Cambodia: Sihanoukville

My friend went Cambodia few years ago and I just loved her pictures of this cute little beach houses in south Cambodia. So it was immediately on our gap year list. After all the traveling around hot Asia this was a place where to relax and enjoy the sea. And we planed it very well, it was not the high season, we were almost alone there and the prices of the accommodation were really low. And in the end I was really happy we decided to go to Cambodia and not to south Thailand. It still a paradise but without the touristic madness.

Moje kamarádka byla v Kambodži před pár lety a já se absolutně zamilovala do jejích fotek, do těch malých roytomilých plážových domků, ve který v Kambodži bydleli. Takže jsem si je hned pipsala na seznam našeho velkého cestovního roku. Po delším cestování po horké Asii jsme byli rádi, že bude lehárko na pláži. A naplánovali jsme to přímo skvěle, přijeli jsme zcela mim sezónu, takže jsme tam byli téměř sami a cenz ubytování byly krásně nízké. Ve finále jsem byla ráda, že jsme jeli do Kambodži a ne do jižního Thajska. Pořád je to ráj na zemi, ale bez toho turistického šílenství.

The original plan was to take a boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and bus from there to Sihanoukville. But we decided we don't want to wake up early to get to the boat and we take bus instead. Anyway, check this web for the boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, it looks great: Phnom Penh to Siem Reap by speedboat (and check the whole website if you don't know it, its a traveler's bible). 

I was really worried about this trip. In general, buses in Cambodia and Thailand are great, sometimes the buses and the service are way better than any buses in Czech or England. But we saw so many bad reviews about night buses from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville. Especially for Virak-Buntham Express Travel & Tour (guess what comapnz we took, haha). Accidents, stolen phones, bad service etc. So when booking the bus we send a guy from our hotel in Siem Reap to do it. In Asia it is unlikely that someone will treat locals bad. And it all went smoothly. We had the tickets, $18 each, we went to the "bus stop"and realized that is is exactly what we read online. Angry tourist as the company sold more tickets than beds in the bus and there were problems about who takes the upper bed - there were bottom and upper beds in the bus and the bottom ones were really small, not good for claustrophobic people. Luckily our guy knew and he booked the upper ones. And no one tried to tell us anything as he was with us. 

Reviews were right. The drivers were rude and they spoke English only when it was convenient for them. When a tourist reported a stolen phone all he heard was "Sorry, no English". My backpack was in the luggage space of the bus, M's backpack was in some dirty technical storage room of the bus and the rest of the backpack was simply put in the alley and drivers did not hesitate to walk on it. 

There was a huge argument about bottom and upper beds and number of sold tickets before we left, it ended up few of the tourists had to stay in Siem Ream. 

There were few stops to pick up some bags from locals and two stops for "toilet". I am used to Asia and all the hygiene standards there but there were few American girls crying as they were not able to  use such toilets. 

I would say we were lucky. There were phones stolen and some people were really angry but we had a nice and clean comfy bed with pillows and blankets, we had upper bed and even TV and plugs. Almost twelve hours for $18. We were in Sihanoukville! Hooray! 

Původně jsme plánovali jet ze Siem Reapu lodí do Phnom Penhu a potom autobusem na jih do Sihanoukville, ale nakonec se nám nechtělo vstávat tak brzo, aby jsme stihli loď. Každopádně, rozhodně se podívejte na tohle lodní spojení: z Phnom Penhu do Siem Reapu lodí (a kdo nezná ten web, rozhodně to omrkněte, je to cestovatelská bible). Royhodli jsme se jet nočním buse.
A to mě trošku znervózňovalo. Autobusz v Kambodži a Thajskou jsou po stránce vybavení i servisu výce než skvělé, mnohdy lepší než v Česku nebo Anglii, dovolím si tvrdit. Ale o nočních spojeních mezi Siem Reapem a Sihanoukville jsem četla jen samé špatné recenze. Hlavně o Virak-Buntham Express Travel & Tour (a hádejt, s jakou společností jsme jeli, haha). Nehody, ukradené telefony, špatný servis atd. Tkaže jsme se rozhodli, že na koupení lístku zneužijeme recepčního z našeho hotelu, místní nikdo nenatáhne, na to už jsme v Asii přišli. A šlo to jako po másle, obstaral lístky za krásných 418 na jednoho a my vyrazili na "zastávku". A ejhle, opravdu to bylo přesně jako v těch recenzích. Všude naštvaní turisté a backpackeři, protože Virak-Buntham Express Travel prodali více lístků než měl autobus postelí. Mimo to tam probíhaly slušné hádky o vrchní postele - v autobuse byly vrchní a spodní postele, ty spodní opravdu nebyly pro klaustrofobiky. Díky bohu, náš recepční zřejmě tušil a koupil vrchní patro. A nikdo na nás nic nezkusil, protože nás byl náš zachránce doprovodit. 
Recenze měly pravdu. Řidiči byli dost neslušní a anglicky uměli jen když se jim to zrovna hodilo. Když jeden z cestovatelů nahlásil ukradený telefon, dostalo se m u stručné odpovědi: "Sorry, no English". Moje krosna byla bezpečně v zavazdlové prostoru, M takové štestí neměl, jeho krosna skončila v podivném špinavém technickém prostoru někdo ve spodku autobusu. Ostatní cestovatelé měli smůlu, jejich krosny skončili v uličce autobusu a řidiči se po nich bez ostych procházeli, v botech. 
Vyrazili jsme o pár minut později kvůli hádce o vrchní postele a několik backpackerů dokonce kvůli tomu nikam ani neodjelo. Cestou bylo pár zastávek na vyzvednutí jakýchsi balíků místňáků, potom pár zastávek na "wc". Jsem na Asii a tamější hygienické standardy zvyklá a jen tak něco mě už nezaskočí, ale některé americké slečny z autobusy s plášem trápily své měchýře dvanáct hodin, protože kambodžské wc nezvládly. 
Řekla bych, že jsme nakonec měli štestí a dopadlo to lépe, než jsem doufala. Řidiči byli nerudní, telefony byly odcizeny, ale nic z toho se nestalo nám, my si za krásných418 užili vrchní postel, v přikrývkou a polštářem, televizí a zásuvkou. Po dvanácti hodinách jsme v Sihanoukville. Třikrát hurá! 

Source: Google.com

We stayed in Elephant Garden hotel (I simply hate the word resort). I wasn't the place where my friend stayed few years ago because that resort (there we go again!!!) on a small island was closed down. We stayed on the mainland opposite that island and we also had little bamboo house so I couldn't be happier. 

With every little bamboo house comes a private bathroom, beach is just around the corner, there is a nice breakfast and some nice drinks to buy. In this little house we survived the biggest storm I have ever seen so we can now say these are proper houses, even if it doesn't seem like that, don't worry.  There is only a little detail: people from the hotel like to party so get ready for noisy nights.

Vybrali jsme si hotel (protože slovo rezort se mi hnusí) Elephant Garden. Nebylo to stejné místo, kde seubytovala moje kamárdka, ale ten útulný mal resort (grrrrr!!!) na malém ostrově nedaleko pobřeží už neexistoval. Zůstali jsme na pevnině přímo proti tomu malému ostrůvku a našli jsme si vlastní bambusový domek u pláže. Nemohla jsem být šťastnější. 
Každý bambusový doek měl svou koupelnu a toaletu, pláž byla co by kamenem dohodil, cena zahrnovala slušnou snídani a milkshaky na baru byly jedna báseň. V téhle chatrči jsme přežili největší boučku, jakou jsem kdy zažila, takže si dovolím tvrdit, že je to bezpečné obydlí, ač na první pohled nemusí vypadat. Jedna jediná moucha na celém tom krásném místě: personál má rád párty do pozdních hodiny, špunty do uší s sebou. 

View from the hotel beach

Delicious milkshakes and Cambodian beer 

Little businessman - his English was just perfect and his business skills even better

There are few resorts on Otres beach around the Elephant Garden. This area seems to be slowly developing but it will take few more years to make it a busy touristic place. Also, we went during low season so we were there almost alone. There are locals selling jewellery and offering massages on the beach every day and there are few guys offering boat trips around the islands. We decided to go for one. For $10 half day trip, transport from and to hotel, lunch included, visiting 3 or 4 islands and snorkeling around the corals. Why not?

The pick up from the hotel went smoothly, no problem. We had a little breakfast before we went, organized by the boat guys and we had a chance to meet other people going for the trip with us. It was just a very simple breakfast, pancakes, but really nice. The boat looked bit old and we were happy for our drybags. Well, it is not only about having a drybag but about using it properly. One girl on the boat had the same one. But forgot to close it. It was the last day for her iPhone. After few minutes we made it to a first snorkeling spot.  But we were not really lucky this time as the water wasn't really clear. So some people enjoyed the corals, we enjoyed jumping from the boat.

We made stops on few islands. Sometimes it was hard to get from and on the boat as the waves were big. At least it felt like an adventure. Also, on one of the islands we found the cute little colourful houses my friend went to few years back. Totally destroyed. Actually the part of the little island looked like it was waiting for a reconstruction. Sad. We had a nice swim, the sea was super warm and the guys made a lunch. Nothing special, only rice and chicken but delicious. I did not expect much for $10. 

Guys making lunch

Simple but delicious lunch 

Last stop on n island, walk in a "jungle" and last snorkeling and back to mainland. The snorkeling equip wasnt really good, few lucky guys had their own. Anyway, I was happy after such a trip. Until we realized that those guys are not willing to take us back to our hotel as promised. And it was not really close. I and a British girl having the same problem tried our best to make this work and not pay any money for the transport. After more than thirty minutes on phone we had our victory... But these are the kinda things you get used to in SE Asia...