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Published: January 23rd 2018
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No way were we going very far today after yesterday’s minibus marathon. We checked 4 weather forecasts, no 2 agreeing except that wall to wall sunshine was not on the cards but rain was, at some point. We were kept awake by some idiots sitting outside their room talking, not loudly but we could still hear. We woke up and heard them at 4.30 am and were still going strong at 7. Grief! Otherwise sleeping scrunched up at the end of the wet bed worked OK, and the air con dried it out by the morning.
As we like it here a lot, we decided to try to extend our stay. The staff, both western and local, are just great. Nothing is too much trouble, so friendly. We looked on booking.com and there was no problem staying 3 more days. So on Monday we’ll go to Koh Rong and stay in Sok San Beach Bungalows, 25$ a night, no sink in the bathroom as it is a hut on the beach but there is a sort of toilet and shower. It’s on the quieter beach, Long Beach. Vlogs make it look really nice. We asked if we could leave our
big bags here, no problem. When we come back on the 1st booking.com Said No! I wasn’t going to take their word for it so asked at reception. They did have rooms, but it would mean changing after one night as they don’t have one free for the whole time. Worth knowing, if it looks like a hotel is full, put individual dates in and then email the hotel to see if they can change things around. Top tip, innit!
We ate in the restaurant here, cups of TEA and English breakfast for 5$. It was fab, and we were very happy. We checked out some of the other restaurants on the beach later, prices very much the same, 1$ for a draught beer, 4-5 for a main course. After packing all our stuff ready to move we went to explore. The road looked horrendous last night and it was still full,of puddles but it’s not muddy, so you can walk along easily enough. There are lots of little shacks selling snacks, tour places selling trips and tickets and places to stay. The beach is about 30m from us, and there is another line of restaurants, some of them
have rooms but they looked pretty shonky. Like in the 3 Little Pigs, those are the straw houses, looking a bit damp and dismal. Some had blue plastic tarpaulins over the rooves, probably helps with the leaking but looked really ugly. There is a lot of rubbish, some attempts to put it in bags, but if you are looking for a pristine beach area, don’t come here!
We walked to the end of the village and then back along the beach to suss out the best bars to camp out in front of. To be honest, they are all a bit scruffy, sunbeds have seen better days, but the atmosphere is great, you can use the facilities and aren’t hassled by the bars to buy drinks etc. The people are so nice, really good-natured and friendly. In the afternoon, after changing rooms, the sun came out at last, so we trotted over to the beach and had at least an hour before it started raining and we retreated into the restaurant, Chez Paou. On the beach you will not starve. The fruit seemed expensive compared to Vietnam so I haggled a bit. A dollar seemed too much for one
mango, we settled on 2 for 1.50$. You can get squid on a stick with calamari, cooked on a mobile barbecue, 10 for 5$ and fried prawns but we were too worried about how long they’d been in the sun. A couple had bought huge bag loads of cooked seafood and took loads of pictures of each other holding various items up. They didn’t mind me looking in their bags, crabs, huge prawns, spiky things. They were experts at dissecting them. The amount of food was ridiculous. There was quite a bit of hassle from massage ladies, they wanted to dehair us using threading and were persistent. You have to say no thank you a lot. Sunglasses, sarongs, the usual stuff. But generally chilled, the beach and sea are clean and the water warm. Lovely!
We stayed and ate in but tonight the bar was super quiet. We chatted with Megan, the manager, and her cute baby daughter Mia, and Gary the bar manager. No other guests until we were finished. The wine here is very acceptable, as is the food. Apparently the guests talking all night were Norwegian. They then slept all day, the selfish feckers, causing other
guests to have checked out early, complaining about the noise.
Booked our transport online to go to Phnom Penh on the 5th. By train, which is a bit of a novelty here, only running Fri-Mon on one single track line. We splurged an extra dollar on first class. It takes 7hours, 3 more than a minibus, but heyho for a new experience!
Great wildlife here- geckos, normal frogs, tree frogs, rodents and huge land snails, as well as lots of birds. Brilliant!
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