Kate & Duncan's Adventures in Asia: Sihanoukville: Lazy Last Days

With about one week left in our SE Asia adventure, we wanted to spend several relaxing days on the beach to (almost) end our trip. After a shitty night bus trip, we arrived in Sihanoukville, a supposedly beautiful city on the beach in southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand, and were immediately disappointed. I guess I should clarify - I was disappointed as Duncan was still sick and didn't really care where we were. In my head, I had envisioned beaches similar to Thailand and Vietnam - white sand, relaxing vibe, clear water. What we encountered when we arrived to the infamous Serendipity Beach was trash-filled streets and beaches and overpriced hotels that were not even on the beach. I even went searching along the beachfront (alone, as Duncan was resting in a designated spot) for the beautiful beaches the guidebook told us about or any type of beachfront bungalow, but all I found was a discarded shrimp in my foot (cheap seafood restaurants lined the beach), a stray cat shitting on the beach, and a dirty old Western man with a young Cambodian girl (gross but unfortunately not uncommon occurrence in SE Asia). Perhaps I'm a beach snob or was exhausted from care-taking & decision making or sleep deprivation from a shitty night bus (it was about 6:30am), but whatever the reason this was not where I wanted to spend our last days. So we decided to take a chance and hired a tuk tuk to Otres Beach since our trusty guidebook had one bungalow hotel listed in this area (but no other information about the area). My confidence wasn't restored when our tuk tuk driver began driving us down a totally abandoned rocky road. But luckily, we eventually turned off the road and discovered the chill Otres Beach, a beach hidden from view from Serendipity Beach and lined with one cheap bungalow hotel after another. Our beach vacation was saved as we found a bungalow for $10 per night right on the beach. Sadly, Otres Beach as we experienced it may be no longer as the government (who owns the beach) had already began bulldozing the beachfront bungalows and forcing the hotels to move to the other side of the street (not on the beachfront) to make room for cheap restaurants, a sad replica of the beach area we had just escaped.

We had told ourselves throughout the trip that if we stayed under budget we would be able to splurge once we got to Cambodia. This was even more true after all the money we saved with Duncan being sick (food, drink, and activity spending went way down). Good thing that locals were selling stuff and services up and down the beach. By the end of the 5 days, we knew all the various characters who would be constantly attempting to sell us stuff, which comprised of young kids and older women (still not sure what all the men do because this is the case all over SE Asia). They loved me because I bought at least one thing everyday, including a daily $5 hour-long massage from my masseuse Mai, and mani-pedi on the last day for $5, bracelets, ornaments, sarongs, fruit, seasoned lobsters, and more. The young sellers on Otres Beach should really come to America and become car salesman with the lines they would use to get you to buy stuff. These included "if you get a pedicure the sun will come out" or "thinking makes you old". Another common sales tactic was simply to insult you so you would indulge in one of their beauty services, especially threading, which I did not indulge in. They would tell you how hairy you were and how you would never find a significant other being hairy in order for you to allow them to remove your hair by threading. After seeing friends and other travelers wincing with tears in their eyes after succumbing to them, I opted to say no to this service.

Alright, enough of my narrative: