Sihanoukville Travel Package Tours, Cambodia Tour Information Hotel Guide

SIHANOUKVILLE CITY OVERVIEW

Geography	Demographics	Telephone
Location: South eastern Area: 868 km2	Population: 235,190 Density: 270.9 inh./km2	Calling code
Town and Districts
Mittakpheap, Prey Nob, Stueng hav

General Information

Sihanoukville, also known as Kampong Som, or Kampong Saom, is a port city in southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand. The city of Sihanoukville is surrounded by palm-fringed sandy beaches and pristine tropical islands off its south and west coast. Beaches here lies on the west contour of the city, from north to south, namely Victory Beach, Lamherkay Beach, Koh Pos Beach, Independence Beach, Sokha beach, Serendipity Beach and Occheuteal Beach. The most popular beaches are Occheuteal, Sokha, Independence and Victory. There are plenty of sea activities including snorkeling and game fishing at the islands nearby. The pristine beaches are rapidly making it popular as a tourist destination. Some 320,000 tourists visited Sihanoukville in 2006, up by 30 percent over 2005.
The city is served by Sihanoukville International Airport. The flights between Sihanoukville and Siem Reap will encourage tourists to extend their stay in Cambodia to enjoy the kingdom's sandy beaches here after seeing the Angkor temples in Siem Reap.

History
The history of Sihanoukville goes back only as far as 1955 when the area was known as Kampong Som. In August of that year, a French Cambodian construction team cut a base camp into the unoccupied jungle where the Hawaii Seaview Restaurant now sits. They laid the groundwork for the construction of the new Port of Kampong Som - a project that had been set into motion by the 1954 dissolution of French Indochina. Prior to 1954, Cambodia maintained international sea trade via the Mekong. But the end of Indochina meant the Mekong delta reverted to the control of Vietnam. Seeking unfettered access to the ocean, plans were made to construct a new ocean port. Kampong Som was selected for water depth and ease of access. Sihanoukville's heyday came in the 1960s. Although Kep was more popular as a holiday destination, the commercial success of the port led to a flurry of construction and expansion including the construction of the Independence Hotel (abandoned but still exists on Independence Beach in a dilapidated state ), the original Angkor Brewery (closed in 1975 and reopened in 1991), a Truck & Tractor Plant, Wat Chotynieng (aka Wat Leu), St Michael's Catholic Church (constructed in 1960, closed in 1975 and reopened in 1993), dozens of villas on Ochheuteal Beach (destroyed in the 1980s) and other structures. There was also a second phase of port construction, which began in 1965 and halted with the Lon Nol coup d'etat of 1970.
Sihanoukville entered the history of the American/Vietnam conflict when, during the late 1960's and early 70's, it served as a transit point for weapons bound for anti-American forces in Vietnam. The town�s most direct involvement came on May 13, 1975 when the Khmer Rouge captured the S.S. Mayaguez, a U.S. container ship. As part of an attempt to release the ship, the U.S. attacked Koh Tang, an island near Sihanoukville, and met fierce resistance, suffering heavy losses. American bombers struck the naval base at Ream, warehouses at the Port, the old air field, the train yard and the oil refinery north of town. The ship and its crew were released May 15, during the battle.
During the UN sponsored elections in 1992 and 1993, Sihanoukville played host to the Australian, Belgian and French contingents of UNTAC.
For many years, Sihanoukville's pristine, peaceful, white sand beaches have been a secret of a few hardy travellers. Though not in anyway the equal of Thailand's magnificent beaches, the palm-dotted sands surrounding Sihanoukville are nevertheless uncrowned and unspoilt by the mass tourism monster - all this is about to change. There are more than 300 km of coastline from the Vietnamese border in the South East to Thailand in the North West. Most often wild and far from the Koh Kong - Sihanoukville road.
To the South East, on the road from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, lies Kep a former colonial seaside and beach resort abandoned following tragic events which took place in the 70's. A few miles from Sihanoukville, between the coast and 3 close by islands one will find the Cambodian Navy Base of Reeam. Between the village and the base lies the Cambodian National Park and nature preserve. Its is now only an animal and vegetation reserve, but come the days where there will have extraordinary things to see. To the North West of Kompong Som bay, the port of Stoeung Haow , the village of Sre Amb�l (smugglers place) and still further north the city of Koh Kong, close to Thai border. Today most places along the coast can only be reached by boat. Using motorbikes in the sand is mostly impossible since rocs often cut off the beaches from time to time but also because no skilled guides, capable to bring you back safely, are available.