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Published: December 30th 2006
Sihanouville
Lovely beachAaaah - I just spent 30 minutes writing and somehow managed to lose it, so this will be a very condensed update now as I can't be bothered to do it all over again!!!
Since last time I went down to Sihanoukville on the coast, which is a rather nice beach-side town with several great beaches spread around the town. I rented a scooter and explored around, and also went to the nearby Ream national park (forests, mangroves and little islands) where we managed to spot some freshwater dophins. I spent Christmas there and there was a great party at the Eden bar with cheap drinks and great curries all night! rather strange to spend Christmas in a hot country though...After 5 days there I went by share taxi (6 people inside - rather uncomfortable for 2 hours) to Kampot further east along the coast. The accommodation was great at $4 and a very friendly owner and family (Longvilla guesthouse). The first night there I asked a local whether there were any busy bars - he suggested we drink some palm wine down by the river with the locals and after an initial hesitation I decided to trust him and off
Kep town
Just relaxing by the beach we set down a 2 km dark and spooky road before ending up at a great spot where the locals were having a barbecue and drinking palm wine! it turns out the guy teaches English (I met his pupils the next day) and sells motorbikes by day. It was a nice way to spend an evening and I'm sure not that many tourists experience that! I also visited Kep just 24km away and sat in a hammock all day - very chilled...The highlight there was a full-day trip to nearby Bokor national park and hill station - there is a 3 hour
very bumpy ride to the 1000 metre summit, whereby we trekked for several hours through the jungle along old Khmer Rouge trails and eventually reached the deserted hill station - this was an old French colonial holiday town with a church, post office, hotel and several other small buildings. These days it's a deserted town and looks like something out of a horror movie or computer game - you can walk around the old and crumbling hotel, it's very eerie indeed. Since then I've come back to Phnom Penh for New Year then will head to Battambang and
Bokor Hill Station
The eerie old hotel Siem Reap (to visit Angkor Watt), though I will probably return next Saturday and then organise my Laos visa. After that I have around 10 more days on my Cambodia visa so will head to the north east provinces which are supposed to be extremely beautiful, mountainous and rather wild. It's a possibility to extend my visa here as there is still so much to see and do (and I'm not exactly rushing around!) - I still have to visit the killing fields and the museum here tomorrow, though I met some locals who want me to go to the water park with them :-) That's it for now, I'll add more in a few days or by next weeked at latest....hope the weather's good back in Blighty?
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Adnan
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What an impressively spooky looking hotel! ps: Happy New Year!