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| Otres Beach 2 |
Although we like to party, Serendipity is too much for me. There are too many relentless hawkers and the beachfront is littered with bottles, cigarette butts and other trash.
I think the best beachfront area in Sihanoukville would be Otres Beach 2. There are many affordable rustic beach bungalows as well as a handful of new properties with modern facilities.
We stayed in a bungalow at Secret Garden at Otres Beach. For $75.00 a night, the bungalow was equipped with AC, a TV, mini fridge and a CLEAN bathroom with a separate shower area.
The gardens were lush and fragrant. I loved smelling jasmine as I left and returned to my bungalow.
There was also a pool but we didn't use it at all. Why spend time in the pool when there's a beautiful beachfront steps away?
Since breakfast was included in our room rate, we at the "resort" quite frequently. Both Khmer and western options were available, there were even some "fusion" meals. My FAVORITE was the baby bok chhoy eggs Benedict. It was amazing! I will definitely try to make it at home.
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| Bok Chhoy Benedict |
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| Banh Chao |
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| Yellow noodle soup |
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| Western Omelet |
There were a handful of hawkers selling sunglasses, tours, bracelets and massages. I got a 30 minute foot massage and a color change for my fingers and toes for $5.00.
One of the vendors tried to talk the Mo into getting his chest hair threaded.
There were also day trips to nearby islands for snorkeling adventures but since we would be going there in a couple days, we opted not to go. We did see some tourists going on the trip.
For lunch, we bought fried colossal prawns from the one of the ladies selling them off her back. She was trying to get $1.00 for each but we negotiated 6 for $5.00. The shrimp was delicious and served with a lime pepper sauce mixture.
We kept seeing everyone order the burger so we got one to try. It was actually pretty good! I didn't really like the wings or the fried calamari. They were on the soggy side.
Otres Beach 2 has an amazing sunset view. Everyday, we partook in the Happy Hour specials at Secret Garden. Cocktails were $3.00 and draft beer were 75 cents. It was a bit pricier than the other beach shacks nearby but we liked the drinks and trusted the ice supply.
For dinner, we ventured out to the other restaurants/hotels nearby. Tamu served up delicious tenderloin and lobster fettuccine. The tenderloin had a kampot pepper sauce that was out of this world. Their ginger iced tea was also really tasty. Service was wonderful and I praise the servers for their hard work and multi-talent. One guy speaks 3 languages!
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| Tamu tenderloin with Kampot pepper sauce |
The next night, we went to Mary's Beach Resort which was a few doors down from Secret Garden. They had great beachfront dining tables but we opted for the indoor tables with ceiling fans to cool us off. The fried seafood appetizer was good but the "Coca Cola" ribs could have been braised longer.
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| Mary's Beach Resort Fried seafood |
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| Braised Coca Cola Ribs |
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| Spicy Scallop |
