Lying down on my beach cot, I order a fresh fruit shake from the waiter, wondering if Jackie Kennedy (said to have been one of this hotel's first guests) ever ordered drinks from this same spot. I feel the cool breeze and I hear the gentle sound of the waves coming in from the bright blue sea.
Apart from a handful of other people - a mother and daughter playing in the water, an elderly couple reading books, and a group of Asians chattering idly - the long stretch of white-sand beach is empty; it is reserved for our hotel’s guests.
Am I in Palawan? Phuket? Bali? No, I'm on a beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
Sihanoukville: Comparable to Asia's Best Beaches
Cambodia has long been identified with its ancient temples. But Cambodia is not only Angkor Wat. At the southern part of the country, there is a beautiful beach town surrounded by the waters of the Gulf of Thailand.A three-hour drive away from the capital of Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville is a prime destination for foreign travelers, from tourists wanting to relax after touring the Angkor temples in Siem Reap to expatriates wanting to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
One of Only Two World-Class Hotels in Sihanoukville
The newest boutique luxury hotel in this town is the Independence Hotel, one of only two world class hotels in Sihanoukville where not too long ago, only rustic guesthouses for backpacking tourists were available.
Wanting to get away from the stifling summer heat of Phnom Penh where we have been living and working for more than five years, my husband and I stayed in the Independence Hotel during the long Khmer New Year holidays in April for five days and four nights.
We were a bit apprehensive when we booked our room. We usually stay in Sokha Hotel whenever we go to Sihanoukville. But due to the booming tourist industry in Cambodia, their rates have risen way above our budget.
Independence Hotel just recently re-opened and we were a bit worried that it may still be suffering some birth pains and that their service might not be good enough. But the few photos and reviews on the Internet seemed promising.
The hotel has been fully booked since December so they must be doing something right. In fact, they were booked so tight that there was no double room available for us and we had to settle for a twin room. But the private beach was more than enough to convince us to go there. We did not regret our decision.
A Hotel with a Tres Chic History
The hotel was built in 1962 by the French architects Leroy and Mondet and was completed in 1964. At seven storeys, the hotel was the tallest building in Cambodia at the time. It sits proudly on top of a cliff overlooking the sea with centuries-old trees surrounding it.
Built in modern sixties style with a space-age circular dining room, two round ballrooms and a kidney-shaped swimming pool, it used to the most chic hotel in the country. The interiors were designed by King Norodom Sihanouk himself! In the sixties and early seventies, foreign tourists and well-off Cambodians flocked to the hotel in droves.
The Independence Hotel closed down in the mid-seventies when Cambodia entered its dark period. Khmer Rouge forces were said to have occupied its halls.
In the nineties, UNTAC officials from Phnom Penh ventured into its semi-decrepit rooms, although the hotel itself was often plagued by power outages and lack of running water.
Abandoned and deserted for several years and even rumored to be haunted, the Independence was renovated in 2007 and restored to its former glory.
Rooms: Unlooked-for Luxury
Our room had all the amenities one looks for in a hotel - toiletries, hair dryer, mini-safe, mini-bar, cable television, bathrobes, slippers, and others. It more than made up for the fact that they assigned us a twin room instead of a double room.
Another unfortunate thing was that we were assigned to one of the very few rooms which did not have a full view of the sea. I attributed both misfortunes to the fact that the hotel only had fifty-two rooms and they were fully booked. In fact, we were quite lucky that we were able to book a room at all considering that we made our reservations just a week before our trip!
They did provide something that even the big hotels in Phnom Penh did not have - free wireless Internet service, and that made me happy.
