As an antidote to some of the larger cities in Cambodia we decided to spend a few days chilling in sunshine on the beaches of Sihanoukville. On the bus there we met a lady from the US who was visiting Cambodia for the first time since she left the region after the Khmer Rouge oppression finished in 1980. To hear first-hand about the things that the Cambodians had to go through under the regime was a good but humbling insight. The lady, who was staying with her cousins, very kindly offered us a lift for us to get our Vietnam visas and also to our accommodation as well! We couldn't thank her and her family enough.

We stayed in a bungalow pretty close to the beach front at Serendipity Beach but paid a premium for the location. However, the balcony gave us some good views and it was relatively quiet there so all in all it was worth it (apart from the leaky roof, the large lizard who made his home there and other assorted wildlife who enjoyed our company...oh, and the local lawn-mower man).

The beachfront was actually pretty quiet despite the shacks all the way along it selling food and drinks. The shacks also had a lot of loungers outside so lying beside the waterfront was nice and comfortable. If you add a few ice-cold 50cent beers (the Angkor Brewery is situated in Sihanoukville, making beer 25p a glass. Nice.) a good book, some tasty food and a bar that had a playlist Radio 2 would've been jealous of, you can build up a pretty accurate picture of how I spent my birthday! Perfect.

In the evening it was pretty much the same as the rest of the day except we stopped at a bar that had fire-jugglers outside. This was fine in theory, but in practice we both sat on the edge of our seats ready to jump away from the flaming batton that might be coming towards us. The guy must have thought he was pretty good as every person in the crowd was watching him, and along with "Oooohs" and "Aaaahs" he was getting pretty cocky! The noises coming from the crowd were merely responses to him nearly setting the nearby tree, the balcony and people walking past on fire.

Our second day was spent in much the same way as the first (maybe a few less beers) and in the evening we sat out on the beach and had a terrific and bargainous BBQ. The fresh fish was easily the best we've had in Asia. I hope that in the future Sihanoukville doesn't become a victim of its own success like many beach-side towns before it.

-B