Khmer (Cambodian) New Year is almost here. April 13 to 15 (and the 16th and 17th are public holidays), SihanoukVille's beaches will be full of tourist from around Cambodia and around the world!
A week or more of celebrations, including fireworks, water, swimming, eating and drinking, and dancing. For several days, especially the 13th to 17th of April, most or all of the rooms in town will be booked. If you're coming down here, best to make reservations first, and get your transportation lined up a couple days in advance if possible.
Right now, it's a little slow here, as everyone is waiting for New Years, and the week after New Years is also a bit slow, because everyone's back at work, and resting from the festivities.
You can get a list of places to stay at the SihanoukVille website, and don't forget to book transportation here a few days in advance. From Phnom Penh, it's about a 4 hour ride by car or bus, and costs $6 and up per person.
Come see for yourself!
Sooa Sday Chnam Tumuhy! as we say in Cambodia.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
More new news from SihanoukVille
Rainbow foundation opened a new clothing and accesories shop outside Utopia, supporting the children's charity. Also selling Jonathan's hand drawn SihanoukVille T-shirts
Hard Rock (not Cafe) opens tomorrow, behind Shifty's old place. A couple of Finns, so it should be fun.
The Greek is back, and we're waiting on info from the new Angelo's suite of restaurants on Ocheteaul Beach
SihanoukVille Casino is the newest website in town.
Paco's has completed his move, and now has rooms for rent.
The Lounge on Victory Beach is open.
A Swedish Dentist is doing good work on CT street.
Sunday, a new 30 room guesthouse has opened.
.... and that's about it!
(p.s... the name of the guesthouse is SUNDAY.
Hard Rock (not Cafe) opens tomorrow, behind Shifty's old place. A couple of Finns, so it should be fun.
The Greek is back, and we're waiting on info from the new Angelo's suite of restaurants on Ocheteaul Beach
SihanoukVille Casino is the newest website in town.
Paco's has completed his move, and now has rooms for rent.
The Lounge on Victory Beach is open.
A Swedish Dentist is doing good work on CT street.
Sunday, a new 30 room guesthouse has opened.
.... and that's about it!
(p.s... the name of the guesthouse is SUNDAY.
The old blog
Sorry, the old blog broke.
this is the new blog without the previous comments.Not SihanoukVille News
the
Time goes on, and SihanoukVille keeps growing.
2 new websites are up about SihanoukVille
and
no backpacker resort websites yet….. but just wait
Otres beach, which was closing…..didn’t, but
Otres is getting a casino, waterpark, and resort… but not for some time
and Golden Sands has opened up the towns 4th casino (machine games only)
Ramada which was open, is now closed. don’t know why.
Chinese New Years was a blast here, with Dragon Dances everyday for a week at hundreds of homes and businesses.
Beer factory (Cambrew / Angkor Brewery) at the top of the hill working 24/7. They ran out of beer for the whole country. Same with Anchor perhaps. Beer prices went up for a while to balance the supply/demand.
Plenty of new places opened up…….
* Golden Lions Plaza has opened a few new bars and a restaurant
* Dan Meats has a new location next to Golden Sands hotel and offers
a much larger variety of foods than before.
* The Swedish are (still) coming, and so is Little Sweden Restaurant on Victory Hill
* EcoSea Diving has opened up a bungalow resort on Koh Rong Samloem island
* The Look Restaurant and Bar replaces Zombie Bar on Victory Hill
* Dannie is back at Dannie’s newly renovated bar on the Hill
* Our first new Irish Bar in a while, Darby O’Gill’s opens St. Patrick’s Day downtown.
anyone know of any new places, let us know.
it.
New Years #2
Chinese / Vietnamese New Years has arrived! Gung Zee Fa Chai. Once again, the town is packed with tourists. It’s been very cloudy recently, but no rain. Several new guesthouses have just opened, hoping to fill up for New Years.
No military vessels in town in the last couple months, but a few cruise ships have docked for one or two day stopovers.
The market is a few weeks away from being rebuilt after the fire last month. Everyone has moved to the new market for now (except all the sellers refuse to pay for stalls, so they are camped out in the parking lot).
the Sokha company, which has Sokha Hotels, and building a new resort on the former golf course, has also bought Bokor Mountain (for the next 99 years anyway) and have shut down the road to the top, while they build a new road. (should re-open in 2010 or so)
Khmer New Years (New Years #3) is coming up in 2 months time, and we should see a repeat of this week.
all for now….
Happy New Year 2008 from Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
New years has rolled into Sihanoukville with a bang, once again. 2008 saw most of the action on
Most hotels are fairly booked for the next couple months, but a lot of new hotels are opening up as well.
Two casinos opened up in the last month ( a total of 3 here now). One is even offering coupons for free food and $5 gambling money, every day for the next 2 months.
Dive shops are virtually abandoned in the days, as everyone working there is busy taking out divers on trips and training sessions.
Prices for many foods literally doubled today, as the central market burned to the ground last night, but the fire was contained to the market and did not spread.
The Angkor Beer factory at the top of the hill is working 24 hours a day for the next few months, trying to keep up with demand, and many clothing factories are expanding as exports rise.
Still haven’t seen any cruise ships in town, but are expecting some, and several warships docking for shore leave this coming year.
The pace of new building has slowed down, but there’s still several (hundred) projects still going on.
The islands were probably the second most popular destination for New Years, after
You could say this little town is growing.
New Happenings from the January 2008 Sihanouk Ville Advertiser
* Chi Khmer, a division of Happa serving fine cambodian cuisine has opened
* Session bar and restaurant has opened, possibly on Ocheteaul beach
* The Dive Shop
* Tiki Hut. Bob’s answer to Club //
* The Beach Club on Ocheteaul is now opened with 16 rooms and a swimming pool.
* Marco Polo has re-opened with after major renovations.
* TravelShop tour service has opened next to
* Tranquility bungalows are opened on
*
* LaOr Thai restaurant on Ocheteaul is open.
* The Small Green Guesthouse is open downtown.
* The Sushi Bar, a creation from Kyoko from EcoSea is open downtown.
* Underground, at Bar Ru’s old location is open.
* Khemara, formerly Lovely Guesthouse is open downtown.
* Peak Hotel and Casino is open.
* Zombi Bar on Victory Hill is open.
* Daddy’s Oceans Club has finished 2 years of building, to finally open downtown.
* Para Cambodia paragliding is now open.
* Artex tours downtown, part of the
* Dan Meats is now open at Die Backerei at a new location downtown.
* Captain Morgan bar is now open at the
* SinVill Tattoo is open at a new location across from Fortuna Casino around the Golden
* French Grill ov Victory Hill is open.
That’s it!
Time to rest
The USS Essex, a small American aircraft carrier / marine transport just left town. Now we can rest a bit. Almost 3,000 Sailors and Marines took over the town for a week. Constant military helicoptor flights made it seem like we were right on the ship. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Locals here now think that they can charge 10 times the normal price for everything, instead of double the normal price, so if anyone reading this comes to visit, bargain down to 10% of the original price, and you should be doing well.
And all this was coming right off the Cambodian Water Festival last week, when 3 million Khmers go to
Weather’s been perfect every day for a month now. Don’t think it rained more than once, and it gets a bit chilly in the morning (23 degrees celcius).
A new casino opened last week and another one, on the Golden Lions Circle is scheduled to open this week. Several new places are trying to get opened by the end of 2007.
….. And that’s about it. Time to rest.
Sihanoukville Happenings
News taken from The Sihanouk Ville Advertiser, November edition:
*
* Utopia now has free internet after
* SinVille tattoo opened at a new location around the Golden Lions circle.
* Chez Popeye has a Big Screen for blues and rock concerts.
* Max Guesthouse is now open
* Chez Nous restaurant is open, with live shows
* Top Cat has and air conditioned movie theater with an 8 meter screen
* New Christmas Bungalows on Ocheteaul is open.
* Beach Club on Ocheteaul is scheduled for a December opening
* Zoco Clothes now has 5 locations in town.
* XXL now has a guesthouse attached to the restaurant
* Retox is hiring DJ’s (they pay with beer)
* Tropical Massage opened downtown
* Mary does nails now at the Golden Rooster Hotel
* We’ve got the first biodiesel shuttle in town.
* Finlandia is now open
* Grand
* a dedicated wine shop, Celliers d’Asie is open
* The Britannia is open.
* Dan Meats is now available at Die Backerei
* An architect firm and a building firm have opened.
* Sea Dragon travel is opened next to the Golden Sands
* Sailing
* ParaCambodia has paragliding lessons and rentals.
* Golden Sands has opend a massage and beauty parlor
* Rubix at the
* Cool Banana is open 24 hours
* and
* the
That’s about it for this week!
Sihanoukville Cambodia
the
October 2007
The big building boom is definetly underway. Ramada Wordwide just opened, KFC is coming to town, there’s an ATM on most streets, and international flights will be coming to Sihanoukville soon. By the end of 2007, the town should be double the population that it was at the end of 2006.
While the rainy season hasn’t quite ended yet, several hotels around town are allready full.
To add to the typical French, Italian, and Thai restaurants and guesthouses, we now have Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian, Spanish, Polish and Japanese owned places around town.
An expected 600 Swedish toursists a month on package tours will be competing with hundreds of Finnish and Norwegians. The Aussies, Americans English, French, and German tourists are coming in force too.
All the islands have apparently been bought out, there will be 4 casinos in town, a couple golf courses, a marina, and several 3 and 4 star hotels. It’s going to be like Pataya, (but better) here in a few years, but it’s still a small town now.
It’s now the Pchum Ben festival, so all the locals are going to the Wats in town, to give alms to their ancestors all month.
And that’s just this month.
Hold on to your Snus
The Swedish are coming. The Swedish now are coming to the Sihanoukville-Cambodia.com website, more than any other country in the world. They just beat out the
Heydo.
Looking for….. in SihanoukVille
want to by a jeep with proper registrationpaper.
call 092783285
want to rent a house with high wall and garden/parking for minimum
5cars
downtown/ochheuteal bech.2-4rooms.long contract.
call 092783285
kind regards
lenny
New Happenings in Sihanoukville
Happenings in May 2007
The tourist boom is slowing down, but the building boom is picking up pace. 14 new projects completed or announced this month. Hotels, bars, restaurants, oil drilling and who knows what else.
Independence Hotel finally opened after a several year renovation. Few guests but lots of lookers. They’re still fixing up the place with final touches, but it’s definitely useable.
Corner Bar had it’s 5th anniversary celebration, and as usual, it was a blast.
2 new Thai restaurants coming to town, one with Greek food, and a Greek delivery only restaurant just opened as well.
Oil drilling off the coast is going ahead, but nobody in town has ever met anyone working on the project.
Australian Navy just left after a few days. They came here to try to buy fishnet stockings for the passage across the equator. couldn’t really explain. Think they had a good time though.
The marina on
The pier at the old
No news on the bridge to
The street running through town is being torn up again, and will soon be a 6 lane freeway, probably from Victory Hill to the Golden Lions circle.
Remy Zero, (the theme song to SmallVille) is collaborating with JoeBodia Matt (swam 20km with handcuffs, and famous videographer) on a project. does this mean Angelina Jolie is coming to town?
April in Sihanoukville
New Happenings in Sihanoukville
April 17th. The day after Cambodian New Year.
The town is only starting to slow down a bit. Some of the thousands of tourists from all over the country are heading back home. School doesn’t start for another 5 days, and many people have taken the whole week off work, so they can celebrate on the beaches of Sihanoukville.
Wat Leu and Wat Kraom were filled with guests, making the annual offerings to the Wats and hoping for a properous new year. The last day of New Years was filled with water thowing, and more than 2,000 people an hour were going to the Wats for the festivities.
At homes and restaurants, dancing, singing, eating and drinking, were the main activities for 3 days. Now everyone is tired, but happy that New Years is over.
Every hotel in town was fully booked, and many new hotels and guesthouses coincidentally opened just in time for New Year.
Investments and new building projects are booming everywhere, and package tour groups are decending on the once small town.
Haven’t heard anything new about the oil exploration going on, except that they’re thinking of building a pipeline from the ocean to the port.
Carlsberg beer production will be starting at Cambrew, the Angkor Beer factory in a month or so. We’ll be glad to have a bigger beer selection soon.
That’s if for now. Sur S’day Chnam Thmei, Gung Zi Fa Chai, and Happy New Year to all!
New law
you now must have either a Cambodian driver’s license or maybe a foreign license with an international driver’s license to drive a car or motorcycle in
February in Sihanoukville Part II
Sihanoukville has finally quieted down a bit after Chinese New Years week is over, the King’s come and gone, and the American warship left after 5 days. Most every hotel was booked up. Many new places have opened up in the last month, especially on Otres beach.
Finally got some rain here, and it looks like it will continue raining about once a week for the next few months. Good thing, since the lake that supplies us (and the Angkor Beer factory) with water has been getting kind of low.
The islands are being sold off quicker now. The Russians have bought
That’s it for now.
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February in Sihanoukville
February in SihanoukVille, Cambodia.Exciting times.
Chinese / Vietnamese New Years starts February 18th. Should be a big party all over the country, and especially in Sihanoukville.
The King just came to town for his first official visit since his coronation. The streets were lined with people cheering the King as he drove through town.
Also, the first U.S. Naval ship has been in town for the last several days. The U.S.S. Gary as I understand has about 200 sailors, and they can be seen all over town.
Other than that, the town keeps growing. The Independence Hotel, or 7 Story Hotel is set to open after being left in ruins for the last couple decades. The hotel sits atop a small hill overlooking the
Happy Herb Pizza was doing so good, they had to move next door to a place twice as big.
Angkor Arms, now unoficially known as Les Arms de Angkor, has been bought by a French family, and they are also responsible for getting the new airport open and running.
Weatherwise, we saw our first rain last night in a long tim, but nobody really saw it, we just woke up to wet streets.
for travellers, all the busses now leave directly from the bus station, instead of their own offices. This actually saves about 5 minutes on the ride to
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