A few days of sunshine and relaxation in the beach town of Sihanoukville

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After a 4 hour bus ride from chaotic Phnom Penh we arrived to sunshine in the beach town of Sihanoukville, which we had heard was the premier beach destination in Cambodia. We had booked a hotel through the place we stayed in PP so didn’t know what to expect, so when we were picked up at the bus station and taken to an amazing beach front hotel we were nicely surprised! After checking in and being shown to our room (which had cable tv, wi fi, big bed, views to the beach and nice bathroom, for less than £15!) we changed and wondered down to the beach for something to eat.

We had heard so many mixed reviews about S’Ville so were pleasantly surprised to find a gorgeous beach lined with beach bars and small local restaurants, and not many tourist which was great. All the restaurants served similar food (a mix of Cambodian dishes and western dishes) so we picked one which was busy and tried Khmer noodles and Amok curry, which was like a mix of a chicken korma and a thai red curry- so tasty! The food along here was so cheap, maybe $2 or $3 a dish (Cambodia use US dollars) , $1 for a fresh fruit shake and only 50cent for a beer! After eating we sat on the beach for the rest of the afternoon, only moving to go in the sea which was the warmest sea we had been in so far on this trip.

Along the beach there are many locals selling everything from fresh lobster and scallops (which Scott tired as they were selling 10 for $1!), to fruit platters, hand made bracelets, sarongs, manicures, massages and even threading, but they are very persistent and do not leave you alone if you show interest (they would even wake you up and sit on your sun bed!) so we had to ignore them whenever they came past shouting what they were selling, even though Scott did enjoy haggling with them and winding them up which they secretly enjoyed, and it all added to the atmosphere. That afternoon we met 2 guys from London (one English one French) and after chatting with them for a while and getting on well we arranged to meet up later than night for some drinks.

Back at the hotel we showered and changed and walked down to the beach in the evening for some dinner, finding a restaurant on the beach that had a bbq going on with fresh fish, so we sat about 5 foot from the sea where Vic had the amok curry with rice and Scott had fresh barracuda and tiger prawns with chips and salad- along with a drink each it came to about $7 for both of us! We then saw the guys from earlier so had a drink with them but they weren’t having a late one as their friends (2 girls) were arriving the next day so they called it a night and we said we’d see them the next day. We then walked down the beach to a bar which was having a small full moon beach party which we stayed at for a while, probably longer than we were going to because Vic saw 2 puppies and didn’t want to leave them, before going back to our hotel about 1am, stopping on the way for a quick chicken sandwich at a bar which had 2 monkeys as pets!

The next morning it was sunny again so after a quick breakfast at the hotel we walked down to the beach and settled at the same place as the day before, ordering fresh fruit shakes and enjoying the hot weather, as we hadn’t been on a beach since we arrived in Thailand at the end of November so we were loving just doing nothing and swimming in the sea, thinking of the snow at home! Our friends came down in the afternoon with their friend and we all chilled out and had some drinks and watched the sunset into the early evening before going back to get ready and arranging to meet them later that night for some dinner.

We all met up later that evening and Scott again had the fish bbq, while Vic had beef Lok Lak - another Cambodian dish of stir fry beef with a pepper sauce and rice - we all had some drinks and talked about our trips and Christmas plans, which was in 3 days time. Various bars had started to give out flyers on Xmas parties and roast dinners, which was the first time we had thought of xmas for a while, and along with the hot weather and chilled environment we were seriously thinking of changing our plans and staying in S’Ville for Xmas as it was so nice and we really loved it, but decided to stick to our plan of going to Siem Reap for xmas, as otherwise there was a chance we wouldn’t get down to the Thai islands in time for New Year. After a few more drinks we went with our new friends to meet their other friend who had just arrived, and carried on drinking and chatting into the early hours, before going home at past 3am, after another good night in S’Ville.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and again spent the day on the beach as the weather was great, drinking fruit shakes and having massages (Scott – he also had his back hair threaded as the woman was so persistent!) and manicures (Vic), so happy that we decided to come to S’Ville as we weren’t sure originally if we would have the time – after PP this was just what we needed and it was so nice to be on a beach a couple of days before Christmas. We had some food with our friends in the evening before going to get our bus at 7pm. The bus we had booked to Siem Reap would take around 10 hours and was a sleeper bus with beds, but until it turned up we assumed itwould be seats that recline a bit like usual, so were amazed when it arrived and had actual beds, bunk bed style, all the way down the bus, brilliant!

We were sad to leave Sihanoukville and would love to go back one day, but we were now excited for Christmas and looking forward to experiencing Siem Reap for the next few days.

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