Sihanouk Ville

Trip Start Jan 23, 2008

Trip End Aug 21, 2008

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Where I stayed

Monkey Republic

(Sihanoukville hotels)

Flag of Cambodia Sihanoukville, Cambodia
Friday, February 8, 2008

After a 2 hour bus we arrived in Sihanouk Ville about 6ish . Tun had booked us a guest house called Monkey Republic as he said it was Chinese new year and we might have trouble finding a room. It was actually one of the ones we had picked out that sounded nice. We arrived in a black out and couldn't reli see much of our room with a torch. Lonely Planet said black outs were frequent. We got a moto down to the far end of serendipity beach, we walked along getting some cheap happy hour drinks. There were loads of small fireworks going of, people held the one end of the stick pointed it at the sky and the fireworks came out the other, didn't look very safe. We had a great BBQ seafood on the beach and walked up back to our guest house.

Wednesday we got some breakfast on the beach and looked into doing some snorkeling out to some nearby islands. We got a moto up to Victory beach where there's meant to be a backpackers area and loads of bars and cafes. The reality was it was all up a steep hill in the sun, there wasn't much happening. We decided to walk back to the beach as it wasn't as busy as our beach. We relaxed the rest of the day on sun loungers. The sea was clean and calm with a white sandy beach. we did a lot of swimming and played with my underwater camera. When the sun started to go down we walked back up the hill in search of the Snake House Restaurant. It said in our book it was Cambodia's biggest collection of reptiles and exotic birds, but we didn't really know what to expect. We got there and it was great LOADS of snakes well planned with a large crock pit. In the center of the restaurant there's a massive aquarium. It was a great afternoon and good break from the sun and heat. That evening walked around and had a look at some more of the bars, our guest house by far played the best music.

Thursday morning got up early to do a tour of Ream National Park. The only people who are allowed to live there are the few fishermen that lived there before it was declared a national park. We got on a small fishing boat out to the beach and met a couple from Scotland and Paris they were good fun and good to talk to on the boat. We didn't realize that the boar took 2 hours and the scenery didn't change apart from seeing one bird! We arrived at a small jetty and walked about 45mins though the island to the other side where there was a great deserted beach. The waves were good and we had good fun trying to body board. We then walked back to the jetty for lunch, we had marinated barracuda fish with salad and bread. After lunch we got the boat back to the bus. There was more happening this time as the sea was going out and the fishermen were checking their nets ( i say fishermen but there were loads of women doing it too). This also meant it attracted some more birds. That evening watched the sunset over the sea and had a few cheap cocktails. we ate on the beach again as the food is fresher and you can see what your eating as all the BBQ is laid out on ice and you can choose.

Another day spent enjoying the sea. The water is so warm and the waves are fun but not too strong. There are loads of places on the beach with sun loungers and sun umbrellas as the sun is very strong in the middle of the day. As we were there in the middle of Chinese new year the beach was very busy, but we managed to find a few empty sun loungers. The whole time your on the beach there are beach hawkers trying to sell you anything from fresh fruit to painting your nails. This is quite sweet at first but after a while there really annoying and wont leave you alone.

Saturday we decided to do a snorkeling trip out to some nearby islands. The water was very rough and about half the boat suffered from sea sickness me being one of them. We finally got to the dive spot the water was deep and pretty cold, but there was loads to see. I'm glad i was wearing flippers as there were loads of sea urchins and sea slugs! gross. We had a basic lunch on the boat of rice and egg most of it we fed to the fish off the Pier ( at least they enjoyed it). After lunch we went to another snorkeling spot that was less rocky so there wasn't as much to see but was still good. The rest of the afternoon we sunbathed on top of the boat everyone got sun burnt. That evening we decided to go back to the snake house to have some dinner. As we arrived there was some traditional Aspara dancing happening in the bar we managed to catch about 2 mins then they finished:-(. Our dinner was lovely but took ages and we were starving after a long day of swimming.

Our last day by the beach. Got up early and had a good cheap breakfast at our guest house monkey republic. Headed down to the beach, it was packed and there were no sun loungers free. We decided to have a drink and a swim in a bar, then it randomly started to rain, just a little bit. After about 30mins it passed and we managed to find a good spot. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading and tanning.

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