Golden Sand Hotel Sihanoukville

Not a lot to say about the day! We had a hair raising 2 hour minibus trip from Kampot to Sihanoukville, our driver seemed to get kicks off near collisions like no one else we have witnessed in Cambodia so far. At one point we were going about twice the speed limit, wedged between an oncoming semi and a group of school kids on bikes... an extremely last minute manoever ...

... sodding-tastic. <br><br><br>We mostly spend our time in Sihanoukville relaxing and reading on the beach, except for one day where we have an excursion to Ream National Park (this day also happens to be my Birthday!) where we spend a couple of hours on a beach before treking through the jungle to a deserted beach. Was quite a nice day all in all - had BBQ fish and salad for lunch that turns out to be baracuda (Oh, baracuda...), it was delicious. <br><br><br>

... to too much drink to be honest. Guess we will never know. That was also and hopefully the last time nat has seen me getting sick from Alcohol!<br><br>The next we got up early to go on an Island tour that we booked the day before but it had been raining since last night and there was no sigh of a let up so we canceled the tour and spent the day doing nothing except eat, drinking and watching a bit of tv.<br><br>

... this absolutely stunning beach with a tiny bar and some bungalows scattered about. Stayed in the dorm which was only $3 a night and got to wake up on the beach everyday. Stunning! Had so much fun. Went on a bit of a mission though as had a lot on my mind and managed to spend 6 out of the 7 days drunk (sorry Nan!). And I mean DRUNK. Sambucca at 10am? Check! Bottle gone by 11.30? Check! Beers in the sea? Check! Cherry ...

... 2000 DVD's. We jumped in with a few Europeans and watched wolverine, it was ok though it was an unedited version so you could see wires and stuff when they jumped off buildings. Did a full day cooking course in Cambodian cookery. Some Cambodian lady showed us how to make 4 dishes: deep fried shrimp, beef and fried noodle salad, chicken curry and deep fried banana with ice cream. We got to eat all the food we cooked and it was amazing. we got recipe cards ...

... bothered me to start out with, but on our walk we saw needles just thrown on the beach multiple times. It is just kind of sad because this place could be so nice if it were just cleaned up a little. After our walk we decided that we should probably go ahead and leave sooner than we planned as neither of us feel too comfortable taking our shoes off and going in the water anymore. Anyways we leave the day after tomorrow for Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

... walking in and out, so our stuff really wasn't safe. We had small plastic mats in this large room, there were 9 of us in total, (all travelling companions though) so it got quite hot, and the air con didn't work, after four nights of drinking and passing out on the the plastic floor, we decided enough was enough and retreated to our own room down the road which was quiet, had toilet paper and a working shower. The first day we hired ...

I'm trying to rack my brains and search the Net locating which guesthouse we ended up staying at in Sihanoukville. I know it's near Serendipity Beach which I think is the most popular beach in the area. It's certainly worth beachcombing at. Sorry, can't remember the name of the hotel anymore. Anyway, it's where a tuk driver dropped us off after we were dropped there initially by the minibus. Make your mind up!<br>The bus picked us up at around 11 a.m once I'd ...

... speedboat moments before it pulled away. Sinking into the comfortably squashy foam seats beside an air conditioning vent and looking out of the salt-encrusted window we could see other foreigners woefully trying to catch up with the boat in their little fibreglass dinghy's that skipped over the muddy surface under the dull grey sky. Leaving them in our wake, it wasn't long before we made the open sea and the engines of the passenger boat were uncaged to take us to full speed ...