Getting past our working life in Sihanoukville its time to give you a little insight into what it was like living down on the beach in Sihanoukville. Time was never dull and there were always fun things to do when not volunteering. The great people we met allowed us to settle in very quickly and the old school volunteers soon showed us the places to eat, drink and socialise, especially with Sihanoukville being renowned for being the traveller’s party destination of Cambodia. With this said it’s still possible to have a work life balance, obviously the nights on the beer were for when we weren’t working the next day.
At the start of the two months it was great that our brilliant friends Clay and Lisa from the States who we met tubing in Laos arrived in town on the same day and stuck around for a week of good times. Saying this quite unbelievably our good friend Carin from Amsterdam who we met in Malaysia also turned up with her partner in crime Jeff from Canada. It shows what a small world life is as a backpacker when everyone is following similar routes. Past friends added to our new volunteer friends was a great way to start and everyone became one big happy family.
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| Back together with Clay & Lisa |
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| Carin's Back |
During the days there were plenty of beautiful beaches to visit and with having Clay around for some male bonding time we could once again take part in crazy activities together like ‘Splash’ which were giant inflatable’s out at sea, a bit like the TV show Wipe-out.
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| One of many Beautiful Beaches around Sihanoukville |
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| The boys on Splash (Wipe-Out) |
There were also plenty of times where we could explore the local area on Scooters. One day stands out particularly when we went out with Joanna and Carissa. We quickly found out that riding in deep sand was quite difficult but nothing compared to coming across a broken bridge and having the help of locals push the bikes through the river to get to the other side. Always up for some adventure or so we think, this seemed like a good idea until we found ourselves lost in the middle of nowhere surrounded by MAG signs letting us know that we were close to what could potentially be a land mine sight. Petrified and praying we would survive a lorry drove down the road like a guardian angel and guided us back to a main road near town. With our bodies shaking we needed a break and Carissa needed a sleep after the night before. The three of us continued in the afternoon where we stopped for a beer at a crazy place called The Airport which actually has an aeroplane inside the bar.
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| Out on the Scooter's with Joanna & Carissa |
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| Bridge out of order no problem |
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| The locals push our bikes through the river |
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| A great way to explore the surrounding countryside |
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| The Guardian Angel Truck leading us out of MAG land |
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| Taking in the beauty and a rest from the saddle sore |
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| I told you a plane inside a bar, crazy... |
The beaches in and around Sihanoukville really are beautiful and it’s easy to get away from the tourists on a secluded beach. Otres Beach was one of our favourites where you didn’t have beach sellers every second or trying to thread every hair on your body without asking you like on Serendipity Beach.
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| Enjoying our favourite spot at Otris Beach |
Serendipity Beach was where most of the life was both day and night and we didn’t half treat ourselves to dining out most nights. There were nights when we cooked in to save pennies in the volunteer house which was a welcome change. Most nights the volunteers get together after work to eat at the local haunts or have a few bevies together. This enabled us to meet the local staff and become friends which really made you feel settled and part of the community.
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| Dan the owner of Dolphin Shack with the Canadian legend Jeff |
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| Group Shot |
A few of our favourite places to eat were Rosie’s for giant portions of fish and chips, Happy Herb Pizza for giant pizzas, Kampuchea for the local Amok, BBQ ribs and brownies with hot chocolate sauce, New Sea View Villa for the most amazing surf and turf steak and Dutch Anna’s legendary brownies (a must if you go!), Tranquillity for Sunday roast with Yorkshire puds and apple crumble with custard (introducing the Americans to this was comical) and last but definitely not least our favourite of all Kuren BBQ on the beach with the wonderful Soti who looked after us for two months cooking us up a $3 BBQ storm. You can now see what I meant by treating ourselves and after being on the road for six months we needed something other than rice and noodles! Having said that though the local night market was brilliant local budget food to keep us on track with the spends.
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| Kate excited about her Surf 'N' Turf at New Sea View Villa |
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| Waiting for our Sunday Roast at Tranquility |
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| Soti our BBQ Maiden at Kuren |
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| The Roast & with Yorkshire Pudding's |
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| The Magical Dutch Anna with the Best Choc Brownie Ever! |
As well good places to eat Sihanoukville is a fantastic place to have some great nights out. There are some cracking bars like Sessions or a visit to see Dan at Dolphin where you can chill on the beach with a beer or a bucket while being entertained with fire shows or crazy people shooting fireworks at each other. Away from the beach you also have Monkey Republic and we can’t forget about our time spent at The Wall to visit Dan & Chloe. You always left The Wall having hit the wall but it was always a fun night and we were treated like part of the family. The wall is all about Rock n Roll whether you are jamming, taking over the music, pouring your own beer, drinking free shots or mixing your own cocktails which I found myself doing at times.
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| Dolphin Dan entertaining the beach crowds |
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| Kate & Michelle being sensible sharing a Bucket |
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| Johnny & Joanna Not. This probably explains how the night ended. Enough said but I do have one question for all you avid readers. 'What Are You Drinking Right Now'? |
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| Kate with Jen & Marri |
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| The Rolling Stones welcome us to The Wall |
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| The Wall Intro with Kate, Amy & Carissa |
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| Taking over the Music System |
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| Making myself at home. Cheers Dan |
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| Anybody for a Beer |
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| The Band Jamming. Kate on Drums, Dan on Guitar & Laura on Bass... |
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| Quality Girlie time. Chloe, Kate & Jen |
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| Another Group Shot |
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| One more for good measure. The people definitly make the experience |
One Saturday Party Night that definitely stands out was when all the volunteers and friends went to the local Full Moon Party. In the dark we climbed onto some small rickety boats before setting sail to an Island. It was just a great night where everybody had an amazing time with good DJ’s, plenty of buckets and raving where Reedy had to pull out the caterpillar. It’s probably good to mention at this point that everyone was covered in glow paint. Me and Kate never did manage to make the famous Full Moon Party in Thailand but couldn’t have wished for a better party with our good friends. A little worse for wear and in the early hours of the morning we safely made it back home on another rickety boat thankful that the next day was our day off. Our nights out always seemed to end with a food stop at the mini mart which knocked out great burgers and hotdogs, just what was needed.
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| Time for Full Moon Party-Cambodian Style |
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| Party Time |
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| Everybody getting into the swing of things |
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| Dog collar & war paint on time to dance |
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| We're Rocking |
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| Out come the moves... |
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| What a Great Night! Living the Dream |
Our two months in Sihanoukville obviously wasn’t all about partying there were chilled times watching movies with friends or visiting the Top Cat cinema which was a treat. Giant private cinema where you could watch new movies of your choice sitting in AC having take-away pizzas delivered directly to your sofa.
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| The CCPP Volunteer's Very Own Private Movie Theatre at Top-Cat for Chill-Out Evenings |
Our two months of fun didn’t stop here. Thanks to my good friend Matt who owns the Ocean Walk Inn next door to CCPP, I became part of the Ex Pat Football Team the ‘Mighty’ Lions. We played 11 a-side every weekend on the dry bumpy pitch of a local NGO against Cambodian teams from the area. Getting back into the football was definitely a highlight for me and having some boy time. We weren’t even half bad. The gents really were a great group of guys who became good friends and welcomed me into the team. It was a great insight into playing against different styles of teams than from back home. Most of us getting on a little bit and our legs no longer doing what our brains tell them to do, you have to psyche yourself up every Saturday to play in the blistering heat and chase the young talented, extremely fit and fast Cambodian players. Surprisingly we did win most games, this could be due to the size difference with each of us being at least a foot taller than our opponents. I will definitely miss my weekends with the Lions and hope to make a cameo appearance in the near future so watch this space. Stats – 6 games, 2 cracking goals and 1 yellow card.
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| The Lions Pre-Match Team Talk. I'll be the one with bright yellow socks on |
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| Stretching the Old Muscles |
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| The Officials Explaining Fair Play. We should explain the Off-Side Rule |
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| Very Official. Felt like playing in a World Cup |
While in Sihanoukville and volunteering at CCPP one of the members of staff JB was getting married and we were lucky enough to be invited. This was an amazing cultural experience and one we will never forget. We felt extremely privileged to be part of a Khmer Wedding. We all got dressed up, the girls had a local Khmer make over and hair do. The evening wedding party was held in a big hall with entertainment. As part of the tradition we all sat on large tables where at least seven course of wonderful food was brought out along with boxes full of beer in the middle of the table. The beer was warm so a waitress kept filling up your beer glass with ice cubes. This was a first for me and one I probably won’t repeat so apologies to all the beer geeks but it was the local beer drinking culture. As was every time a local said cheers you had to finish the whole glass and this happened regularly for about four hours. Well watered and fed there was time for the speeches, a small ceremony involving the family and plenty of dancing. What a great night.
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| The girls waiting in the CCPP kitchen for wedding make-over |
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| Kate's make-up all done next stage off to the hair salon |
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| Dressed up with a wedding to get to |
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| The ladies looking divine |
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| Plenty of delicious food & the beer never runs low |
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| Kim & I a little worried about the ice cubes in our beer |
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| The Khmer Wedding Families |
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| The Bride & Groom |
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| First Dance for the Newly Married Couple |
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| Finish It!!! |
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| My CCPP Wing-Man Vutha |
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| Our Fairwell to the Newly Weds |
Sorry to our mothers but it was time for our new traveller tattoos. Making sure we found the best guy in town we heard about Mark at Sinville Tattoo Studio. Our friend Michele at CCPP who is a wonderful artist designed Kate’s Lilies. Mark did an amazing job, it was probably one of my most troubled experiences ever watching Kate endure five and a half hours of torture. There were a few breaks in the day, we started the process at 2pm and got home at 1am. We were very happy with the end results. With my tattoo going on my foot I was back in the next evening after football for some Khmer writing (Everything Happens for a Reason). Still extremely painful and taking one and a half hours I had to grit my teeth and bear it or look soft after Kate’s mammoth session. Once again apologies to our mothers but we love them.
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| At SinVille. Outline on now time for the needle! |
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| Torture Session |
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| My Turn! Please be Gentle... |
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| Happy Customers. Cheers to Mark at SinVille Tattoo Studio. A Great Artist |
Let’s finish with Beer. Close but not quite able to pull off a beer and food dinner I did manage to do a Beer Sampling evening with friends where we picked six beers from the local supermarket which was good fun sitting out on the main street with a table full of beers a mountain of glassware and water jugs for rinsing. What on earth is going on here then? Not said by anybody but the eye’s explained what the passing trade were thinking. With this session we played a little scoring game so a little different than the usual sampling notes, and we gathered as much information as possible from the packaging. Basically we became a regular consumer for the night trying to find a new favourite beer. J= Johnny, K= Kate & A = Amy. The scoring is from 1-5 with 5 being GREAT...
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| The Sihanoukville Beer Critics |
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| The Star Studded Line-Up, Some we will grade at a later date... |
BEER 1 - MILLER HIGH-LIFE, LAGER, USA, 5% ABV, 12 FLUID OUNCE BTL
Miller High-Life is brewed by Miller Brewing Company. The brewery was established in 1903. Some cool packaging by Pearl Fisher Design Group (NYC/London). The brand is known as ‘The Champagne of Beers’. This one was for graphic designer Amy from New York. A taste of home and she actually knew who Pearl Fisher was.
Light golden yellow with a grassy aroma with a hint of citrus. Has a light mouth feel and light carbonation. Taste has a malty sweetness but no hop character and a weak aftertaste, a very easy drinking lager but very standard.
SCORES: J=2/K=2/A=2.5.
BEER 2 – LEO BEER, BLONDE LAGER, THAILAND, 5% ABV, 330ML CAN
Owned by Singha Corporation Co Ltd. Brewed and bottled for export by Khon Kaen Brewery Co Ltd in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Has a Gold Medal Award for World Class Quality (America/Munich). Packaging tells us it has a smooth and great taste.
Has a deep chardonnay colour with low carbonation and pleasant aromas of light fruit and lemongrass. Has a light mouth feel with a balance of sweet and bitter flavours. The beer has some nice spicy, tangy and fruity flavours.
SCORES: J=3.5 / K=3 / A=3.
BEER 3 – PHNOM PENN, LAGER, CAMBODIA, 5% ABV, 330ML CAN
Brewed and canned by Phnom Penh Brewery, Kingdom of Cambodia, Chamkarsvay Village, Sethei Commune, Kampong Chmang Province. Brewed in the Capital Phnom Penh the logo is ‘My City My Beer’. The emblem has three elephant heads which links back in history? We are told the lager beer has a taste that satisfies. We are told to enjoy the rich and deep taste that brings you wonderful times.
The beer has a deep golden colour with virtually no carbonation, head or lacing. It has very little aroma with only a slight hint of grain. The taste is more bitter than sweet. Everything is low or nonexistent including the aftertaste. A little like drinking a glass of bitter water.
SCORES: J=1.5 / K=2 / A=2.
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| The Best Job in the World |
BEER 4 – KLANG BEER, LAGER, CAMBODIA, 6% ABV, 330ML CANBrewed and canned under the supervision of Cambrew Ltd. The beer is extra strong and smooth and also has an elephant symbol which is to symbolise Angkor Thum, The Royal Terrace of Elephants. Cracking information on the packaging ‘Kang Beer is carefully brewed using the most advanced technology, brewed to the highest possible standards for beer drinkers World Wide. A perfect drink for all occasions can be savoured at any time of day. Mind you it’s very strong. Go ahead and take the challenge! After all it’s brewed specially for you’.
The teams view was that the beer was a light gold colour. Had a Hoppy aroma with a light mouth feel with a sweet malty flavour and a lasting bitterness, a strong fully flavoured pilsner style lager.
SCORES: J=2 / K=2 / A=2.
BEER 5 – SAN MIGUEL, PALE PILSNER, SPAIN, 5% ABV, 330ML CAN
San Miguel Pale Pilsner is brewed and canned under the supervision of San Miguel Brewing International Ltd a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation, Manila, Philippines. San Miguel has been in existence since 1890. Not as much information on the packaging.
The beer had a nice straw blonde colour with a fluffy white head. The aroma was a little loose with hints of malt and green apples. A nice balanced lager compared to some of the Cambodian brews, more sweet with a slight hoppy bitterness. It was light on the palate with a high carbonation.
SCORES: J=3.5 / K=3 / A=3
BEER 6 – ASAHI BLACK, MUNICH TYPE LAGER, JAPAN, UNKNOWN % ABV, JAPANESE EXPORT CAN AMOUNT UNKNOWN
Asahi Black was an exported product from Japan which meant that most of the information on the packaging was in Japanese and therefore we couldn’t translate. What we did find out was that it is brewed as an original Munich type beer and is brewed with pure cultured yeast. It is Asahi’s Original Beer and is brewed by Asahi Breweries Ltd.
The beer had a lovely deep dark brown colour with a coffee coloured head. The aroma was of coffee and caramelised toffee. The taste was bitter with a lovely chocolaty, caramel, coffee flavour. It was medium bodied and silky smooth with a high carbonation.
SCORE: J=4 / K=0 / A=4.
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| The Winner Is... |
Overall tasting the different types of beers with a group of friends was great fun. It was nice to carry out some beer appreciation and explain brewing techniques and how to taste beer. Being a little limited on what we could sample the beers were mainly blonde lagers but it was a treat to have a dark lager thrown in there. For me and Amy the Asahi Black was our favourite which was probably because we prefer darker beers and like coffee. With Kate not being a fan of coffee her favourite was the smoother well balanced Leo Beer. It is not really too much science so it was great to see what other people taste in the individual beers and how they taste differently to the individual. The girls definitely had a better palate than me. Don’t worry your pretty little heads though. We are pacing ourselves when it comes to the Cambodian Beer Market. There are plenty of beers that we will finish sampling during our return in June so keep posted.
CAMBREW BREWERY, THE HOME OF ANGKOR BEER THE NATIONAL BREW
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| Cambrew Brewery. The Home of Angkor, My Country My Beer |
Angkor Beer is the national beer of Cambodia ‘My Country My Beer’. Cambrew (Angkor Beer) Brewery in Sihanoukville opened in 1963. It’s the largest brewery in Cambodia producing more than 250,000,000 cans of fresh beer per year. You could say that the local Cambodian’s enjoy partaking in a few drinks.
The brewery also produces Angkor Extra Stout, Bayon, Klang, Black Panther & Danish Royal Stout Ginseng beers. It is also the national bottler of Pepsi, Mirinda and 7-Up. Carlsberg do actually own half of the company so some day but not quite yet, Carlsberg Beer will also arrive.
ANGKOR DRAFT, LAGER BEER, CAMBODIA, 5% ABV
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| Angkor Draft |
In 1994 Angkor became the first draught beer in Cambodia. The beer is brewed to release more CO2 which makes the beer lighter and smoother when consumed. The draught has an appealing malty sweetness with a hint of caramel and citrus and a nice balance (not too much) of bitter hops, a great easy drinking session beer. Especially when kept in good working condition and served at the right temperature with a good sized head.
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| Packaging for Shipping Out even on Khmer New Years Eve |
This is the only downfall in Sihanoukville. The draught at the brewery is great like you would expect but down on the beach the draught can be awful, basically due to nobody knowing or caring about the product which is a real shame. Something needs to be done especially when I found out that the brewery will come and clean your lines for free on a weekly basis. Give them a call guys...
It’s now time to tie up our Sihanoukville highlights with a trip to the Cambrew Brewery, the home of the local Angkor Beer.
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| The Beer is a-light |
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| The Brewing Process... |
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| Could you imagine a glass of beer this size |
This turned out to be a great afternoon with Matt, Jay and Kate as the brewery opens its doors every Wednesday afternoon for local customers who are allowed to visit one of the bars in the brewery from 3 – 6 pm to consume as much free Angkor draft as you like. It was a great giggle that got more amusing as time went on.
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| The Un-limited Beer Pour |
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| Me, Jay & Matt lose count. Cheers what number is this? |
At 6pm we should have left the brewery but instead found ourselves drinking more free beer downstairs in the Angkor Tavern which is the bar for management.
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| Somehow we are inside The Angkor Tavern |
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| The Management Pouring you Free Draught, Cheers |
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| Fun with The Sihanoukville Lions. I'll have two thanks its research... |
Not quite sure how we got in here, we went with the flow and finally got escorted of the premises by security at about 8.30pm but there was still time before that for Reedy to sing Karaoke in a private function room with local employees from the Philippines on the eve of the Khmer New Year. Karaoke isn’t one of my strong points, but how many Beer Specialists get to sing Hero by Mariah Carey inside a Brewery? You just can’t plan for this sort of stuff. A photo of the Karaoke will have to do for now. More problems adding the video. I will try to add in the future but in the meantime will add to my Facebook wall. Enjoy and watch out for the jig...
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| We Love You Mariah...xxxxxxxxxxx... |
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| So difficult saying goodbye's to the children. I think part of us will be left here long after we are gone |
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| Our two months go up in smoke. Its time for the bus to Vietnam. So sad we have had a wonderful experience & it looks like we're going up in smoke... |
Next stop Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Vietnam. We were back to packing our rucksacks and 15 hour bus journeys, the World Adventure must continue.
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