. Constructed in 1996, the monument stands resplendent in the daylight. A gleaming gold colour, the lion is standing, its mouth open in a perpetual roar; the lioness is crouched at his feet, face benevolent and calm.

The fishing port, located about 2km from the main port, is a flurry of colour and activity. Vehicles move very slowly as indiscriminate parking has narrowed the roads by a fair bit the back lanes, which lead directly to the waters, are especially busy as buying and selling, loading and unloading activities take place.

Relaxing, imbibing and perhaps shooting a little pool is probably the most popular evening entertainment amongst foreign visitors. Other options include dancing at the discos, singing at one of the many karaoke bars, wagering at a casino and go-carting.

Local fishermen will take visitors to any one of the nearby islands where the coral, teeming with tropical fish, is perfect for snorkelling, diving, and fishing. There are many restaurants catering to various national tastes but its well worth trying the freshly caught crab, shrimps and other seafood the region has to offer.

Sihanoukville is a prefect tropical getaway, filled with lovely beaches and facilities for swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving or just sunbathing. Boat trips are also available to many of the nearby islands.