Cambodia - Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville Railway Station is an icon of shitty 1960s concrete architecture.

In 1955, a construction team arrived at what was then known as Kompong Som to begin work on Cambodia's first (and only) deep water port. When the port was finished in 1960, the area was renamed Sihanoukville in honor of then King Sihanouk. 

Today, with a good road from Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville is drawing a steady and growing stream of backpackers along with expatriates and locals coming down from Phnom Penh for lazy weekends. Russian tourists have also started arriving in droves.

The first time I visited Sihanoukville (over 10 years ago), I loved it; there were kilometers of white sandy beaches devoid of humans. In particular, Otres Beach was totally undeveloped as it could only be reached by motorcycle as there was no road (only a narrow dirt track) leading to the beach.

Now, seediness kinda starts to outshine the prettiness, especially at Weather Station and Victory Beach. The impacts of sex tourists and Russians with ill-gotten wealth flooding in cannot be hidden. Nor can the forces of "development".

For example the once abandoned Independence Hotel has had a makeover while a large portion of the previously public beach nearby was "sold" to a wealthy Khmer with, you guessed it, connections in the local government.

The trend is in the wrong direction, but outside town, one can still enjoy the sights of rice farmers and salt fields or go trekking in Ream National Park.