Raybull wrote:

Username Taken wrote:^^ Any idea on the location (streets) in the pics?

Why is there no traffic?

So did you cancel your trip? Tom at Deluxx still has some rooms at the regular tariff. I can assure you that road will be like the worst traffic hour you've ever seen in PP in a couple days (if you like that sort of thing)

No, didn't cancel. At Ochheuteal now.

No rain yet today. Fingers crossed.
Might drop in to visit Hotdgr this afternoon/evening.

Hotel price hikes for Sihanoukville Sea Festival: Are they bigger than the usual Xmas to New Year price increases ? Less than usual ? Any experiences on this ?

With the annual Sea Festival starting in Preah Sihanouk province today, hotel and guesthouse owners usually increase room prices, however authorities have asked them to make it reasonable for tourists over the three-day period.

Hang Vannaren, the accountant at White Sand Palace Hotel at Sihanoukville, said her hotel has 265 rooms and has cooperated with a Chinese tour agency to book 200 rooms for Chinese tourists during the festival.
“The room price on normal days starts at $75 per day and with the festival, the room price starts from $100 per room,” she said. “Right now, it is nearly all foreign tourists. Very few locals have booked the hotel.”

The three-day festival runs until Sunday, Christmas Day. A crowd of 600,000 is expected at event, according to the provincial governor.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33502//

For the good news, weather forecast for SHV is fine for the next three days.
http://www.weather-forecast.com/locatio ... sts/latest

LionsLeftTesticle wrote:Pretty good festival so far.

Khmer boxing is way cooler than Muay Thai.

Should be plenty of sport on the agenda:


The annual Sea Festival descends on Preah Sihanouk province today and is the second time it plays host to one of the most popular and anticipated events in the Cambodian sporting calendar.

While concerts and entertainment shows are on the agenda, a variety of sporting competitions will also be on display for the influx of tourists in what is traditionally the province’s high tourist season.

“Sports which have been scheduled in this year’s 5th Sea Festival include running events of 5 and 10 kilometers, cycling of 10 and 40 kilometers, beach volleyball, beach soccer, paramotor, jet ski races, sailing and kun khmer,” he [Vath Chamroeun, secretary general of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia] said.

“Other than this, there will be performances of bokator, traditional wrestling, taekwondo and jiu jitsu,” he added. More than 600,000 visitors are anticipated to file into the Cambodian beach town for the fifth iteration of the Sea festival...
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33475//

The only activities I've seen at Ochheuteal were students running races on Friday morning, cycling on Saturday morning, and that's all. Can't speak for other beaches or areas around the place, but the tourist influx is closer to 6,000 rather than 600,000. Very quiet/normal at Ochheuteal.
At the guesthouse/hotel there are plenty of rooms available.

Bong Sen was here yesterday, but he didn't have time to join me for a beer at Hotdigr's place. Maybe next time.