The morning had come which meant we could leave the 'lovely' hostel we had been staying in. We took a 5 hour bus journey from Phnom Penh down to the South Cambodian coast and Sihanoukville. A short tuk tuk from the bus station took us to Serendipity Beach and our hostel. Thankfully ALOT nicer than our last!!

The next day we explored our new 'home'. We strolled along the strip of shops before deciding to hit the beach to work on some serious tanage. As we both laid there, cooking in the 30 plus degree heat, the background noise was a mix of English people talking, Cambodia kids selling various stuff and the sea against the white sand.

"Want to buy a bracelet Mr?", "Want some fruit Mrs?" were common questions, 99% of which we politely declined. Some of the kids were funny and would joke around with us, making us 'pinky promise' to buy from them if we changed our mind, some just decided to pick up on how sun deprived myself and Belle were "oo very white!" Granted these kids had a point, we are both pretty milky but now any chance of us buying anything from them had now gone completely, so they went on their way. Not that this effected our sun worship, however I did point out to Belle at the time, "We could have stayed in England and let 5 Pies tell me how pasty I am, not sure a 12 year old Cambodian has told me anything I didn't already know."

Anyway our sun bathing continued with some relaxing and beers in the evening, with the odd game of UNOOOOOOOO chucked in.

Sihanoukville is a mix of beach paradise and Spain, with the beach hut bars stretching as far as the beach did. Therefore we decided to head out one night, visiting a couple of places before heading to a bar right on the beach front. As we sat there enjoying a couple of cold Angkor beers, listening to the finest R&B (Belle enjoyed this slightly more than me) a Cambodian girl sat next to us asked to borrow a lighter. She was burning drinking straws, bending them and folding as she went - until she was left with a red rose ring on her finger. Amazed by this Belle asked to have a look, the girl then made Belle a ring and matching bracelet, which was nice.

To round our night off a big thunder storm had made it's way across to us, sat looking out at the sea the loudest thunder we have ever heard (just about
drowned out the R&B, occasionally) was followed by lighting which lit up the whole horizon - it was awesome!!

After 5 days of chilling at Serendipity Beach we decided to head down the coast to Otres Beach, which we had heard was alot quieter.....it was. A near deserted beach was separated from our accommodation by a single, dusty red track. We chose to stay at Mushroom Point - which is made up of about 6 private mushrooms and one big dorm mushroom. Our mushroom (shack) was number 5 and had nothing more than a big round bed and wall mounted fan. We also had a mini mushroom outside which was our ensuite. All seemed very quirky and good fun, which it was....however it was slightly different going to sleep for the night. Belle being a girl and me being,
well, a big girl, the quirkyness of the Mushroom was severly tested, having to swat, catch and flick various insects from the bed / mosquito net. It was a good experience, but Ray Mears I am not and therefore we may choose a slightly less rustic option next time round.

All in all, a very relaxed week at the Cambodian seaside but to our disappointment we couldn't buy any rock.

Off to Vietnam tonight on a sleeper bus and back to a big city - Saigon.