Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
There's not a huge difference between the guesthouses and the homestays. Rooms - in-
spected monthly by the CBET committee - come with fans, mosquito nets, cotton sheets,
foam mattresses, towel, free filtered water and a laminated sheet on local customs. All
guesthouses and one homestay are connected to the village's electricity grid, which oper-
ates mornings and evenings only. Homestays without electricity have 12V fans powered
overnight by rechargeable car battery. While Butterfly Lodge and some guesthouses have
en-suite bathrooms, many homestays and bungalows have outside toilets (Western or
squat) and showers (a rainwater cistern with a plastic bucket) that are clean and commodi-
ous.
Eating & Drinking
There are several food stalls on the main strip between the river pier and the visitor centre.
These sell simple local food for about US$2 a dish. The only full-on restaurant in town is
at the visitor centre. Breakfast is US$2.50 and lunch and dinner is US$3.50. Everybody
enjoys the same selection of three dishes for lunch and three different dishes for dinner,
and the menu changes daily. Vegetarians are catered for and packed lunches are available.
All the food is sourced locally, and much is locally grown or reared. Soft drinks and beers
are available in local stores. The visitor centre boasts the only real bar in town and offers
some of the best cocktails this side of Phnom Penh.
Information
At the boat dock in Andoung Tuek and in nearby coffee shops, scammers sometimes ac-
cost travellers, purveying misinformation, offering bogus tourist services and demanding
spurious payments. For reliable information, contact the CBET office or check out its
website. Decent imported mountain bikes are available for hire for US$10 per day.
Getting There & Away
Chi Phat is on the scenic Preak Piphot River, 21km upriver from Andoung Tuek.
Andoung Tuek is on NH48, 98km from Koh Kong. All buses travelling between Koh
Kong and Phnom Penh or Sihanoukville pass through here.
A four- or six-passenger longtail boat makes the two-hour trip every day (US$10 to
US$12 depending on the type of boat). Boats leave Andoung Teuk at 12 noon (or whenev-
er the Virak Buntham bus from Phnom Penh arrives if running late). The CBET commu-
nity works only with local boatmen who have been trained in safety standards and whose
