Sunday 15 April 2007

Sihanoukville - Cambodia

I am currently in the beach town of Sihanoukville Cambodia. It is not what I expected. There are lots of Westerners settled here and a lot of Cambodians visiting the beach as it is their Khmer New Year. They celebrate for days, so it has been really interesting watching them enjoy the holidays. They celebrate by having continuously large water fights and powder fights, with talcum powder. There are beach areas that are just packed. Close to our accommodation is not packed, which is nice. I am staying with Kim from South Africa and we are a two minute walk from the beach. We are staying in a bungalow for $8 a night. It is up $2 a night because of the New Year, inflation!!

I have been hanging out on the beach reading, taking in the sunshine, waves and people. Tomorrow we are going on a boat trip to three islands and snorkeling for $10. It includes the boat trip, breakfast, lunch, fruit, soft drinks, three islands and snorkeling at each of the islands. Good value.

This town is really interesting, not what I expected. You can even stay here for free. There is a dorm guesthouse across the road that offers free accommodation. It is a room with huge bunk beds. There were 17 mattresses on the bottom and then the same on top. I am sure not much sleeping goes on there, as it is also a happening bar. That coincidently had a free dinner last night. They were passing out flyers saying come for free dinner. We went and it was great, rice, curry, pasta, garlic bread, crazy. I guess they were making their money off the drinks, which were for example $1 for a draft beer.

No comments: