Sihanoukville
About 1,500 rooms of all standards are currently available to tourists who often desperately feel the need of the sea breeze after tiring days spent exploring the temples of Angkor. Sihanoukville contains four beautiful beaches with white sand and swaying palms lapped by the warm, translucent water of the Gulf of Siam. The water is clean, the people are friendly and mass tourism has yet to take off.
Visitors can enjoy the nearby Kbal Chhay waterfalls, the Bokor Hills and the Ream National Park with its stretches of unspoiled coast and mangrove forests. From Victory Beach, about three or four kilometres away, boats can be hired to picnic on uninhabited islands where there is excellent snorkeling. There is a fast boat connection to Koh Kong province, and to Trat in Thailand, where there is an international border checkpoint.
The local Express bus takes around tere and a half hours to reach Sihanoukville from PhnomPenh by National Raod No. 4.
Beaches that line the west contour of the city from north to south are Victory Beach, Lamherkay Beach, Koh Pos Beach, Independence Beach, Sokha Beach, Serendipity Beach, Ochheuteal Beach and Otres Beach. The most popular beaches are Ochheuteal, Sokha, Independence and Victory. Tourists can take water taxis to the nearby islands for diving, snorkeling, and game fishing.
The peninsula is separated from the central plains of Cambodia by the Damrei Mountains, especially the Bouk Kou. The city is also besides the Ream National Park (210 km2) and it includes the islands of Koh Thmei and Koh Sei.
There are more than a dozen islands off the coast of Sihanoukville for tourists to hop around. Only some of them have been so far developed for overnight stays.
The inhabitants of Sihanoukville dedicate especially to commerce, fishing, agriculture and industry. It is used that families visit the beaches and waterfalls at the weekends. Generally people from Sihanoukville are friendly and they are used to visitors from other Cambodian provinces and foreigners.
