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After the last hectic few days of travelling, one thing was in order....beach time!! So from Phonm Penh our group ended up parting ways - those who were in a rush went further afield whilst 5 of us chose to head south to the beach resort of Sihanoukville. An easy 4 hour bus ride on a very well maintained road, which came as a surprise as apparently Cambodia is well known for having some terrible roads...
Anyways on arrival last sunday the bus dropped us off in town which meant negotiating a tuk tuk ride down to a beach area. Perhaps only 3km away, yet not easily walked in the sweltering sun with a massive pack on the back. With not quite knowing where to go (there are several beaches as well as 2 separate backpacker areas) we headed down to Serendity beach and did not regret our decision once! Unlike the beach of Mui Ne in Vietnam there are no beach front shacks here - rather there are guesthouses-a-plentiful just further back (we shouldn't complain as we are desperately needing the exercise haha). So we found a place called 'monkey republic' withsimple bungalows opening onto a garden for $7. Fan and cold water is all you need! The bar at this place so happened to be the busiest on the street which was great (except on earlier nights when we wanted sleeeep!!!)
In fact the funny thing about this place is that there are heaps of places advertising free accommodation. Yes free! The catch is that they provide you with a $5 bar tab (yes provide) in return for you spending one hour a day walking up and down the beach distributing flyers which would be advertising the respective bar....definitely a wicked thing to do if you were by yourself or friends. We briefly thought about it then changed our minds as we heard the accommodation was VERY basic....(maybe even outdoors).
We didn't quite know what to expect from this town, though turned out that we loved it!! The beach was stunning and the water extremely clear and calm (only got rough one day). Downside however is there is very little space (filled with deckchairs to the brim) and it is absolutely swarming with children, amputees and other locals trying to sell you stuff or simply begging. For some this is very irritating, though we figured you either joke along with them, or have tough skin and don't let them get to you at all. It would have been nice to hold up a sign saying ''no'' simply so we didn't have to keep repeating it, but then again we weren't sure if they could read...Given the numbers of children working on the beach (clearly for their parents, and we have heard that this town has a gambling problem) there were quite a few NGOs around in support of helping out children and getting them off the streets. There were also plenty of signs around asking westerners not to buy from the kids as it was keeping them away from free school...though we saw plenty of money being exchanged nonetheless...If we did decide to buy something we made sure it was from an adult or especially an amputee (as living would be very tough for them)....
SO why did love this place? Happy hour!! This beach was lined with beach shacks/ bars each with drink specials, BBQs and the like being advertised. After a couple of trials and errors we found one we liked with a happy hour from 7am to 11pm. Yes that's right. And the guy who ran the place was very entertaining, with good english, and he was continuously 'happy' (or so we thought)!
Although relatively cheap, we have found that Cambodia is definitely more expensive than Vietnam which comes as a surprise. Especially with food and drinking water (in Vietnam 50cents NZ for 1.5L whereas here the cheapest we have found is $1.5NZ....don't laugh, but this seriously adds up when you are buying 3 a day and you are on a tight budget! Similar comparison for food). In fact it seems it is a lot harder for tourists to mix with locals as the areas are often quite separate, and so the prices are reflected as such...unlike Vietnam where it is all jumbled together...Nonetheless the food is good! Tried a couple of local dishes and they are seriously spicy!!
Anyways, not wanting to ramble on, we didn't really do much here other than eat, sleep and drink (quite a bit...). We have met heaps of people on the beach including a lovely couple of Irish girls who arrived the same day as us. There is more to do here however we didn't really indulge. We thought about having a boat trip out to the islands to do some snorkelling, or hiring a bike to explore neighbouring beaches, or heading inland to check our some waterfalls, or even hire a jetski. But nup, we were happy staying put, saving some pennies, and enoying doing nothing!! We had wise words from our Australian companion (Andy!) who said if you like somewhere, then don't feel the need to do everything else if you're happy staying put (or something like that!). We are on holiday afterall....
Despite wanting to stay longer we are off to Siem Reap tomorrow (after a daytime 12 hour bus ride)!! Can't wait to explore the majestic Ankor Wat and then on monday we are off to Laos....! Also, we may have finally found a way to put up photos (atlast!) so keep checking over the next few days as we will be adding more to previous albums as well. Love to everyone back home, bet you're all counting the hours till the Xmas break kicks in...!!
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