Sihanoukville~ A Holiday at the Seaside

We had a mid-semester break around the Cambodian holiday of Pchum Ben.  We had the whole week off sandwiched between two weekends.  The roommates and I decided to do a bit of traveling.  So to Sihanoukville we went.  Sihanoukville (see-uh-nook-vill) is a touristy beach town about 4 or 5 hours away by bus.   We boarded the Giant Ibis, and bumped on down the road. 

One day we went to Sokha Resort and used their private beach.  It's much nicer and safer than the public beach.

 

Our second day in we were almost robbed.  In the bag they tried to steal was a bikini that Meredith just bought.  Because it's the rainy season, it's the low season for tourism.  That means cash flow is down in a tourist town, and some resort to a sinister means of earning cash.

 

 

Two fellows on a moto tried to rip a plastic bag out of Meredith's hand.  They didn't succeed and I earned myself some road rash in the scuffle.



The tuk tuk drivers were a little wily here.  They charge you a cheap price to go somewhere, but it's twice as much to get home.

Another day we tried to spend an entire day at Sokha, but for some reason they had closed it to outsiders.  So we went to the Independence Hotel instead.  It was 1/2 as much to use their pool, beach and towel and we stumbled upon a treasure.

 

 

This is the view from the pool looking down towards the beach.

See that little boardwalk hidden behind the trees?  We will visit that pretty scene later.

We had the pool almost to ourselves.  The temperature was perfect.  It wasn't salty and didn't feel chlorinated.  It felt like I was swimming in bottled water!

The girls, caught off guard.

This is the stuff vacations are made of: sun, water, books and of course a refreshing mango shake.

This picture was taken from a glass elevator that took us down to the beach.  Sea foam green is my new favorite color, can you guess why?  It was cloudy a lot but when the sun shone on the sea it was beautiful.

I body surfed and caught two waves on this beach!

There was a walkway all along one direction of the beach.  Every time we went around a corner it was another beautiful view. 

This is what happens when you let teachers out of the classroom!

 

 

We did a few other things around town.  We found ourselves a nice little spa to visit.  Extravagant you say?  Not at all!  I had a mani/pedi (yes both) for $8.  Perfect for a teacher budget.

 

Another afternoon we visited Top Cat, the only cinema in town.  We rented our own private air conditioned room and picked a movie to watch on a big flat screen.  Indulgent you say?  Not at all!  We paid $4 (not including our snacks).  Just right for a teacher budget.  

 

Another day we took the Island Hopper tour out to Bamboo Island.  Meredith loaned me some Dramamine so it was a fabulous day!

 

The girls on the boat

 

 

 

There was some beautiful snorkeling in these waters~ Not only where there beautiful fish, there were urchins and all manner of coral.

One of the boat fellas barbequed our lunch on the back of the boat.  There is some tasty marinated fish in those little packets.

Our trusty sea vessels

On the shores of Bamboo Island

 

 

Our tour boat was a converted fisher.  Definitely not her maiden voyage,  she's been around the currents a few times.

 

 We rented beach chairs for 2000 riel (that's 50 cents) and the boat crew put together a great little lunch.  On the island we snoozed, swam and snorkeled.  I saw and enormous eight-armed sea star under the water.  It was bigger than both my feet end to end.

Feeling salty, crusty, damp and utterly fabulous on the way home.

I like to call this picture mango and a mani~ 

 

Overall I give Sihanoukville 3 1/2 stars out of 5.  The beaches, pools, and snorkeling were great, but the crime put a damper on things.  It was a great, and much needed break from work.  Time to transition back to real life, but I'm taking my mango fetish with me...