You buy from ME

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- FOOD: Noodle and fish soup for breakfast; very alcoholic Mekong and coconut shake; good shakes; barbequeud squid; rice in a pancake with sugar; small donoughts; great Indian meal; Tim Tams!

- AREA: Ochhentual Beach - the best and quietest although with a fair amount of rubbish and building work; Victory Beach - busier but a nice, narrow road with lots of food on offer; beautiful scenery on the bus ride.

- PEOPLE: Lovely bike men who didn't even try to rip us off; children sellers who know how to talk and hassle you to death (I gave in and had my legs strung - ow); bumping into Tania; Cambodians on holiday and locals splashing around; nice family owning the Indian restaurant; friends back at the Capitol guesthouse.

- ACCOM: Really nice, new and cheap guesthouse on the beach road.

- WEATHER: A million diamonds falling onto the surface of the sea (sounds nicer than 'lots of rain'). A few bursts of hot sun too luckily.


Sat 8th Oct: We breakfasted in super style this morning - the usual cereal, fruit, juice but instead of omelette made on the spot, we had noodle and fish soup made right in front of us. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one sitting. Should set us up for the day!

We made our way to Central Market to catch a bus to Sihanoukville. We had to wait 2 hours for the next one with seats available and then we did the 4 and half hour journey (in the rain). Oh how nice to have my MP3 player back. I'd missed it on these journeys so much!
Motorbike men were waiting at the other end to whizz you to your destination.

Victory beach which is popular, backpacker hangout didn't fill us with joy so we opted for the quieter Serendipity Beach. The guest house they took us to was full so they drove on to Ochheuteal beach which is supposedly the best but the quietest. The bike men didn't rip us off and were really chatty. The guest house they dropped us at was very nice and new and only 6 dollars. The large rooms were around a central section of grass, plants and paths. It had a nice, chilled atmosphere. I wasn't really expecting there to be guesthouses - I was expecting beach shacks like in Thailand.

I had a pampering session of painting my toenails thanks to Jo who had brought out the goods. It makes you feel so less manky!
We stayed at the restaurant attached to the guesthouse for dinner where I tried a Mekong and coconut shake - full of alcohol but good.


Sun 9th: I made the mistake of taking my malaria tablet on an empty stomach and was sick. I recovered enough to have a small amount of breakfast and as we were sat there, who walked past?... Tania! We both guessed we would bump into each other here - so cool.
We stepped onto the beach and were immediately surrounded by kids with an excellent knowledge of the English language... "What is your name? Where you from? (To which they answered for you with "Your Mum and Dad") How old are you? How many brothers and sisters do you have? You must buy THIS from ME". When our answers were negative we got a barrage of 'why's.
It was so hard to shake them off and they stayed with us as we walked up the beach, past the area where all the locals and other Cambodians who were on holiday were bathing and playing and up to an area of relative calm.

They left us alone if we promised to buy fruit later and the minute we sat down and stripped to our bikinis, the rain started. And didn't stop. In fact, it got so heavy there was nothing to it except to get into the sea. The rain on the sea gave the effect of diamonds showering down onto the surface - very pretty. The sea was warm compared to the cold rain but after a while of the rain not easing at all, we rescued our things which were getting soaked through and found shelter - the same place the kids were.
They were being quite sweet though and playing with us. Until the rain eased and then it was practically impossible to escape without buying fruit. 2 dollars for not a lot I ask you... apparently the fruit here is more expensive than Phnom Penh!

Our walk to the other end of the beach was interrupted with more people selling their goods - manicures (we need it apparently), pedicures (we need it too), leg stringing (like waxing - oh how we need it - just look at all that hair). We got to the other end and after having felt good and pampered by just painting my toenails, I was made to feel like if I didn't have every treatment out I would be the ugliest, most unkempt person on the planet! Oh well...

We somehow escaped hassle at this end of the beach and had a fairly relaxing afternoon of lying in the rain, then the sun, then the rain. The beach is not the best I've ever seen - yet again I need to stop comparing it to the beaches of Brazil. It's a narrow strip and is full of litter. Shacks are being built up so there is a fair amount of building material lying around. But the waves were calm so I was happy! The sea is not very clear and when it rains, dark channels of something or other (hopefully not sewage) appear from the town, running into the sea. I think it's just the mud from the dirt tracks that are roads though.

We got ready for dinner along with the frogs and geckos outside our room (so cute) and then met up with Tania. We did attempt to walk along the beach to a different area, but the rain stopped us and we ended up one of the two beach places opposite our guest house. The shakes made us happy and we spent the evening watching the waves.


Mon 10th: What a lie in we had (didn't even wake up til 11!). The day was spent pretty much like this: breakfast, rain, internet, rain, sun, rain. Oh and of course our persistant and aggressive little 12 year old who had hassled us yesterday. Today we needed to get our legs strung. I decided to go for it in the hope that I wouldn't have to shave them again for ages. I think she regretted it though as it took ages - 2 hours! Tania had under her arms done for only 2 bucks less and it took 15 mins. She roped her friend in to help but I could tell by the end they were so bored! I don't think they are so used to hairy Western legs (well, mine anyway). It hurt like hell but they did an ok job. The beach was much quieter today now the weekend is over and the Cambodian people have gone back to work.

We watched the dark clouded sunset with a cocktail in our hands and had barbequeud squid from a lady walking along the beach selling it - mmmm.
We spent the evening eating and playing cards at our restaurant and spent the night in and out of sleep from the rain and the neighbours being noisy.


Tue 11th: Wow, it wasn't raining when we woke so we got straight to the beach.... where it rained. I bought various small things from the sellers - rice in a pancake thing with sugar, doughnuts, a crochet shrimp from such a cute little girl... there seemed to be more younger children selling today.
Another goodbye to Tania and we spent the day on the beach, although the sun didn't come out again.

One of the moto men Johnny who hangs outside our guesthouse took us to Victory Beach. He made sure we knew that his bike was brand new and that he really shouldn't take 2 of us on it and that we had a very good deal. The Indian meal we had was SO good. The restaurant was run by an Indian family with 2 cute tiny puppies and a little girl whose first day at school it'd been (she didn't want to take her uniform off and was parading around with her Barbie bag). The area of Victory Beach is more lively but we didn't get to see the beach.


Wed 12th: We had planned to get the train to Kampot as apparently the views are fantastic and you can sit on the roof of the train. But it no longer exists and so we had to get the bus back. Typically enough for the day we're leaving, the sun was out and HOT. We did get a couple of hours of sitting on the beach in it until we had to leave though.
The bus back was fine and the views of the countryside beautiful. God were we glad we'd already been to Phnom Penh when we arrived back. We stepped off the bus into a swarming mass of moto men, tuk tuk drivers, people selling their hostels...
We knew the score so got a good price and went back to the Capitol Guesthouse (sadly no more Intercontinental luxury). The moto man who stays outside it recognised me, as did the reception man - ahhh, it's like coming back to friends. The main highlight of arriving back was that I could check that my Dad was ok after his operation. He is.
Then I could relax and experience another highlight - Tim Tams from the supermarket!

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Photos

Where are all the sellers?
Ochheuteal Beach

Ow, that hurts
Leg stringing on Sihanoukville beach