Finally...unwinding on the beach..and no bracelets for us thanks

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After postponing our beach visits several times, we FINALLY made it to Sihanoukville, a peaceful little seaside town preparing to become a bigger touristy seaside town (evident with building sites which will eventually be a long street full of larger hotels). The bus ride was an enjoyable one, the locals kept us very entertained by singing along to the (awfully out of tune) musical TV show.

We had already booked ourselves a room at a guesthouse on the beach, 'Les Jardins Aux Hibiscus'. For the French-speaking people out there, it did indeed have a really pretty courtyard / garden with lots of blooming flowers: the perfect place to escape from the noise and smoke of Phnom Penh. It was also warm and sunny which was such a relief after seeing the changing weather forecasts. So after dropping our bags we parked ourselves on one of the many beach beds on Serendipity beach and ordered ourselves some fruity smoothies. It was pretty quiet, I can imagine when this beach is packed it's a little harder to relax.

It wasn't long before our presence was noted by the street children, who rushed over to promote their bracelets / fruit / books / postcards to sell to us. Their sales techniques are cunning and while you think 'Ha, I know better'...believe me, they have a comeback for any of your excuses! Plus, they can charm you with their impeccable English and their adorable faces....they're masters of emotion and manipulation!

"maybe later" - will not work because they WILL be back later to hold you to it.
"I don't have money on me" - They'll give their bracelet / fruit to you...and they WILL find you later!
Basically, don't even try - because you will for sure end up buying something off them. They'll find out your name, they know where you're staying, where you're from....yup - they have their sources, all over town.

And don't even DARE buying something off any of the other vendors. They'll hold you to your word with a pinky promise. Break it - and suffer the consequences.

So, if you're wondering what we ended buying:
- several bags of fruit
- a bracelet
- a leg threading session (we did not ask for this, they just started and we couldn't stop them. It was painful too!)
- french pedicures / manicures

The only tactic which sort of worked was 'falling asleep'. They'll still talk to you but after a while, they'll move on. Especially if there are other travelers to harass!

In the evenings, the strip along Serendipity Beach got busier, probably because of the cheap $3 BBQ dinners available in one of the bars, or the $0.50 beers. With the warm weather, the beach chairs made for a comfy hangout and a great place to watch the artists spinning fire on the beach or listen to wannabe Bob Marleys play their guitar. Very enjoyable.

On our second day in town we met some people from Sweden and Denmark, who had spent the last 2 weeks on the beach. Unimaginable, you'd think you get a little bored of staying on this backpackers beach but apparently not! We decided to join them on a cruise the next day which would take us to a deserted beach where we could snorkel and play beach volleyball.

It was organised by a crazy (no, really) Brit who obviously had other plans for this boat trip because I don't think snorkelling was the main aim of the trip...instead when we boarded (this was at 10.30am) we were all handed a JagerBomb and told to down it. OK....this wasn't really the relaxing snorkel cruise you would find in other places but it was an experience to say the least!

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