Sihanoukville

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Sihanoukville is city on the Cambodian coastline which sits on the Gulf of Thailand. Tropical beaches and climate makes this destination a must when visiting Cambodia. However for me when I arrived it was more like tropical thunderstorms! So much for my idea of a couple of days relaxing on the beach..... however saying that I make the most of it and actually came away burnt! After meeting a Canadian girl in my hostel we decided to rent a bike a see what all the beaches were like regardless of the fact it was overcast, plus she had some friends staying down the other end of town so we could met up with. After a cycling through a few drizzle spells when we got to Sokha beach the sun shone so we quickly stripped down to our bikini's and jumped in the sea! I was expecting it to be refreshing, but instead it felt like the temperature of bath water! It was SO warm! So we hung around there until the sun went back in as it was a beautiful beach (although apparently its a private beach owned by a 5star hotel, but the security gaurds didnt kick us out so we stayed!). We then cycled to the famous serendipity and Occheuteal Beaches which were actually a disspaointment to me. They looked more like Spain and very out of place for Cambodia I thought. Granted there were no high rise hotel blocks, but the beach was taken up with sun loungers and umbrellas and was a far cry from the picture perfect postcard you expect (which Sokha was!) Anyway from there we then walked on a never-ending beach with our bikes to get to Otres beach. Throughout our journey even when the sun was shinning enormous thunder claps could be heard overhead, and finally by the time we reached Otres the heavens opened and the downpour ensued. Its quiet strange to have warm rain falling on you so instead of staying on the beach and getting wet in the rain, we got in the sea to embrace it along with the majority of those stupid enough to attempt the beach that day. I think we ended up being in the sea for about 2hrs until the rain stopped! At this point we then realised we had to cycle all the way back....not an appealing thought as we had not taken towels and were dripping wet, so off we went to barter with a tuktuk driver to see if he would take us and our two bikes, we thankfully he did! The rain had started up again so the prospect of cycling would have been horrendous especially as our bikes were pretty shady! Anyway, the weather forecast for the next few days was much the same so instead of staying 4-5days as oringally planned I stayed 2 in which I took a stroll and dined on a traditional Cambodian BBQ and then got a nightbus to Siem Reap for the main attraction!

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