Sihanoukville & Kampot

We left Phnom Penh bound for Sihanoukville, a small town on the southwestern coast of Cambodia which sits between Vietnam and Thailand. After a 4 hour bus ride to the soundtrack of a number of random Cambodian songs played at distortingly high volume we were in a tuk tuk taking the short but bumpy trip to Serendipity beach.

We checked into a small guesthouse at the very end of the beach with bungalows sitting in the trees and with a bar that sat about 3 feet from the waters edge. After dumping our bags we took a wander to get ourselves acquainted with the area. This involved finding a sun lounger and relaxing for an hour or so before grabbing a spot further along the beach with an Angkor draught and watching the sun set over the ocean. It was tough!

The following day consisted of more of the same, walking along the beach, swimming when it got a little too hot and eating fresh fish with the waves lapping at our feet. The only thing we had to worry about was how to tell the various sellers who roamed the beach that we were not interested in threading, massages, deep fried fish, fruit, jewellery or the many other items on sale, (although Jill did end up having a massage, like I said, it was tough).

One service that many of the women provided, and that they were insistent I had, was toe nail clipping! They would walk past and then scream in exaggerated shock "Oh my no, so long, so long! I cut for you! Oh, so long!" followed by a near by allie echoing her disgust "Oh, so long!" I ended up burying my toes in the sand in an attempt to hide my shame, they weren't even that long, but I made a mental note to clip them when I got back to the room.

On our final day in Sihanoukville we got a small boat out to some of the nearby islands for some snorkeling before stopping for some lunch at aptly named Bamboo Island. It was great to leave the mainland behind and see the islands of various shapes and sizes. The itinerary and timings for our trip seemed ever changing and we ended up waiting for our ride home on the beach for 2 hours in the sun. We returned to the mainland looking more like lobsters.

After a relaxing and very different few days in Sihanoukville we were back on a bus, Cambodian karaoke booming, and off to Kampot only a couple of hours east. Here we spent 2 days meeting the locals, cycling around the villages near by. It was such a great way to get a feel for the country. Seeing the children in their crisp white uniforms on their way home from school, on bikes that were way too big for them with younger siblings on the back, people running out of their houses waving hellos as we went by, everyone had a huge smile for us. Jill managed an early morning run which was consistently interrupted with enthusiastic hellos. The landscape is amazing too, skinny white cows standing out against the lush green rice paddies which stretch out as far as the eye can see, dotted with people working the land and the occasional water buffalo. I think it is safe to say that we like Cambodia a great deal.

After 2 days, some great food (if you are ever n Kampot head for Rikitikitavi's it's good) and experiences, it was time to move on once more, back to Phnom Penh for the water festival.