Sihanoukville

Updates:
Hello!
I am in Sihanoukville, Cambodia right now. I came here about a week and a half ago thinking I would stay 3 days and keep moving, but I have been here a week and a half now!!
Sihanoukville is a very nice place on the South Coast of the country. There are some really beautiful white sandy beaches, palm trees, blue waters, the whole tropical experience. (Including some stinging jelly fish, be careful!) The beaches are a bit enchanting, and it is difficult to leave but I think I am ready to get a move on. Today I got my Vietnam visa and am probably going to catch a bus to Ho Chi Minh city tomorrow or the next day.

This and That:

-For all people interested in the "sex tourism" business, Sihanoukville seems to be the place to be. I am currently reading a book called "Sex Slaves" about the trafficing of women in Asia and it is really strange to see the words on the pages being acted out right infront of my eyes. I really can't believe it at times. The book focuses more on the main customer market for girls being Asian men, but Sihanoukville seems to be a place for Western men to have the Cambodian girls. I have been to many of the night scenes around town in the last week with some friends from my guesthouse. Some, near the more red light district areas, are really quite shocking for me. We went to one place and I was the only Western female at the place. Nothing wrong with that of course, I am used to that by now. But the only customers at the place were men between the ages of 40 and 70. The girls who work at literally every bar/club in the city are called "taxi girls," a nicer name for prostitute I guess. At all the places you see a young Cambodian girl (my age or maybe younger) with a very big fat white guy with gray hair who could be around 65 or 70, and is definetally 3 times the size of the Cambodian girl. At times, a sight like this is almost comical until you realize what the daily life for one of these girls is like.

-One thing I was surprised about was how out in the open sex tourism is here. In the morning, sometimes I will sit outside my door and relax on the patio area. If you are up in the morning you will see the taxi girls emerging from rooms to go home.

-Do the girls like it? I was quite shocked to hear that many men believe that the girls actually like doing this work. I admit, probably a few do. But having sex with 10 different guys a week does not sound like fun to me. HIV infection is very high among these girls, and many also take a drug called "yaba" which I think is some sort of methamphetamine type things. They take yaba so have energy to stay up all night, every night. Alot of the girls are realllllyy almost grotesquely skinny, which makes me think they take alot of drugs. Anyway, I was talking to some guys from Holland who are my neighbors at the guesthouse. It was their opinion that the girls really liked what they do, and if they didn't want to do it, they could do something else like sell shrimp on the beach. I absolutely, could not disagree with them more. I don't think the girls like it, I don't think it is a good life, I think it is demeaning, they are likely to get STDs and HIV, they are probably treated badly. And yes I suppose they could go work on the beach, but the people who walk around the beaches selling bracelets, massages, manicures, shrimp work all day, morning to night, and maybe make a few bucks. On the other hand, the girls work one night, and have one guy, and they make 10 or 20 dollars. That is alot in Cambodia. Then, if they get addicted to yaba, they are stuck.

Being around the girls and the bars I can see why guys would think the girls like their job so much. The girls are young, very pretty, and they know how to flirt with guys. The girls go around to all the guys and flirt with them and try to get the guys to take them home for "boom boom." It really seems like it would inflate a guy's ego quite a bit, and the girls are good actresses and know how to make it seem like they are having fun. This whole scene reminds me of high school a bit...

Anyhow, enough of that. My point is, Sihanoukville is rife with Western sex tourism which is a really strange business.

Recommendations:
GST Guesthouse: This is a really fantastic guest house. It is right across from Occheuteal beach, one of the most popular beaches. Also it is a really good place to meet other travellers and backpackers. A very social meeting place. My room is $4 a night, and I have my own bathroom, TV, and fan. Highly recommended.


See you Vietnam!!!!