Sihanoukville is Cambodia's Phuket/Bali/French Riviera. The town centre itself isn't much to rave about but a short moto ride to the beach area gives most beach-hungry travellers what they are looking for. 
Like Thailand, the beaches are lined with bamboo beach huts selling cheap cocktails and $3 fresh fish BBQs, firejugglers and groups of young tourists. But unlike Thailand it still retains much of its 'local' vibe - less the resort, more the backpackers' hangout. 
Women wander the rows of reclining deck chairs offering fresh fruit, back massages and manicures; beggars sift through the crowds requesting spare change and children approach tourists in the evenings with bracelets and fireworks for sale. Al was himself a victim of a small boy's sales pitch: after insisting we didn't want a beaded bracelet the boy struck a deal with Al - if the boy wins a round of tic tac toe (noughts and crosses) we buy two (rather overpriced) bracelets, if we win we keep them for free. 
Al entered this deal because he was sure he could win at the game. Well he lost (even though he insists that he let the boy win) the kid was ecstatic and we had to splash out on two bracelets we didn't really want. Oh well - it's good to support the local economy I always say. The next day, in true Cambodian style, we hired a motorbike for the day and did some exploring. We drove to a beach 5kms east of town that was recommended in the guidebook. This beach was incredibly beautiful and traquille. We passed the day relaxing on our deck chairs, swimming in the warm sea and generally enjoying the sunshine.
The highlight of our trip to Sihanoukville was a a day's scuba diving with a night spent on a 'desert island'. We went with Eco Sea Dives who were very professional and good fun. We met the group early in the morning, got kitted up and jumped in a minibus to the port of Sihanoukville. The port was a fascinating place. We'd never seen such an undeveloped port before. Most of the buildings rested on bamboo stilts and there was a small dockyard where wooden fishing boats were being repaired or repainted. Next to this were houses on stilts and next to this again was an area for loading and unloading ships.
We helped pile all the gear into our dive boat and off we sped with nutella baguettes for breakfast.
The diving was great, we didn't see anything spectacular but it was very beautiful indeed. (Unfortunately we haven't yet developed our underwater camera film). In the late afternoon we were dropped off on the island of Koh Rong and shown to our basic, but really nice, cabins. We wondered around the island's deserted beaches, had a dip in the warm, crystal clear sea, and checked out the local village. As we walked through the village for the first time (down the sandy 'high street' just next to the beach) we noticed a huge pig which lying fast asleep... at least it looked that way at first, but on closer inspection it was dead. The saw us looking and came over. They hadn't known it was dead but weren't too surprised - apparently it had been castrated the day before (although the desire remained it couldn't perform its manly functions and so in order to prevent any testosterone-fuelled rampages they had castrated it.... but then it died. Very sad. Anyway, on our way back the villagers had already started shaving the pig in the middle of the street and the whole village had turned out to watch the spectacle. We decided to grab a beer from the bar (more like a shop with a table and 2 chairs) and sit to watch the gruesome sight. The pig was shaved of its hairs, then one man picked up a knife and sawed the head off while another gutted it. Nothing was wasted and everyone seemed very excited - Christmas had come early to this small impoverished community! We left the gory scene and went back to the beach huts for dinner and to get an early night before our boat back early the next morning. Sadly I left my camera in someone else's bag and it was taken back to the office, I took a couple of photos with our underwater dive camera but haven't developed it yet.
On arrival back in Sihanoukville we relaxed with the usual beach activities such as getting a lady to thread the hairs from both of your legs - OUCH! And I hasten to add that she persuaded me to get it done which she clearly regretted two hours later when she had eventually finished with a crick in her neck!
The usual pina coladas in the evening the best cocktail to drink on a tropical beach!
and watched yet another beautiful Cambodian sunset.
We really enjoyed our time in Sihanoukville. It was our first taste of beachlife since Australia and we liked the fact that it wasn't as developed as Thailand - more like what Thailand would have been 10-15 years ago. There were a couple of downsides though. Unfortunately the beach was really dirty with rubbish strewn across the sand, plastic bags often spotted in the sea and beachside restaurants not doing their bit to keep their part of the beach tidy. If you dared to walk round the back of any beachside hotels/restaurants you would spot rubbish dumps, overflowing bins and dirty kitchens/bathrooms. It was a real shame as a cleanup effort by the council would surely result in a more pleasant experience for everyone but walking down to the beach was often a hazardous, even dangerous, pursuit and no one seems to care.
We also discovered that the main beach (and others in the area) are marked for massive developments by large Chinese-owned hotels. The main beach where you see us sipping our cocktails and playing with local kids will soon only be enjoyed by a privileged few and the buzzing, fun, hippy atmosphere will be gone. Well maybe if they clean up the beach it would at least be better for the environment... but the damage to the local economy would be higher and anyway, much of the coastline of Cambodia is a rubbish dump because the hotels there haven't made any effort to do their bit.So if you want to have the same experience we had you'd better get there quick before the beach life disappears! But no doubt the beach huts, their deckchairs and the hip, young tourists will just find a new stretch of coast.
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