Fantastic bar and restaurant: whether it's the fabulous food, chatting with the great owners and bar staff, having a beer in the treehouse or a swing in the hammocks - you won't want to leave!

right on Sihanoukville Beach

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Starfish Bakery is a charitable cafe/bakery/art shop with internet access that also offers excellent massages in its Sala Santepheap.

My massage, with a blind older lady named Janara, was one of the best I'd ever had and only cost US$10 for 90 min (in Sept 2007).

The cafe food also looked delicious. Mainly western stuff like omelettes, cakes, coffee.

Proceeds support Starfish Cambodia www.starfishcambodia.org/
www.canbypublications.com/sihanoukvilleads/starfishbakery.htm

Downtown Sihanoukville, on a small dirt road right around the corner from Samudera Market(1-2 min walk)
tel. 012 952 011

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

You will need to hop on the back of a motorbike to get there because it can be hard to find, but it is totally worth it. There are many different types of snakes in glass cages all round the seating area and snakes inside the glass-topped tables! The food isn't bad either. The only thing we didn't like was the crocodile on a chain.

Soviet Street, Victory Monument, Shianoukville, Cambodia

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

As a destination, Kirirom is a bit off the tourist track and can be difficult to navigate without a motorbike or chartered taxi, both of which are easy to arrange from Phnom Penh or Sihanoukville. There is an uncommercial and small 'resort' with some rooms and a restaurant near the top of the mountain, but it is often booked on weekends. The staff are not the most warm-hearted, but you can tolerate them for the view and easy access to surrounding forest.

At the bottom of the mountain, you can find somewhat upscale accommodations and a restaurant at the Kirirom Hillside Resort. It is a beautiful place, with well-tended gardens, tennis courts, very nice cottages with air con and cable TV, horseback riding, and a playground for children. It's very nice, but clashes terribly with the living standards of the people living outside the compound (but not as bad as the luxury hotels in Siem Reap!). That said, it's often the only place with available rooms anywhere near the park. There is a waterfall and community-based ecotourism project about 10-15km down the road. A visit here might assuage the guilt of spending $100 per night at a resort, but it shouldn't!

I should also add that a visit could easily be arranged as a day trip diversion while in transit between the capital and the coast. As someone who has lived and worked in this province for about a year and a half, I hope that smart, sustainable tourism to Kirirom will help convince the government that forests are more valuable when they are left standing. The potential for unbridled development of this area is a distant prospect, but a prospect nonetheless. I hope that an increase in visits to this very accessible park will help promote awareness on the part of the government, convincing them to protect other forested areas in more remote parts of the country. Enjoy your travels!

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends