On the 13th July we headed south-west from Phnom Penh and arrived in Sihanoukville. We had been looking forward to relaxing on the beach here but unfortunately we arrived to grey skies. We walked down to the beach though in search of food and had a delicious bbq meal. However, before we had made it into the restaurant we were found ourselves surrounded by a group of young girls and women trying to sell us things. Situations like these in Cambodia are quite common and can be very intense and intrusive. They don't give up!

After lunch we hung about in the hotel's swimming pool. Although this is a budget tour we have been staying in some very nice accomodation which makes a change from the rooms I've experienced recently! In the evening I had a traditonal Cambodian dish called Amok. It was the best meal I've eaten in a while! It is basically a coconut curry served in a coconut. The fresh coconut milk was used to make it and it came with vegetables and your choice of meat and you could carve out the insides of the coconut to eat.

The next day we had planned to have a boat trip to a couple of islands surrounding Sihanoukville. However, despite our best efforts the weather soon put a stop to this. Early morning was still overcast but we set off in a p with high spirits that the sun would break up the clouds. Ten minutes later however the sky had blackened, the wind got up and the waves began to make my stomach lurch. Then the rain began to hammer down. The boat turned back to shore!

Instead we waited a couple of hours for the rain to clear and went to see a little fishing village and to a beach which was part of a national park. It was still quite cloudy though and once it was time for our pack lunch the rain returned and we retreated to the minibus. The next stop was a waterful and once we arrived the rain had cleared up. This wasn't for long though! Although because the soil in this area was a deep orange colour the rained turned the river water a vibrant orange colour which looked impressive as part of the waterfall. This we viewed from the shelter of an overhanging rock!