Phnom Penh ==>Kampot==>Sihanoukville*==>Ko Kong==>Thailand

[Jun]

Phnom Penh ==>Kampot==>Sihanoukville*==>Ko Kong (Krong Khemara)==>Thailand
[*Sihanoukville should be avoided, but more explanation later]

I travelled by train from Phnom Penh to Kampot (~$9) and then from Kampot to Sihanoukville ($6.86). Train tickets can be purchased either at the train station or online. I bought at the station in Phnom Penh and online in Kampot.
The train allegedly departs from Phnom Penh at 7:00am, but was 15 minutes late. The departure to Battambang at 6:40 am was almost on time.
The train was about 40~50 minutes late by the time it gets to Kampot & I gather this is common. It was supposed to arrive at 10:40, but was nearer to 11:30. If you don't mind an early start, I think the train is more pleasant than the bus.

This train has aircon. This looks like a local refit, complete with domestic aircon units. The lady comes around with several remote controls to set the temperature.
In Kampot, I got a Pass App tuk tuk to my hotel, who immediately checked me in. None of this making you wait until 14:00, as is common in Thailand, even if the room is ready. Well done to H&M Boutique.
Kampot has a nice range of coffee shops and restaurants in a compact centre by the river. Bars are a bit more difficult, as almost all of them have female hostesses. Some of the expats solve that problem by stopping for a drink at a restaurant instead.
Kampot seems to be livelier than I remember. Almost no Chinese presence, but a mix of local and foreign customers. I guess they have gained a few expats and tourists displaced from Sihanoukville.

[Jun]

Sihanoukville
As it was:
My previous visit to Sihanoukville was around 13~14 years ago.
It was how I imagined Pattaya might have been 40 or 50 years earlier. Some developed areas, but large undeveloped areas in between.
Ocheuteal beach was particularly nice, with a few bars in thatched huts behind it, although I didn't stay there. Plus some nice little hotels in the streets behind. Tourists were well catered for.
I stayed in gay hotel and bar run by a Brit. His bar staff were encouraged to flirt with customers, but seemed to be banned from sleeping with them.

2024
Since my last visit, the town has been comprehensively ruined.
They have more high rise buildings than Pattaya. There must also be over a hundred additional abandoned high rise projects, although the abandoned ones look nicer than all the completed Chinese hotels. I gather the market for selling apartments to Chinese dried up, possibly due to Chinese policy. If I lived in China, I'd want some money invested outside the country.
All the beach huts and the streets behind have gone, replaced by a long row of Chinese restaurants. Which had no customers when I walked past.

Whole areas of the town have nothing but Chinese hotels, Chinese casinos, Chinese KTV and Chinese restaurants. Many have signs in Chinese only, not even Khmer. Oddly, I don't see anywhere near enough Chinese people to sustain this. The airport has scheduled direct flights to Siem Riep and Saigon. Not China.


I was aware of changes in the town, but was still shocked by the extent of it all. Almost everything nice has been swept away. I've seen changes in a few towns over the years, but nowhere that's been systematically destroyed like this.

Just don't bother going to Sihanoukville. Be thankful that Pattaya isn't like this

[Gaybutton]

I hate to see that sort of thing happen - anywhere. A beautiful, relatively pristine area completely ruined by the greed of a few. I've seen that kind of thing happen too many times and far too often.

I'm somewhat glad they didn't learn their lesson from what happened to the businesses in Pattaya that made the mistake of catering only to Chinese. Seems like even more of it is going on in Sihanoukville, but it turns out not near enough Chinese to support it. The problem is even if many of these places fail and go out of business, which is exactly what I'd like to see happen, there is no way Sihanoukville will ever return to what it once was. That is sad.

[Jun]

I hate to see that sort of thing happen - anywhere. A beautiful, relatively pristine area completely ruined by the greed of a few. I've seen that kind of thing happen too many times and far too often.

I've never seen it happen anywhere like this, on such a scale and so quickly.

I'm somewhat glad they didn't learn their lesson from what happened to the businesses in Pattaya that made the mistake of catering only to Chinese.

From what I see, Sihanoukville has gone far further than Pattaya, at about the same time.
Actually, if they closed a few restaurants, you wouldn't even know the Chinese had ever visited Pattaya.
To make Pattaya like Sihanoukville, you would need to demolish whole areas of Pattaya and replace them with tasteless large hotels, casinos, restaurants and shops catering to the Chinese.

[Jun]

Here's a video someone produced. Possibly watch from about 4 minutes onwards.

[Jun]

Sihanoukville to Koh Kong Province
I took the afternoon bus out of Sihanoukville to Koh Kong(Krong Khmera) in Koh Kong province. This took just over 5 hours, despite roadworks on almost the entire length of the road in Koh Kong province. This was a comfortable trip, particularly has the bus was only about 25% full.
Koh Kong ought to be a boring and quiet little border town, but I still liked it and it's got more character than Sihanoukville. The expats at the local bar were sociable.

Koh Kong to Pattaya
Tuk tuk to Klong Yai/ Ban Hat Lek border. 11km, $5
Passing both Cambodian and Thai border controls took about 5 minutes each, with no queue. The biggest delay was filling in my TM6 to enter Thailand. They still require these at some land borders. This compares well with something like a 2.5 hour wait the last time I crossed from Poipet to Aranya Prathet.

Minivan to Trat. 140 baht, ~90 min. Arrive at approx 9:45.
The next bus from Trat to Pattaya would leave at 15:30. So I and the other farang customers booked the minivan to Rayong, departing at 11:00. 220 baht. We arrived at Rayong at 14:40. I almost suggested sharing a Bolt taxi to Pattaya for 450, but the idea of a 3:00pm minivan didn't seem too bad. Big mistake !
This van had an appalling driver, who was either speeding like crazy or waiting for customers. The speedo wasn't working, but I measured up to 85mph on an urban road. He also went via Sattahip, which isn't optimum.

[christianpfc]

I have been to Sihanoukville twice (2021 and 2023) and loved it both times! I find all these abandoned construction sites and the general decay, and the Chinese influence (architecture and signs) entertaining. Only because it's not on my usual trail (Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, and to/from Aranyaprathet or Saigon), I don't go there every time I'm in Cambodia.

[Jun]

Visiting abandoned construction sites is OK, but once I've climbed a few floors up an abandoned skyscraper to see the view from a couple of them, the novelty wears off.
The Chinese shopping centres are OK for a little while as well, but I have no time for the casinos, Chinese hotels or Chinese restaurants.

What's gone from Sihanoukvilke includes:
The nicest beach where you could admire the boys
Most of the non-Chinese farang friendly restaurants
Most of the nice coffee shops, although with planning, enough remain
Nice open bars
Character

I didn't even see many boats near the beach plying for tourist trade to the islands. As far as I can tell, the number of farang tourists is much lower than it used to be..

There are surviving temples that are quite nice and some of the lesser beaches aren't spoilt. 24 hours here would have been quite enough.

The one clear improvement is Pass App Tuk Tuks. So I can go anywhere for between $1 and $2, with no farang pricing and no confusion over the destination. This works far better than Bolt in Thailand, mainly due to an oversupply of tuk tuks.

[maump]

Are there any other small beach towns in Cambodia that are worthy of visit?

[Jun]

Are there any other small beach towns in Cambodia that are worthy of visit?

I'm not sure.

Kep had a nice beach, when I was there ~12 years ago, but there was not much in the village.
Kampot is on an estuary and is very pleasant, although there are no bars.
There were some gorgeous islands near Sihanoukville when I was there 12 years ago. Perhaps those have survived the "invasion", but this year there was no sign at all of the small tourist boats running to them from the pier.

I haven't visited the other beach towns.