the world and more

Sihanoukville

After Leaving Siem Reap we took the 5 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh and then another 6 hours on another bus to Sihanoukville, a small coastal port town. We we told bfore heading there not to bother because of the constant rain that just wouldn't let up. But it was a choice of taking one of the worst bus trips in Asia from Siem Reap to Bangkok or risk the weather on the coast. Of course we chose the coast trip, not that we don't like long, bumpy, dangerous, uncomfortably cramped bus rides! Anyway, we chose the coast and stuck to it. Indeed the closer we got to Sihanoukville the more it rained, but we didn't care, we just wanted a meal and a drink and somewhere dry to sleep.

The first day there all it did was rain. And rain. And rain. But by the next day the sun started to shine, the sky got blue and we were walking, swimming and generally pretty happy. When we first got off the bus we were greeted by an english bloke called Lee. He co-owened a guest house with his mates called "Monkey Republic". There we stayed and it was like paradise after our trip. Huge tasty meals, cheap cold beer and great bungalows. We were spoilt! It was only a short walk from the beach and internet, had a free pool table and the bonus was it had Playstation 2 with my favourite game, San Andreas! Wicked. And to all my none PS2 mates I didn't just waste my time playing! Only some of it. We spent 6 nights there before heading back to Thailand which was very relaxing. Em, Wayne and I hired some guys to take us to a secluded beach where we swam and ate fresh sea food on the beach. Yep doing it hard for sure.

As this was one of our many relaxing stopovers we didn't get up to very much apart from the eating and swimming and drinking so there isn't that much to tell about Sihanoukville apart from.: if you do go there, which you should if you are in the lower part of Cambodia, stay at Monkey Republic and say hi to Lee for me.

Next it's back to Thailand to enjoy all that Koh Chang has to offer.