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Published: April 14th 2008
After our absolute mammoth journey all the way through Laos and into Cambodia, we decided another 4 hour bus journey wouldn't make much difference, so went to the coast; south west Cambodia's main point for exploring the area is Sihanoukville. Laos was a much poorer country than Thailand, but Cambodia seemed even worse. There were children everywhere in ragged clothes (some as young as 2 or 3!) carrying bags and collecting empty cans and bottles - presumably to get a little bit of money. We were lying on the beach one day, Wiz and I had shared some chips but couldn't finish them and this lady came up and asked for our leftovers which she then gave to the baby in her arms. Cambodia also has a very high concentration of unexploded landmines and you see many people without limbs begging for money, it's all very heartbreaking. The hardest thing I found was being absolutely mobbed - we got off the bus in Sihanoukville (and indeed everywhere we went) and got hounded by the tuk tuk drivers - you could barely get off the bus, and when you did they surrounded you and were in your face bagging for you to
use their service - one guy grabbed my arm and was trying to pull me and I couldn't even see Wiz and Afra as they were surrounded too, it was CRAZY!
We eventually found a nice little guest house near to serendipity beach where we stayed for four nights. In Sihanoukville there are many different beaches and also some lovely islands just off from the coast. We spent the first day on Serendipity beach and the next day we went to Sokha beach which we had heard was one of the best - it was beautiful but that is because it is a private beach, owned by a 5 star resort and we ended up paying 4 dollars for the privilage of being there. It was woth it though as we got towels and lovely sunloungers and also nobody trying to sell us anything or begging, just the sound of the waves crashing and beautiful clean white sand (that was being combed as we were there!) We also went and had a swim in the pool which made a nice change.
That afternoon we made our way to Hawaii beach - the best beach for sunset views, and it
didn't disappoint! There was a small island just off the beach and a few boats and we sat on the sand with a beer and watched for about an hour as the sun went down and the sky changed to so many colours - perfect!!
The following day we decided to take a boat trip to Bamboo island. On the way we stopped to go snorkelling which was amazing to see all the coral and scary to see the sea urchins we had to avoid for fear of being stung. I'd never been snorkelling properly before and it was hard to get used to just breathing through your mouth and I ended up swallowing a lot of water in the process!! We landed on Bamboo island which was truly breathtaking, we walked to the other side of the island and found the most perfect deserted beach!!! I felt like I was on shipwrecked or something, it was just amazing!!! I can't even describe it in words...just take my word on it and watch the video I've put up!!
So, there's not much else to say other than I didn't want to leave, although I was excited to be going
to Siem Reap and seeing the temples of Angkor, I just felt so relaxed on the coast and the beaches were beautiful....although we've heard we have more stunning beaches and Islands to come when we get back into Thailand!!!
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Mum
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Bamboo island looks SOOO beautiful - a bit like Wells beach, but clearer water and warm! Have all your friends given up on you back home? Let's have some comments, you guys, or as our Delia would say, let's be 'avin you!