We entered Cambodia in Sihanoukville which lies on the southern coast. The immigration was very straight forward and quick. Arriving at such a small airport definitely has its advantages and we barely felt the transition from one country into another. At the ATM we certainly felt the change: Apparently you can only get US $ with a foreign credit card. We were also given surprisingly large bills. In the States I only ever got 20 Dollar bills and there were usually, well, used but the bills here looked brand new. When we went to get a SIM card, we were also told that our 20 $ bills might not be good enough for Cambodia. They are too old and too used, and they refused one of them. Here US$ and the Cambodian currency Riel are used parallelly: Our taxi driver from the airport could not give us change, and we had to ask in a shop for smaller bills. For our 20 $ we got 80 000 Riel. The unofficial, but accepted exchange rate is 1 $ = 4000 Riel. Knowing this you can mix and match your bills with both currencies and will receive change the same way.
The taxi brought us directly to the boat pier, or what we thought was a pier. As it turned out it was a beach where the boat landed so you had to wade through the water to reach the boat. Kind of challenging with all of our luggage but the boat staff helped us out. Arriving at the island of Koh Ta Kiev, a small island about 45 minutes from Sihanoukville, we had to get up to the hips into the water. But the water was warm and the ground was sandy and we made it with dry luggage. On this island are only a few resorts and from the one we had chosen we couldn’t even see another. Instead we had an unobstructed view towards the horizon and the sunset.
The Kactus resort has an eco-friendly approach, they don’t sell bottled water but you can refill your bottle for a small fee. If you clean the beach you get a beer or a soft drink for free. The beach was very clean indeed! We were asked to save as much water as possible and the bathrooms are supplied with biodegradable soap. The bar and restaurant are built on a platform and overlook the sea. It’s really an amazing place to hang out and relax. The food and the drinks are maybe not the cheapest but they are certainly worth the price. During sunset they offer a happy hour and after dinner there is a chill atmosphere with music which quiets down at around 10 pm. For us it was really a perfect combination and a great place to stay! If I ever have the chance again, I’d certainly come back!
Since the island is rather small, we could cross it by foot in about one hour. We walked to the other side where a fishing village is situated. Here we could see how the beach looks like when no one cleans it. It was just walking on rubbish! We saw people there and I am not sure if they don’t care or if they had resigned. Most of the rubbish washes up from the sea but I assume living in this kind of surrounding does not encourage the proper disposal of garbage… Seeing this made us really sad and reminded us that we are part of the problem. The short version is: European countries are exporting their garbage to other nations who need the money but cannot take care of it properly. We should therefore try to reduce unnecessary and excessive usage of plastic and, in my opinion, garbage export like this must be prohibited.
From the paradise that our bay was, we had to leave one day early because the bus to our next destination in the Cardamon mountain only runs once a day at 8 am. Therefore, we took the afternoon boat to Sihanoukville and stayed there for one night. In short, Sihanoukville is an ugly and dirty town full of construction and felt like a rough awakening from a nice dream. No place to stay longer than absolutely necessary. But we were looking forward to trekking in the jungle!