I left Kampot about 11 on the morning of the 11th on a minibus bound for Sihanoukville further west on the coast. Kampot was a very pleasant town and I probably would have stayed longer there if I didn't have a flight to catch in three days. We had some good views of forested Bokor Mountain on the way. It took less than two hours to reach Sihanoukville and the minibus let us off about a block from the main beach. Sihanoukville was founded only in the 1950's to provide Cambodia with a port after independence. During French colonial rule most trade had passed through Vietnam. It is still the country's main port and is also the country's main beach resort.
I found a hotel about three blocks from the beach and had lunch and spent time in an intenet cafe before making it to the beach about 4:30, after the heat of middle of the day. This beach, called Ochheuteal, stretches for something like four kilometers, or about two and a half miles, along the coast. It's not very wide, not even 100 feet, but has nice white sand. The end closest to the city center is called Serendipity Beach and was full of people, thousands of them, both foreigners and Cambodians. The beach in places was covered with chaise lounges and chairs and there were jet skis in the water. Lining the beach are dozens of rather well-built restaurants and bars with grass roofs and they were fairly crowded. I walked along the beach from one end to the other and it took me a little less than an hour each way. The far end of the beach was almost deserted and ended at a river mouth and, beyond that, a rocky headland. While I was walking, the sun diappeared into the haze on the horizon about 6:10. After dark, I sat on a very comfortable padded chair on the beach with a nice breeze blowing and had a great dinner of barbecued baracuda, shrimp and squid, plus french fries and salad, for only $3. Plus, the draft beer was only 50 cents a glass.
I got up the next morning and watched CNN in my room for a while covering Mubarak's resignation and then went to the beach for breakfast. It was a cloudy morning and after breakfast I walked along the beach a bit before returning to my hotel. I had an early lunch on the beach about 11-11:30 and left about 12:30 on a bus I thought was bound for Krong Koh Kong further on the coast to the west, near the border with Thailand. However, the bus was headed to Phnom Penh and after about two hours let the four of us bound for Krong Koh Kong off at a roadside restaurant where we had to wait for almost two hours for a bus coming from Phnom Penh and heading to Krong Koh Kong. We didn't get there until 8 o'clock. The road to Krong Koh Kong is fairly new and used to have four ferry crossings, now replaced with bridges. It passes through forest and I enjoyed seeing the dense forest and the waterways along the road until it got dark about 6:30. After dark, I could still see some of the trees in the moonlight.
I got up about 7 the next morning and looked around town, but there wasn't much to see. I walked to the riverfront along the wide river on the west side of town. It looked like it might be a mile wide, but the riverfront itself wasn't very nice. I had breakfast and about 9:30 took a motorcyle taxi to the border, only about five miles away after crossing the long bridge across the river. The Cambodian side of the border was lined with several fancy hotels, probably also casinos, but they didn't seem very busy. Getting through the border formalities took little time. I joined with four other tourists and took a songthaew, a pick-up with seats in the back under a canopy, to Trat, about an hour an a half away. We passed more forest on the way, with views of the sea here and there. It rained a bit just before we reached Trat, a little after 11:30. I had a very good lunch of noodles and squid at the bus station while it rained very hard. About 12:45 I left in a minivan bound for Bangkok. We had some rain at first, but soon it cleared up and we made good time on Thailand's modern highways. It was a Sunday afternoon, so when we reached Bangkok there wasn't as much traffic as on a workday. By 6:30 I had checked into the hotel in the Banglamphu area where I had made a reservation before heading to Cambodia. As before, the area was full of foreign tourists. I had a good dinner and went to bed about 10 but didn't get much sleep.
I got up at 2:30 am and left in a cab for the airport at 3. My plane left shortly before 6 and landed in Narita (Tokyo) a little more than five hours later, about 1 pm Tokyo time. My plane to Saipan left about 8 pm. I spent the interim in Delta's lounge eating, reading newspapers and using the internet. We landed in Saipan soon after midnight, about 12:30. Good to be back.
I found a hotel about three blocks from the beach and had lunch and spent time in an intenet cafe before making it to the beach about 4:30, after the heat of middle of the day. This beach, called Ochheuteal, stretches for something like four kilometers, or about two and a half miles, along the coast. It's not very wide, not even 100 feet, but has nice white sand. The end closest to the city center is called Serendipity Beach and was full of people, thousands of them, both foreigners and Cambodians. The beach in places was covered with chaise lounges and chairs and there were jet skis in the water. Lining the beach are dozens of rather well-built restaurants and bars with grass roofs and they were fairly crowded. I walked along the beach from one end to the other and it took me a little less than an hour each way. The far end of the beach was almost deserted and ended at a river mouth and, beyond that, a rocky headland. While I was walking, the sun diappeared into the haze on the horizon about 6:10. After dark, I sat on a very comfortable padded chair on the beach with a nice breeze blowing and had a great dinner of barbecued baracuda, shrimp and squid, plus french fries and salad, for only $3. Plus, the draft beer was only 50 cents a glass.
I got up the next morning and watched CNN in my room for a while covering Mubarak's resignation and then went to the beach for breakfast. It was a cloudy morning and after breakfast I walked along the beach a bit before returning to my hotel. I had an early lunch on the beach about 11-11:30 and left about 12:30 on a bus I thought was bound for Krong Koh Kong further on the coast to the west, near the border with Thailand. However, the bus was headed to Phnom Penh and after about two hours let the four of us bound for Krong Koh Kong off at a roadside restaurant where we had to wait for almost two hours for a bus coming from Phnom Penh and heading to Krong Koh Kong. We didn't get there until 8 o'clock. The road to Krong Koh Kong is fairly new and used to have four ferry crossings, now replaced with bridges. It passes through forest and I enjoyed seeing the dense forest and the waterways along the road until it got dark about 6:30. After dark, I could still see some of the trees in the moonlight.
I got up about 7 the next morning and looked around town, but there wasn't much to see. I walked to the riverfront along the wide river on the west side of town. It looked like it might be a mile wide, but the riverfront itself wasn't very nice. I had breakfast and about 9:30 took a motorcyle taxi to the border, only about five miles away after crossing the long bridge across the river. The Cambodian side of the border was lined with several fancy hotels, probably also casinos, but they didn't seem very busy. Getting through the border formalities took little time. I joined with four other tourists and took a songthaew, a pick-up with seats in the back under a canopy, to Trat, about an hour an a half away. We passed more forest on the way, with views of the sea here and there. It rained a bit just before we reached Trat, a little after 11:30. I had a very good lunch of noodles and squid at the bus station while it rained very hard. About 12:45 I left in a minivan bound for Bangkok. We had some rain at first, but soon it cleared up and we made good time on Thailand's modern highways. It was a Sunday afternoon, so when we reached Bangkok there wasn't as much traffic as on a workday. By 6:30 I had checked into the hotel in the Banglamphu area where I had made a reservation before heading to Cambodia. As before, the area was full of foreign tourists. I had a good dinner and went to bed about 10 but didn't get much sleep.
I got up at 2:30 am and left in a cab for the airport at 3. My plane left shortly before 6 and landed in Narita (Tokyo) a little more than five hours later, about 1 pm Tokyo time. My plane to Saipan left about 8 pm. I spent the interim in Delta's lounge eating, reading newspapers and using the internet. We landed in Saipan soon after midnight, about 12:30. Good to be back.
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