I had been really looking forward to chilling on the beaches at Sihanoukville by the Gulf of Thailand, so I wasn't best pleased when we arrived to a sky filled with storm clouds... Still, hoping for the best, I donned my bikini and headed for the beach, lying out under the cloudy sky with my ipod on to deter the hoards of people either begging or trying to sell me drinks, jewellery, books, sunglasses, massages, threading, etc... After about half an hour there was a vicious downpour and it rained off and on for most of the time we stayed there

One day we decided to take a boat trip to the nearby islands. After sitting on the bus for about half an hour while the boat operator assessed the storm that was going on outside, he decided it was possible to make the trip so we nervously boarded the boat for a very rocky ride on the choppy water. We sailed in the rain, snorkelled in the rain, fished in the rain, barbequed on the beach in the rain and then, finally, miraculously, the clouds disappeared and the sun blazed down from the blue sky I was so happy! We went swimming in the sea and sunbathed on the beach (which we had all to ourselves!) but it was late in the day so unfortunately we couldn't stay there too long. It was such a fun day out in spite of the rain - I had never been snorkelling before so, even though the visibility was poor, I was excited just to see any piece of coral or a sea urchin, plus the water was as warm as a bath. I didn't have much luck with the fishing - they got away with my bait twice - but Chris in my group caught three fish, including a gecko fish which had an interesting pattern. The fishing 'rods' were just plastic water bottles with a line wrapped around them that had a weight and bait at one end which was unrolled into the water - they seemed to be quite effective.

While we were in Sihanoukville, our trip leader Phalkun took us to a seafood restaurant that's off the beaten track and not usually frequented by tourists - the food was amaaazing and so cheap. There are also many restaurants affilliated with charities and good causes and we had a great lunch at one such venue - the Starfish Cafe. Another evening when we were out for dinner there was a power cut so we were eating by candle-light. After a few days in Cambodia it occurred to me - it's amazing how quickly it becomes second nature to have lizards scuttling around everywhere and ants crawling over the dinner table!

I also had a very relaxing 'seeing hands' massage from a blind person - these seem to be popular throughout China and Southeast Asia although the Khmer version wasn't painful like the Chinese version.