Speaking Slovenian on Otres beach

Otres beach

It was no coincidence I went to Mushroom point on Otres beach near Sihanoukville for the holiday weekend (Cambodia is very generous with holidays; in the five weeks I've been working here, three of them had holidays). I knew Mushroom point is run by people from Slovenia so I thought I would pay them a visit.

There were a bunch of Slovenian people, in addition to the three people who run the place there are two more Slovenians who work there, there was another tourist from Slovenia besides me and two more Slovenian guys who live in Sihanoukville where they operate a shoe factory dropped by for a drink. I could speak Slovenian again after two months on the road.

The touristy section of Otres beach

The area around Otres beach is full of hotels, guesthouses and bungalows, each with its beach bar, music, happy hour, cocktails and barbecues. But despite the concentration of tourist facilities – which were mostly full for the holiday weekend – it didn’t feel crowded. There is a lot of beach and walking just 5 minutes away from all the action it's completely empty.

The weekend was spent relaxing, drinking beer and chatting with all the Slovenian people who were gathered there.

Mushroom point is a bit on the expensive side for my budget. But I do allow myself the occasional luxury when I travel so for the two days I stayed there the cost was acceptable.

To clarify, in the context of traveling in Asia, “luxury” means that

• my coffee is served in a cup that’s actually clean;
• the faucet is attached to the sink, saving me the acrobatics of holding the faucet with two hands while at the same time trying to open the tap and wash my hands;
• the drains drain and the drainpipes are attached to the sink so that water doesn’t shower down my feet when I run water in the sink;
• the light switches are firmly screwed to the walls and they work;
• no sparks fly when I plug in my computer.

But still, this is Cambodia. I was startled when one of the local employees at the guesthouse walked into my bathroom early in the morning, towel and soap in hand, apparently wanting to take a shower. It was my private bathroom for which I paid a fair amount of money. He was just as startled when he saw me, probably not expecting me to be up so early, and disappeared immediately. I’m sure he had been told not to use the guests’ bathrooms but if no one sees him, why not?