Shianoukville

We left Phnom Penh at 8:00 am on Tuesday February 5.  The trip was by public bus and took about 6-7 hours, including stops and allowing for bad traffic.  Once in Shianoukville we checked into the July Anna Guesthouse, which is about 100 yards from the beach.  Unfortunately, getting to the beach was a good 10 minute walk because Chinese developers have put up high-end resorts between the guesthouse and beach.  In fact, Chinese money is everywhere.  They are buying  the town, making everything much more expensive for the locals.

Notwithstanding the high-end resorts, there was trash everywhere.  It is worse than anything I have seen in Mexico.  Plastic bottles, sheets of plastic, plastic bags, construction debris, paper cups, all manner of junk and crap all over the place.  It is embedded in the road bed. Very discouraging to see that there does not appear to be any concern, much less consciousness on the part of the Cambodian people about the levels of trash in their countryside.   Perhaps once the Chinese finish their build-out of the town out as a luxury resort destination, the appearance will change, but at the moment it is very sad to see what should be an idyllic paradise spoiled by trash everywhere.

Next day, Wednesday, February 6, we hired a boat and went to two islands in the Gulf of Thailand. It was a traditional Cambodian boat, probably 25’ long and powered by two engines that each had a long propellor shaft and a 2 bladed propellor on the end.  Our driver was Lewis, no doubt an anglicized name, and Krom, a young man of about 24 who speaks excellent Eng

First stop was Koah Chanloh, where we anchored and snorkeled off the boat. The water was pleasantly warm.  There were about 6 other Native boats with tourists aboard, snorkeling and generally hanging out. After leaving Koah Chanloh, we left for a 20 minute ride to Koah Ta Kiev, where we pulled up to the shore and got off in 2’ of water.

Lewis set to making a fire while some of us played a game of frisbee in the water.  Lewis and Krom worked on lunch, Krom slicing vegetables and Lewis heating a large pot of peanut oil on the fire then adding boneless chicken breasts to it. It was an excellent lunch. After more lazing on the beach, the consensus was to head back to the guest house, so we pushed off for the half hour ride back to shore.

That night 5 others and I went out to dinner at the Secret Garden, a restaurant in the beach.  For a change, I decided to have fish and chips, which were excellent. Then it was back to the guesthouse and to bed as we had an early start in the morning for a Homestay in Chambok.