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

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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

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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

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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!

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Kirirom is a national park on the road between Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh, on route for anyone coming to Cambodia from Thailand at the Koh Kong crossing. In a country devastated by massive ecological destruction in the 80s and 90s, a visit to Kirirom will give the visitor an idea of what much of the country must have been like before it spiralled into social and political freefall.

It was Sihanouk's personal forest preserve for many years, and later used as a refuge for Khmer Rouge guerillas. These two factors help explain why the forest has emerged more or less unscathed. A paved road brings you into the park proper, leading to a series of dirt roads and walking paths that take you into beautiful deciduous and tropical coniferous forests with minimal undergrowth.

A buddhist monastery and crystal clear ponds can be found at the top of the mountain. Beyond Kirirom, the forest becomes inaccessible and is home to much of the country's remaining population of large fauna, including elephants and tigers. Don't count on seeing any animals, they have learned to avoid human poachers and it is nearly impossible to penetrate deep into the park. Nonetheless, temperatures here are relatively cool all year and the air is fresh and clean.

Some of the waterfalls near the paved road are frequented by Cambodians on weekend visits. Unfortunately, many of these Lexus SUV-borne day visitors have not learned the virtues of bringing out their garbage when they leave. If you avoid these obvious spots, you can find beautiful settings and relatively pristine nature.

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Bokor is an abandoned hilltop town built by the French as a retreat from the heat of Kampot. It has all the buildings you might find in a French town; school, houses, doctors, hotel, casino that are all open to explore and often surrounded by a heavy mist/fog - its very "The Shining". It is also possible to stay overnight in the research centre (bring your own food and drink). There is no electricity after 9pm and you will have plenty of Cambodian ghost stories to send you to sleep.

A two hour drive from Kampot along bumpy roads. You can take a bike (if you have off-road experience) or hire a driver with car/4WD.

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Its a great place to relax and soak up Cambodian culture whilst away from the tourist traps of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. The South China Sea is great for swimming and the coastline is wonderful to explore.
The guest houses, bars and restaurants are fun.

Plus, hidden away in the forests is a random Hotel/Bar run by a Scotsman if I can remember correctly. Very bizarre but an adventure.

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We are staying in bungalow that is on a small cliff top overlooking the beach. As the locals say -this place is in the middle of no-where (it is not in the Lonely Planet and it is far away from the tourist traps).

The beaches are empty and the sea is so clear that your reflection can be seen (cost - $15 per night for a double but discounts can be negotiated!).

www.cambodia-beach.com

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