Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Secret Garden
( 097 649 5131;
www.secretgardenotres.com
;
Otres 2; r US$99; )
The first upscale
boutique hotel to open on Otres has started a trend. The cute bungalows here are priced at
a beach premium compared with town, but the garden includes a small swimming pool.
Book ahead as it's pretty popular.
BOUTIQUE HOTEL
$$$
THE LAST BATTLE OF THE VIETNAM WAR
The final bloody confrontation of the Vietnam or Indochina War took place off the coast of Sihanouk-
ville.
On 12 May 1975, two weeks after the fall of Saigon, Khmer Rouge forces used captured US-made
Swift boats to seize an American merchant ship, the SS
Mayagüez
(named after a city in Puerto Rico),
while it was on a routine voyage from Hong Kong to Thailand. The vessel was anchored 50km south-
west of Sihanoukville off Koh Tang - now a popular scuba-diving destination - while the 39 crew
members were taken to Sihanoukville.
Determined to show resolve in the face of this 'act of piracy', President Gerald Ford ordered that
the ship and its crew be freed. Naval planes from the US aircraft carrier
Coral Sea
bombed Sihanouk-
ville's oil refinery and the Ream airbase, and Marines prepared for their first hostile boarding of a ship
at sea since 1826.
On 15 May, Marines stormed aboard the
Mayagüez
like swashbuckling pirates but found it deser-
ted. In parallel, airborne Marine units landed on Koh Tang. Thought to be lightly defended, the island
turned out to have been fortified in anticipation of a Vietnamese attack (Vietnam also claimed the is-
land). In the course of the assault, most of the US helicopters were destroyed or damaged and 15
Americans were killed.
Unbeknownst to the Americans, early on 15 May the Khmer Rouge had placed the crew of the
Mayagüez
aboard a Thai fishing boat and set it adrift - but the men weren't discovered by US ships
until after the assault on Koh Tang had begun. In the chaotic withdrawal from the island, three Mar-
ines were accidentally left behind and, it is believed, later executed by the Khmer Rouge.
The Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC lists American war dead chronologically, which is
why the names of the Marines who perished in the '
Mayagüez
Incident' appear at the bottom of the
very last panel.
Eating
Sihanoukville's centre of culinary gravity has shifted to the Serendipity area, with dozens
of restaurants packed into a couple of roads. Old-timer Victory Hill still has a couple of
decent restaurants amid the chaos. The gritty commercial centre also holds a few pleasant
surprises. Otres has some inviting beachside places for a leisurely lunch or romantic din-
ner if staying in the area.
