When most people think about Cambodia, 2 very different pictures come to mind. One, of course, it the Killing Fields and the horrors caused by Pol Pot. The other, is the magnificent sights of Angkor near Siem Reap.
Visitors to this country almost always do both, but the third tourist attraction here is the beautiful beaches of Sihanoukville (named for former King Sihanouk).
Most of Cambodia is land locked and very hot. But a small section of the country borders the Gulf of Thailand, and as you all know, political boundaries go not stop geography. What I mean by that, is that Thailand's magnificent white sand beaches do not stop at the Cambodian border.
For a paultry $10, we headed out on an express bus to Phnom Penh. Davit knew an inexpensive hotel there, so we stopped for the night, and checked out PP's nightlife. The next morning, we took the same bus company's bus to Sihanoukville. When we arrived, we discovered that tuk-tuks are quite expensive there, so we hopped on motorcycles with our luggage between the driver's legs, and zipped off to our hotel.
Sihanoukville only has two fancy resorts, and mostly small guesthouses, so the whole place has a small scale look to it. Billboards advertise that this is about to change, with some giant ugly resorts planned.
We decided to "splurge", and stayed in a pretty nice hotel a block from the beach. This is what $30 a night gets you in Cambodia...... not too shabby!
It was an odd couple of days, in that Davit is the opposite of me, and has that SE Asian obsession with keeping his skin white. So, no beach or pool for him. He actually stayed inside most of the day, coming out like some kind of Cambodian vampire at night. Then, he did enjoy swimming in the pool, and we had some great sunsets at the beach.
I did not let this stop me, and insisted on sitting on a beach chair under an umbrella during the day.
At sunset, all the beach shacks pull in their sunbeds and put out really comfy chairs and tables. Happy hour starts, with all kinds of drink specials, then out come the BBQ's. Every beach shack has one (there are about 30 or so), and they all do fresh fish, seafood, beef, pork and chicken. I have abandoned some caution on this trip, and just enjoyed the seafood, and also indulged in the classic traveller's no-no - a salad! Nope, still not a single stomach problem, even when we bought grilled squid from a beach vendor.
It was a nice relaxing three days at the beach, and we really enjoyed the cooler weather (only 32 with a nice breeze). The water was toasty warm, and although not the classic aqua blue, it could be described as a pretty jade green.
Like Siem Reap, this area is growing fast, and I probably won't recognize it if I come back here in a few years.
Tomorrow (April Fool's Day) I am off to Thailand again, taking a bus to the border, then changing to another one to continue on to Pattaya. I have decided to skip returning to Bangkok.
I will really miss this country and its amazing people - it has been a wonderful 3 weeks here.
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