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Blog 11 - Sihanouk Ville
Another hideous bus journey that was supposed to be 4 hours and turn out nearer 6 as the bus broke down 3 times and we eventually arrived in Sihanouk Ville n the southern the coast of Cambodia and is renowned for its beautiful beaches
As it was Chinese new year, all of the affluent Chinese seemed to have descended to the beaches of Sihanouk Ville and it was absolutely packed. There were very few hotel rooms available and those available were twice the price they would have been at any other time. After visiting 4 or 5 hotels with no rooms, we finally found one on the Serendipity Beach Road. It was ok for 1 night until we could find an alternative as our plan was to take a few days to relax.
After dropping our bags off, we decided to look for alternative accommodation. We didn't have to look for too long before finding some beautiful beach bungalows who had a vacancy for the following day so we booked it there an then. The new villa was small but perfect, sea views, 20 meters from the beach, air con and satellite tv and centrally located on the corner of Serendipity Road and the beach front, next to the pier. - what else can you ask for.
We walked along the beach to watch the sun set and found a nice bar/restaurant on the beach. Most of the bars offered the same kind of thing, different quality beach BBQs. For $3 you could choose 3 types of meat or fish served with salad, baked potato and garlic bread - bargain and it was delicious fresh fish caught that morning. After a few too many drinks, we headed back to the ok hotel for one night (translates Simon carried beck back to the hotel).
In the morning we moved to the new bungalows, found a chair on the beach front and relaxed, pretty much all day. In the afternoon Simon decided it would be a good idea to hire jet skis. This was definitely not a good idea. I was on the back for all of 10 minutes before a wave completely washed over us and tipped us in the sea. The jet ski capsized and I couldn't get back on it. Simon had to pull me to the beach. Note to self, next time ride my own jet ski!
In the evening we ate at the New Sea View Villa restaurant, by far the best meal we have had in a long while, European food, European standard even vanilla cheesecake and warm chocolate brownies with ice cream.
The following day we booked on a boat trip with Sun Tours. This trip had been recommended to us by many travellers. Basically it is a German guy with a huge boat who charters the boat for the day including snorkeling, fishing, diving etc.. trips to deserted beaches, rain forest and river walks. It cost $25 each which is expensive considering there are other trips for $15 but you pay for what you get as we have learned and it is well worth the extra £10. A great day, perfect white sandy beaches and clear blue sea.
In the evening, we hit the bars again. After a while, Simon wanted to watch the Man U game so I stayed out with some girls we had met on the beach from england. They were all so young, 18/19 etc... but they thought I was 24 (obviously no perception of age and it was dark!) but I was happy all the same. I happened to come back covered in spray paint again and accidentally slept on Simons white shorts so he was not so impressed in the morning - oops!
The following day we hired motorbikes and looked around the town. It seemed that the best beach was ours so after a few hours came back. We hired the bikes from a hotel next to ours as the store was quite large as we were told a story about bike hire that made us cautious. Apparently someone had hired a bike for the day, gave their passport as security and when they tried to return it at the end of the day, the shop said that they didn't rent bikes and didn't have his passport. The police were not interested and he was stuck with a bike with no papers and no passport! We were not sure how true this was as he was a bit of a stoner but took precautions all the same.
The next few days consisted of more relaxing, nice food and beach bars, we even met up with Iris who had finally made it there.
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