So although I proposed a lack of chronology, this entry actually picks up from where I left off a month or so ago. It only seems appropriate as it is so close to my current location.
Have you ever heard of Sihanoukville?
Can you even pronounce it? Go on. Give it a shot.
Quite finished?
Sihanoukville is a beach town. A Cambodian beach town. Everyone knows a beach town. A kind of fringe existence built up to support the ocean economy. Where this was once based around the produce that came out of the sea, it is now formed around the people who want to go in to it. It is a passing form of trade which typically spends it time gliding across the surface of the locality without ever peering below the surface. As such you will find places like this, Sihanoukville being far from an exception, caters chiefly to one thing: surface pleasures.
Sihanoukville is like a gift wrapped turd in an adult version of pass the parcel.
O.k, that was slightly harsh. It might not be a gift wrapped turd. The thing is, there are a lot of shiny layers wrapped around the experience, that are at once exciting and enticing to sink your claws in to. The problem is, the more you peel away and the closer you get to the heart, the more it starts to stink. And with this place, there are definitely rips in the packaging.
The trick is distraction. This is something it does well. Take, for instance, Utopia bar. Yes, Utopia. Take all the connotations of an establishment that calls itself that and you probably wont be far off. During happy hour they sells beers for 25 cents. 25 cents. I mean yeah sure it is notorious for its $1 dorm rooms being infested with bed bugs, but 25 cent beers. Bed bugs. Beers. Bed bugs. Beers. The eternal debate.
The fact is, for those looking for a good time, Sihanoukville knows how to give it to you. It is one big party even if it does feel slightly like the tail end. Like turning up to a house at 5am where most of the revellers have passed out or gone home and the surroundings are littered with the detritus of festivities that once were.
Take the main beach, Serendipity Beach. At first glance you have a beautiful ocean front, golden sand, blue seas, the package. Problem is ase tide laps at your ankles, so too does untold amounts of refuse. Discarded cans, food containers, plastic bags and potentially even the odd rubber receptacle of the shared joy experienced the night before between two consenting adults who love each other very dearly. I enjoy a dip in the ocean but this was one location where I opted to stay dry.
Alright, that is not ostensibly true. There was that first night out drinking at the late night beach bars where my Texan companion and I were coaxed by new aquaintances in to taking a late night dip. The air of throwing caution and indeed modesty to the wind seems to blow in on the evening breeze and only dissipates in the glare of the following sunrise. The only hope is that whatever dignity you discard on the shoreline is able to be reclaimed before you surrender to sleep. We were lucky to leave with what we arrived with alongside some good memories, I have seen many who left with less.
In Asia though it is hard to entirely fault a location servicing abandon. Those that come to this part of the world can often be characterised by the desire, to a greater or lesser extent, lose themselves. Sihanoukville provides that environment in the easiest possible way. Seek Utopia, indulge hedonism, retreat from reality. The appeal is not hard to identify.
Unfortunately it is this reality that causes the stench of putrification wafting out from beneath all the glossy layers. When you can hardly hear the waves on the shore beyond the cries of children begging you to buy their bracelets and fireworks. When the crowd at the liveliest bar on the beachfront comprises more prostitutes than it does actual punters. I mean they call it a bar, we call it a bar but the flashing lights can only disguise so much from its true identity.
Ultimately though, Sihanoukville only lies across the edge of the sea. Where there is ocean, there are opportunities and other places to explore. It is a location I have passed through a number of times now but only as a point of transit whenever it can be helped. You can stop by, take it in for what it is, find the nearest boat and sail on out of there. It didn't take much of that place for me to start feeling choked on the fumes but i was hopeful to find a breath of fresh air on the horizon, and I certainly wasn't wrong.
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