Departing the ship early we took a coach ride to the Ream National Park before transferring onto a small wooden boat at a small village on the edge of the Ream waterway. This estuary is the location of a number of small fishing village. Our journey by boat was to take us to one of the small fishing villages and from there we were to walk through the jungle to rendezvous with our coaches at a small bar located on the edge of a sandy beach.

The boat seats were extremely hard and by the time we arrived at the village numb bums were the order of the day. During our journey we observed a number of the fishermen plying their trade. Some were fishing using traditional techniques with nets, others were diving in the shallow waters to harvest Oysters from the estuary bed. Our pictures show these activities underway.

At the fishing village we met a number of the local villagers and were able to visit a traditional village house and the local school. The levels of poverty seen were high but despite this the villagers were very welcoming. One of the group of travellers we were with collapsed due to the heat and the villagers rallied round to assist this individual. The villagers helped to keep our fellow traveller cool before help arrived in the form of a motorcycle to transport her and her husband to the nearest road where a car picked them up to return them to the ship.

Temperatures were in the low 30s so the trek through the jungle was particularly draining although it would have be much easier if some of our fellow American travellers had perhaps acquainted themselves with walking before coming on the cruise. We now realise that Seabourn categories for the level of effort to be sustained during shore excursions uses an American scale. For fellow Striders viewing this blog Seabourn's Extreme category should be translated into a Sunday stroll in the park.

A footnote to the above paragraph is that we were joined by Hank and partner on this trip and it is notable that they came to the fore leading the happy band of hikers from the front proving that not all Americans are incapable of walking at a reasonable pace. It must be said however that Hank had been fortified by an early stiffener purchased at a local gas station where we had made a scheduled comfort break stop before joining the boats at Ream National Park.

Needless to say arriving at the beachside bar was a relief and the rapid consumption of 3 cans of beer soon revived flagging bodies. Seabourn had for this excursion laid on a small beach barbecue and soon we were tucking into locally caught Pipe fish - great food in a great setting.

The schedule allowed for a quick dip in the sea, an enjoyable 45 minutes was spent floating in the azure waters of the beach called Chinese natural beach. It is now called Chinese National beach because the Chinese are investing heavily in this area building roads and infrastructure and intend to build a 5* hotel in this idyllic unspoilt area of Cambodia. Our discussions with local Cambodians suggest some mixed feelings about the commercialisation of this part of their country.

Boarding our coach for the final leg of our journey in Cambodia we travelled to Meditation Mountain, a Buddhist temple built by the local government. The key feature of this temple was a large Buddha carved out of solid stone. We spent about half an hour at this temple before boarding the bus to return to the ship for the very welcome air conditioning and more food and alcohol J

Enjoy the ice,

Dave and the crew……… Sue, Jan, Bridget, John and John