16. Sihanoukville.... The beach!

After so many days travelling I decided a few days by the beach would be a good idea. So I got the overnight bus from Battambang to Sihanoukville. An interesting experience! I couldn't boom the sleeping bed bus so got the reclining seat bus..... For 7 hours. We should have left at 11.45 but it was actually 00.45 before it arrived.,the seats were interesting....

 

Yes they were reclined, but look.... no foot room on the floor, just the approx 4 foot long recline! I was next to a large Cambodian man (the perils of travelling on my own...!) and my seat was immediately above the door where the luggage was stored. This door had to be tied shut by rope as it didn't close, leaving a gap of about 6 inches around the door where the wind blew all night as the bus sped along. Actually, once I had blocked the howling gale around my seat with a strategically placed blanket it did give some valuable air, as it would have been very hot and stuffy otherwise! And I did managed to sleep..... My most important travel companion of ear plugs helped enormously! Luckily we changed buses in Phnom Penh to normal seat ones for the final 5 hour journey. 

Then Sihanoukville.... As they say, it is all in the beach where you stay. Otros Beach was recommended, a tropical paradise....

This was my hut on the beach... 4 days of bliss! 

A perfect end to a perfect day...

Unfortunately the local big wigs in their wisdom have decided that they will no longer allow sleeping huts on the beach, they will have to be on the other side of the road. At the moment this is not being enforced but when it is the beachfront will no doubt become wall to wall bars and restaurants just like the main beach in town... Serendipity.... Which is Awful with a capital A..... And then paradise will disappear forever.... 

I met some people and we all visited the local island for a boat trip... bamboo Island.  There I got chatting to a guy from Poole who had built his own boat from the flotsam and jetsam he had found on the beach. Bamboo, bits of wood and rope, 20 sacks stuffed full of polystyrene (which you fine everywhere) provided the buoyancy. He bought the anchor and line and had some tarpaulin which he sewed into shape for the sail. He was living on the island for the winter.... Look at You Tube Andy's Boat Cambodia! Unfortunately I didn't get a sail.....

A far cry from this beautiful Getman yacht anchored in the bay. They had taken 2 years to get this far.... What an adventure.... But then so is the land based version!