Sihanoukville

This is the main beach resort in Cambodia. Gaz hasn't had much time to go exploring yet and had freed up the weekend and I was also keen for some beach action. Needed a bit of respite after some of the horrors of Phnom Penh and a weekend of beaching and boozing sounded good to me.

Day 1: Gaz came to meet me and Hannah at our guesthouse for the bus pick-up. She was also heading to Sihanoukville so it made sense for us all to book on the same bus. Journey took about 4 hours and we arrived at the bus station in the early afternoon. Hannah decided to go stay on the main beach (Serendipity Beach), whereas Gaz had a recommendation for a place to stay on a quiter beach (Otres Beach), so we headed there.

Settled into our accommodation - ''Wish You Were Here Bungalows''. Very appropriate. We then got some food and spent the afternoon on the beach. Was mid-afternoon so wasn't too hot but was nice to just chill out for a few hours after the bus journey. Some guys were in the sea trying to balance and then push each other off this made-up podium, which was quite funny to watch. The victor was often the one who could just keep his balance, rather than actually pushing each other.

Got some nice local food that evening (Shrimp Amok - very nice) and we then headed up to a place a few kilometres away, that had some bars. Spent the rest of the evening drinking beer, playing pool and watching the footy. A nice laddish evening where we both ended up pretty pissed. Nothing like a white-knuckle ride home on the back of a moped to clear your head afterwards though. It does the trick.

Day 2: Much the same I'm afraid, except it was MUCH hotter this time. We spent the whole day on the beach and the heat was weird. It seemed very overcast for most of the day, yet the heat was so strong and I could feel myself burning even when the sun was hidden. Despite our best efforts (about 4 applications of sun cream for me and plenty of time spent in the shade), we both ended up burnt. Gaz worse than me though - unlucky considering he didn't even come out of the shade all day. He is pretty pastey though so I suppose it's no surprise (sorry mate).

That evening, we headed into the main town to check out the nightlife. Went to a restaurant offering a traditional sunday roast, which we took all of 2 seconds to decide upon. Exactly what was needed. We then found a bar and settled down for some more beer and footy and again, ended up quite pissed. My sort of weekend.

Really cool few days with Gaz and we had a great laugh. Was good to catch up after so long. Bus back to Phnom Penh in the morning - he needs to go to work, I need to continue my travels. I know whose shoes I'd rather be in!