On Tuesday we got on the lunchtime bus to Sihanoukville, "affectionately" known as SHITville. We had been told to avoid it because it is dirty and there's a lot of crime, and just generally seediness. We decided to go down the coast though, as far west from the city centre as possible. We booked a beach bungalow for $6 a night, at Otres beach 2. According to the website, our accommodation was 4.5miles from Sihanoukville. When we got off the bus, we were pounced on by a tuk tuk driver, as usual. I showed him the address, and he told me we have to pay $20 to get there. I told him there was no way in hell, because it's not THAT far. He said I was wrong, and that it was really far, before saying he would take us for $15. I told him we weren't getting in his tuk tuk for more than $10. He wasn't happy with that, but when we started heading over to the other drivers, he said okay, and bustled us into the back of his tuk tuk. We headed off, and 15 minutes later when we were still going, I started to feel bad for the guy. It really WAS far. Eventually we were on the beachfront, and the tar road changed to dirt road. The driver told us to get out and that our hostel was just up the road, but the road was too bumpy. We paid him and thanked him and set off. A little while down the road, we popped into a bar and asked them where we were meant to be heading. Turns out our driver got his revenge because he dropped us off at Otres beach, and Otres beach 2 was about 4kms further down the dirt road. We got into ANOTHER tuk tuk.
10 minutes later, after the bumpiest ride EVER, we arrived at our bungalow. There were 4 Germans sitting around the common area when we turned up, totally stonned out of their minds. We asked them who the owner was, and one of them said we should take a seat while he ran down the road to a bar where the owner was hanging out. The Slovakian owner came back, also totally stoned, and introduced himself. He then asked if we had booked a room. I told him I had. He then asked what website I used. I told him. He then asked how much I was supposed to pay. I told him. He then apologised and said he was sorry that he didn't know because he doesn't have a computer. This was going to be interesting!
Once the owner had cleaned our room, we went to put our stuff down. It was awesome. A thatch bungalow on stilts, on the beach. We headed out for some dinner and saw that we were on a really remote part of the beach. There were a few other bungalows, and maybe 5 or 6 bars and restaurants. Other than that, there was nothing. We could see the flashing neon lights from shitville in the distance, and we were really grateful our accommodation was actually more than 4 miles away!
The next three days were awesome. We had originally planned to go from Otres to Koh Rong Island. Apparently it is AMAZING, and rivals Thailand's beaches. At this point though, we were still over budget, and the boat to Koh Rong was $20 a person, with accommodation costing about $20 too. We decided that Otres was paradise enough for us, and stayed for 3 days, clawing money back into our budget, and having an amazing time. Every day was spent basically the same way. We woke up in the morning, went for a swim for an hour or so, rinsed off and had brunch. Then we hung out in front of a restaurant on loungers, with a few beers and our books, til about 5. We would then go back, shower and get dressed for dinner. We would have dinner and a few drinks, and then sit on the beach and watch thunderstorms in the distance. It was magical. It was so nice to be able to relax, and we realised that it was the first time we had had a few days to chill out and do nothing in about a year! We really needed it! And boy did we enjoy it!
On Friday night we reluctantly left Otres beach and headed north for Battambang. As we rode to the bus station in the tuk tuk, the sun was setting over the ocean and we wondered if we were making a mistake...
The only thing that I wish had been different were the other guests. We felt a bit uncomfortable always having a group of stoners smoking weed in the common area of the bungalows. We wouldn't have minded sitting there and reading during the day, but it wasn't nice with them around, so we ended up being out for as much time as possible.
