RnR in Sihanoukville and Bamboo Island

  Sihanoukville, Cambodia
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

After a fairly short bus ride, Tom and I arrived in Sihakoukville on our five year anniversary. We found a nicer-than-usual place to stay right on the beach and went out to get some lunch, where we were pretty much attacked by every seller on the beach!! It was OK though, I got my nails done and we bought a few bracelets. Tom also gave me a beautiful silver bracelet with a little butterfly charm on it as an anniversary gift, and I gave him a classic Casio digital watch :)

Tom at our aniversary dinner

We went back to our room and I had a little sleep... by this point I had been having tummy problems for over two weeks, so a little nap was definitely in order :) We then made our way up the beach and had an amazingly romantic meal - we were the only people in the restaurant, which was called 'On the Rocks'... because it was! Little tables on the sand by candle and fairy light... it was absolutely perfect :D

Our beach hut :)

The next day we got up early and dropped off our bags for safe keeping, while we got on a boat to Bamboo Island... this would be our anniversary treat. After an hour long boat ride, we landed on Bamboo Island and were escorted to our little bungalow, right on the beach, looking out to sea :) It was gorgeous, and for the first time in ages, just the two of us :D

The perfect beach

We spent the next few days walking over to the other side of the island... while our side was a bit windy, that side was still, while our side had rocks in the shallow water, that side had none, and while our side had 3 bungalow places and bars, that side had only one... We were very happy with our choice, but still preferred the other side... and the walk over there was great too - a ten minute walk through dense jungle :D Words really can't describe how beautiful it was on that beach... just us, the sand and the waves... as close to a dessert island as you can get, pretty much :)

Tom and his fish!!

We spent out days sun bathing, reading, playing cards and ticker, and swimming in the beautiful crystal clear sea, and we barely saw another person all day. On our second evening we went on a boat with a local fisherman to try our hand at fishing... I only caught one, but was secretly pleased because I don't like killing things... Tom caught 5, I think... as well as a reef shark that he brought up and then lost... which was a good thing!! Then we went back to the island and ate our catch, BBQed fish with rice... yummm!!

When we got back to the mainland we found a hotel to fit everyone in - Tony, B, Kate and Emma had been to Siem Reap while we celebrated our anniversary and were then meeting us in Sihanoukville...

The next day we all sat on the beach under fairly heavy cloud, and played games and chatted... Everyone else kept the party going and went out, but I was feeling a bit ill still, and so went for an early night... Tom rolled in at 6am and told me all about his evening and that he'd bumped into Rich, who we met in China... then he passed out cold... I was wide awake, so I got up and packed my bag, bought some supplies and woke the others... then woke Tom because... we had a boat to catch!! That's right... we didn't get enough of Bamboo Island, so we went back and took our friends with us :) And... on our way to breakfast, Rich came down to say hello because he'd missed me the night before... which I thought was pretty impressive since he'd only left the club 3 hours before!!

Our toilet frog :)

So this time, we booked the bungalows on the 'other' side of the island... and everyone was very pleased with the choice... the girls immediately got their bikinis out and headed for the sea/beach... which was only about 10m from our doors... We spent all our time playing games in the sand and working on our tans, and spent the evenings in the bar... on one of these nights we all jumped into the sea to check out the phosphorous glowing in the dark waters... at some point between jumping in and pretending to be a fairy surrounded in fairy dust, I dropped my wallet... and despite a full on search and an hour or two snorkeling in the area the next day, we didn't find it... that'll teach me to buy a sandy coloured camouflage wallet :(

We were meant to stay for two nights... but just as we were deciding to stay for one more, our boat left an hour early, without us on it... so that made our minds up for us and we did much the same we had been doing for days :D

Everyone!! Our last night together :)

When we got back to Sihanoukville, we knew it would be the last night we spent together as a group... so we went all out... we started a ring of fire in a bar, but the urge to dance was too great and we ended up going from bar to bar dancing and chatting to strangers and generally living it up... And it was great, but also sad because we had to say goodbye... Tom and I got up at 7 the next morning and hopped on a bus to Siem Reap, and I think we slept the whole way there :)

More photos from Sihanoukville and Bamboo Island