Sun, Sea & Sand in Sihanoukville
After the chaos of Vietnam we were craving some beach time and fortunately the Cambodian coastal town of Sihanoukville did not disappoint. We took the morning mini-van from Kampot to Sihanoukville but arrived in the centre of town having not booked anywhere nor really knowing which direction to head off in and the heaven's threatening to open any minute. Fortunately another couple on the mini-van had done some research and made a booking. What they described sounded lovely so we jumped in a tuk-tuk and followed them to Otres Beach.
The guide books describe Otres beach as having the best beach in the area, but it's a fair way out of town and had few options for accommodation. Well I can agree with the first point but not the second. The beach is scattered with a variety of basic accomodation, pretty much all bungalows, and a decent selection of beach bar/restaurants. Nilgun and I settled for a $12 per night bungalow at "Wish You Were Here". Set back from the beach just the other side of the road (errm, dirt track) this place had a good atmosphere with lots of hippy types lounging in humungous chairs or swinging from ceiling mounted cocoons listening to some quality music.
Later we bumped in to the couple from the mini-van, Mel and Kirk, and proceeded to have a wonderful day knocking back the beers and eating delightful food and chatting all the way through to sunset. It turned out Mel and Kirk were doing a similar route to us through South East Asia but in reverse, we compared notes and swapped tips about the respective countries we had just travelled through.
Whilst in Otres beach I continued with the freelancing work I had been working on in Kampot. Well not in the afternoon of the first day, we were having too much fun. Some would struggle to understand why I was working in such an idyllic setting but fortunately I enjoy my work and to be honest I think I had the best office in the world for those few days.
We had great food in Kampot and Otres continued the trend of good food in Cambodia. Nilgun was relishing the huge prawns that were served in the coconut curries and each morning I got stuck into a Full English Breakfast complete with HP Sauce! I was in heaven!
Unfortunately we only had 3 nights in Otres before we had to leave for Phnom Penh. I chatted to a few hippy types that had been arrived with the intention of staying 2 nights but were still there 2 weeks later, I can understand why.
