Music and dance in Sihanoukville, is like everywhere in Cambodia as many of the hill border tribes have each their own dance though the ethnic Cham community of Cambodia is no longer an active tradition of performing arts. In Sihanoukville, several Chinese community associations have the lion dance teams which perform during the lunar New Year and other Chinese festivals.

Like the rest of Cambodia, Sihanoukville residents have their own unique music and dance tradition, a production of art objects to propitiate the spirits and celebrate the many social milestones in the lives of members of the community.
Music instruments are crafted with great ingenuity from natural material such as stone, wood, gourd, bamboo, animal horn. They are always ready to accompany a wide range of solo and group songs and dances.

Most of the Cambodia’s hill tribes have their own dances, which originated largely as a celebration of everyday events and past times and in Sihanoukville, the nearby hill tribes, do perform this music and dances from time to time.

Many of these have been adapted for theatre presentations over 50 years. The best known ethnic minority dances are the skori (bamboo), dance of the stieng, the warrior dance of the kui, the buffalo sacrifice and hot (bamboo pipe), dances of the jarai, plus a range of dances by the pearic people which include the wild ox dance, the sen ploy, spirit possession dance and the peacock of the pear, the ritual and drum dances of the suoy and the port chor rung dance of the Samre.

Today, there are many modern nightclubs which provide western music and dance which have completely taken the old ethnic music and dance practices though they are still performed by the local natives while a tourist can still have fun to any kind of music in Sihanoukville.

Sihanoukville is located on the cost of Cambodia, half way between Thailand and Vietnam, on the bay of Thailand. It is both a town for foreign tourists and local people from all over Cambodia.

There is a lot of sight seeing because three sides of the town are bordered by tropical beaches, seafood, restaurants, bars, Buddhists temples, casinos which makes it a good place for foreign tourists.

Things to see and do in Sihanoukville

There a lot of activities to see and do which include,
Boating and fishing, due to the availability of many types of boats to rent, personal watercrafts, charter and group fishing and sailing boats, yachts and party boats, has made Sihanoukville a major place to visit in Cambodia to see and do all water sports.

Under water, due to a number of several foreign owned scuba and snorkeling companies found here, has made it the number one spot in Cambodia for all under water activity lovers and followers.

The availability of motor cycles and bicycles for rent everywhere, makes it east to go sight seeing anywhere in Sihanoukville as it is the best way to see the mountains, beaches, down town, bar hopping and you can get all the favorite destinations from “stray dog adventures”.

The place has so much to see and do, I will just outline the other major things to do and see, take a day to visit the waterfalls, visit the many homeless children’s camps or volunteer for a day to work in the camps, play miniature golf, visit ping pong shows, i- balling, take a walk at one of the many beautiful beaches or spend a day at the beach with white sand and blue water or even take a boat trip with family or friends.

With little in the way of shopping havens and very little history to be observed there are two main reasons for coming to Sihanoukville and this is of course the beaches and the Ream National Park. The beaches are nowhere near as crowded as nearby Thailand although there are local visitors at the weekend from Phnom Penn, however, during the week it is still possible to enjoy beach seclusion and island paradises.

Here is a list of a few you will enjoy.

Just a little to the south of the busy port with plenty of accommodation for the budget conscious is Victory Beach.

Known as ‘7-chann beach’ after the Independence Hotel lies the white sands of Independence Beach.

Sokha Beach Resort takes up most of Sokha Beach for it’s resident’s, however a small part is non residential.

By far the most popular beach is Ocheuteal because of it’s restaurants, bars and food stalls. The northern portion is known as Serendipity Beach with cheap guesthouses right on the sands.

If peace and quiet is your main priority travel southwards to Oters Beach which is pretty much untouched by development.

Bamboo Island can be reached for as little as $5 and offers beach hut accommodation in atotally unspoilt island getaway but take plenty of money as prices are higher than in Sihanoukville and there are no banks here.

The other attraction is Ream National Park just 30 minutes drive from Sihanoukville offering a chance to see all manner of beautiful birdlife.

[

Siem Reap is comparatively a small town and the main local cuisine is the Khmer food which can be found at the restaurants across town, but the European and other Asian cuisines are also well presented including Italian, Thai, Germany, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and of course French, given Cambodia’s long relationship with France’s gastronomical traditions and it is no surprise that some of the town’s most finest venues offer French cuisine.

In the most recent years, some of Siem Reap’s finest restaurants offer Khmer fusion and contemporary cuisines, which are diverse and unique to Cambodia.

And for economical food prices, there are many restaurants scattered across town and none is more than 5 minute tuk-tuk ride away or you can just go to the old market area, there, there are many reasonably priced eating areas which all offer Khmer cuisine and other western or Asian foods, especially around “pub street”, listings in dark blue, offer a bar / night life venue in addition to being a restaurant and listings in maroon also offer traditional performance.

The most recommended places are, Abacus, Aha, Alliance Café, Baca Villa, Blue Pumpkin, Bopha Angkor Hotel and Restaurant, Butterflies Garden to name a few.
There is also a free pocket magazine which is available in all hotels, guest houses and other places of accommodation, it gives you all the information you need about the times, menus, locations and offers.