Beach day in Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville, on Cambodia's coast is a small, sleepy beach town that is approximately 4 hours drive from Phnom Penh. There are lots of little hotels along the beach and many beach restaurants and bars. We did not do anything but sleep on the beach, eat, swim, people watch and relax.

At the moment Sihanoukville is still rather tranquil and quiet, but even here it is clear that mass tourism is on its way. Already one of the islands just off the main land is being developed into a huge resort by Russians; the strip of locally owned hotels and hostels will probably be bought out soon and replaced by large "more western" hotels. The beginnings of this are already visible, and the amount of construction for such a small town is incredible.

Currently many backpackers roam around there, and take a day or two just to relax by the sea. The locals are very friendly and most hawkers are children. What is evident is that there is a lot of sex tourism; apparently also child sex tourism is prevalent, though I did not see any signs thereof (luckily).

Children do, however, work a lot - especially selling things to tourists. This was obvious in Phnom Penh too. I spoke to a girl who explained that she went to school in the morning and then came straight to the beach after lunch to start selling bracelets. When I asked her what her parents and siblings did, she replied that her mother was sick (I think), that her siblings had disabilities and that her father was sleeping and would pick her up at 10 pm. Obviously I do not know to what extent this story is true, but in any case, she seems to be the one working and going to school, while her family is all at home. I'm assuming that most of the other kids have similar stories; or they're all orphans and belong to a group like the one in Slumdog Millionaire. Whatever the case may be, I find it sad that children of such a young age are forced to live a life like this; don't get me wrong, I have nothing against children working a bit for pocket money in their holidays or whatever, but not on a daily basis and as a way of supporting their families - that's not a child's job.

Through all this however, the children and people in general are all friendly, open and fun-loving. They all seem happy with their lives - probably also as a result of them not knowing any better. It's great to have been able to experience this as it is, I can see the attitude of the people changing once Sihanoukville becomes more of a tourism hotspot.

On another note, we had a great day at the beach, ate some great seafood and drank some nice cocktails on the beach whilst watching an amazing lightning storm over the sea. Of course we ended up walking home in the rain - just like the three days before that.