We left Thailand excited. We had heard only good things about Cambodia from fellow travellers. Everyone seemed to love it. We couldn't wait to see it with our own eyes. We booked a direct ticket from Ko Chang to Sihanoukville. We also booked a hostel ahead, because we would be arriving after dark. In a new country we like to get used to things first instead of exploring the city at night with a map and a guidebook in your hand. And it's easier to take a taxi or a tuk-tuk directly to the chosen hostel to avoid the worst of possible touts.
Our border crossing went easy enough. We got our exit stamps out of Thailand and a guy took our backpacks into a small cart and pulled them to the Cambodian border a short walk away. He asked for a 100-baht tip and we agreed to give 20 (50 cents) each. You do not need to tip in Thailand, but we think it's okay when we agree on a service like someone taking care of our luggage for us. You carry it yourself, or you pay something. A body temperature check, visa application, passport stamps, all the usual was done within less than half an hour. We still had passport photos left, so no worries there either. In the same bus was an older German lady, who was going on about how she had been charged over double the price we had paid, and her visa fee should have been covered by the ticket already. Nevertheless she had to pay for the visa at the border. It is still unclear to us what really happened there, but the lady did not seem to be very delighted. She kept going on about how she is constantly being ripped off. She was very proud not to have tipped anyone, because she lost so much money already.
From the border we jumped into a car owned by a person in the company which was responsible for taking us to the bus station towards Sihanoukville. We stopped on the way in a corner shop and the driver told us that we could now exchange our Thai baht into Cambodian riel. "Is good to exchange now, no is possible in Sihanoukville. No take Thai baht there". Right. "Is this a bank?", we asked, amused. "Yes, yes, private bank", he answered laughing. So it was obvious that it was again another quite common scam that you hear of all the time. The older lady and an older guy in the same car went directly to the counter and handed over their money. We thought about exchanging a small amount, 400 baht, just for the way, and the rest in Sihanoukville. We gave the money and without even telling the exchange rate the lady behind the counter started to count the riels. We asked how much the we would be getting, and after seeing the numbers on the calculator we wanted our money back. It was too ridiculous even for a small amount. She threw the money back at us. The driver was watching the situation, but never said a word about us not exchanging our money. We got back in the car and it turned out that the lady and other guy had lost about a third of their money, 16-20 euros out of 50. The rest of the journey the German lady was furious and refused to tip anyone.
Our bus arrived in Sihanoukville just at sunset and we saw about ten taxi and tuk-tuk drivers running towards the bus, competing for customers. Our hostel, Footprints, was located in the furthest corner of the city on Otres beach, about 6 or 7 kilometers out of town and even further away from the bus station. We took a taxi and looking for the hostel after a while we found out that it was located on the very end of Otres beach, already named Otres 2. Not much going on over there, which is quite what we like. The hostel was amazingly cozy with great atmosphere, with a selection of movies and good food. A bit noisy because of thin walls, but very good in every other way.
We spent most of our time relaxing on the beautiful white sand beach and reading books on the sofas. We also went to see the city and visited the local market and explored the surroundings by foot. It's quite small and easy get around walking. We were feeling a bit nostalgic about leaving the beaches soon for a few months, so we ended up following the beach all the way back. On the way we saw the popular Serendipity beach where most tourists decide to stay. It was full with sun chairs, music, bars, jet skis and not much for people who just want peace. Otres 1 beach was a little bit more to our liking, but still felt crowded. Once again we were happy with our chosen location.
And by the way, it was no problem getting rid of our bahts in Sihanoukville. Cambodia uses both riel and US dollars. So we got some dollars in a bank with a 3% commission instead of 30%.
One night we attended a party on the beach organised by few of the guys staying in the same hostel. It was a surprise party for their friend whose birthday it was. They collected money from everyone who wanted to join and they managed to get about 25 people. With the money they bought cheap booze and a cake. They also borrowed speakers and music player from the hostel! We joined the party, had a drink and talked to some people. After a short while we got a tip from an English guy that he had been swimming last night in the ocean and he couldn't believe his eyes when he started swimming. Right now, the ocean was full of bioluminescent plankton that glows in the dark when you move. (Read more about what it is: http://aquaviews.net/explore-the-blue/bioluminescent-plankton-what-makes-it-glow/# )
It was quite obvious what we had to do next. We had to go for a look. We walked to the shallows and started to splash the water with our feet. And we couldn't believe what we saw! Little shiny things were clearly visible in the crashing waves and also appeared with every splash we made! We had to get into the water. Apart from the party the beach was empty, so we walked a bit further away, took off our clothes and ran into the water like kids. It got better the deeper you went. These shiny things were everywhere. It looked like we were making little stars with every movement! We lost the track of time, just swimming and playing and being unable to believe how amazing it looked! We got out of the water when we were shivering with cold and just couldn't stay any longer. That was an absolute highlight on this whole trip. We walked back to find out that the party had pretty much ended already, but the guy who had told us about it was still there. We went to shake his hand and thanked for the advice before going to bed, still smiling.
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