“Mcwhat?” She raises an eyebrow.
“McDonald’s,” says the traveller, pointing to the sign across the road. “The sign is for fast food.”
But the attendant shakes her head unknowingly, opting to brush off her Western world naivety with a genuine grin as big as the drinks menu she hands over.
Sihanoukville, like most towns and villages across Cambodia, has so far escaped the modern commercialism for which travellers are too often thankful for. Tourism is yet to really take off here.
Four hours’ drive from the nation’s capital Phnom Penh, getting to Sihanoukville will prove one hell of a journey. But if you don’t arrive having swerved to miss a lorry, a family of six on a moped or a herd of careless cattle, you’re probably less likely to appreciate its empty beaches. Nobody has made a film about this place yet. There are clogged streets and very few sandwich boards, street vendors or postcard stands. Food is cheap, beer is cheaper and a drag on a cheeky spliff is redeemable on arrival.
Discover a place like this in neighbouring Thailand and you’re likely to share it with thousands of others. But Cambodia, like few other Asian countries, is still yet to be completely unravelled. Marketing campaigns – and a couple of Angelina Jolie action flicks – are helping drive rapid tourism development. But if there was ever an indication of things to come, you’ll find it in Siem Reap, a tourist hub in the far north where visitors in their hundreds of thousands come every week to cast an eye on the largest religious monument in the world.
A visit to the temples of Angkor remains the ultimate box to tick for anybody tackling south-east Asia. And some choose to do it in a day, literally flying in to witness the sun set against the ancient temple backdrop, and then flying straight back out again.
For the thousands who want to stay longer there are plenty of options; albeit rather more expensive ones than anywhere else in the country. Top-end travellers are attracted to this place like bees to honey. Cheap hotel rooms and hostel accommodation are more often overlooked in favour of five-star luxury accommodation and a pass to the local day spa. Tourists can finally stand before one of the lasting legacies of the ancient world, and have themselves a manicure and a facial at the end of it all.
Meanwhile in Sihanoukville, solo travelers are kicking back in the white sand, tipping the local kid for taking his empty beer can and wondering where the bloody hell everybody got to. But, judging by the number of tourists already plodding through Cambodia’s more popular precincts the crowds will be there soon, so make the most of it. •
• For more information on Cambodia, see www.tourismcambodia.com
Crowd control
Phnom Penh: A bewildering mix of tourism, choking traffic and poverty. New arrivals face the daunting prospect of dodging hundreds of vendors offering everything from a personal guide to a
special massage. Restaurants along the main tourist strip offer great food and respite from the clogged streets. Expect to be approached by the poor and homeless. Pack a thick-skin.
The Killing Fields: An hour’s bumpy drive from the nation’s capital, the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek is counted among one of the nation’s top tourist attractions. Expect big crowds, tacky
souvenir sideshows and plenty of begging children. The tourists who visit daily are perhaps only
outnumbered by the grim toll of people who
were brutally killed here.
Siem Reap: It seems you weren’t the only one who wanted to turn your Tomb Raider fantasies into reality. Visit the gob-smacking temples of Angkor and join hundreds of thousands of others with the same idea. Brave the crowds, though, and it could prove one of your greatest travelling adventures. Siem Reap offers everything from locally-made
haberdashery to happy pizza.
Sihanoukville: An idyllic Cambodian village nestled along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, this resort town offers basic accommodation and
beachside bars. It is an ideal backdrop for anybody wanting to sink their feet into the sand and not dig up a discarded drink umbrella in the process.
