Sianoukville and its beaches

Since we really liked the beaches and islands of Thailand, we thought we should give Cambodia a chance to show us its recreational possibilities as well as the cultural ones and headed for Sianoukville.


This harbour town really has potential and could have been a lovely place if it wasn't so dirty. The beaches and the sides of the streets are just full of plastic and rubbish. There are beaches that are fairly clean, but since the rest of the town isn't much of the magic of a beach town is gone.

But we were determined not to give up on a few days of lazy beaching and found out that there are a number of islands off the coast, about 2 hours by boat from Sianoukville.
After trying three different resorts which were all full, we hit gold when a travel agent told us about Lonely Beach, a new resort on a very private beach on the island Koh Rong.

And nomen est omen, Lonely Beach is really lonely. When we arrived we were the only guests and the entire resort has four bungalows in total, but they hope to expand in the near future (depending on if and when they get the permissions from the local government and the land owner to build more huts...).
The bungalows are very basic wooden huts with open-air bathrooms and solar panels for the power supply.
Our stay at Lonely Beach was great and we spent a couple of lazy days reading books in the hammocks on the beach. We tried laying in the sand the first day, but got so badly bitten by sand flies (my legs are still full of red little dots that are slowly turning into scars!) that we took the flight to the hammocks for the rest of our stay.
The sand flies was not our only wildlife encounter on the beach, we had a friendly crab watching us for hours. Well, he was very curious and tried to pinch my back through the hammock but after I chased him away, he decided to keep his distance.

This little fellow was very curious and watched our every step

Riding the Bamboo Train

After Siem Reap, where we visited the famous ruins of Angkor Wat, we decided to do a short stop-over in Battambang on our way to Sianoukville. Why? Because of the famous Bamboo Train! 

This train - well, to be precise it is not a train but a draisine - is a simple construction consisting of weels, a bamboo plattform to sit on, and a small twin-stroke engine to animate it! All out of the simple reason that after the Khmer Rouge regime resources were scarce and no trains were operating in the region (and still do not operate on this particular route). But people had to get to the local markets to sell their goods, so they invented this magnificent means of transportation.

And it had to be kept simple and to be easily disassembleable for one good reason: there is only one track! So if two bamboo trains from two different directions meet each other, the one that is heavier loaded stays on the track, the other one is disassembled quickly and put aside the track to give way. A great way to solve the problem!!!

Unfortunately, the Bamboo Train is not as heavily used by locals as a means of transportation anymore, it is kept alive mainly to make tourist dollars. Feels quite odd to be driven for 7 km from one station to another, only to be hassled by people who want to sell refreshments to you...
However, riding the Bamboo Train was heaps of fun and exciting, and watching the operators dismantle their rides even more! 

Additionally, we have heared rumors, that local authorities plan to revitalize the track and that the Bamboo Train will come to the end of its existence. So be quick and catch this very special train as long as you can!