Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Arrived in Sihanoukville early afternoon. It’s our first time in Cambodia but this is a resort town so we didn’t feel the need for a formal ship excursion. There’s really not much to see here. We took the ship’s shuttle to the market area, walked around there for a while and then hired a car to take us to two temples and Independence Square.

Cambodia was colonized by France. King Norodom Sihanouk began claiming independence from France in 1949. In 1953, he was successful and France agreed to decolonize the whole country. Cambodians view him as "the father of independence” and this city is named after him.

Our first stop was Wat Leu pagoda which is on a hilltop and looks over the city of 80,000. Next, we went to Independence Square and ended our tour with Wat Krom pagoda. Our guide was quite vocal about how the Chinese government and investors are dominating in the city. He pointed out numerous construction projects that were Chinese as well as dozens of casinos. There are now concerns about organized crime.

This is our only visit to Cambodia on this trip and we didn’t get a strong impression of it so we plan to be back soon to explore further and visit Angkor Wat.Read more