We were totally over these early starts. We ordered breakfast, but our driver came earlier than we'd expected and we had to eat our baguettes in the mini bus. I'd ordered a pancake the day before, but was basically given a small cake, minus the icing and candles; we'd ordered cheese baguettes today as we figured you probably couldn't go too wrong with that. Although you never did know.

We got to the bus station and jumped on board our ride to Sihanoukville, south west of Phnom Pen - a beach town with Otres beaches being the main attractions. You could also take ferries to the islands along the coast, but they were primitive at best, so we were going to ask around before we booked anything. We had booked beach bungalows in advance, and I was semi concerned that 4 of the 6 times we'd booked in advance, we'd regretted it. The place had good reviews, so hopefully it would be okay.

The journey was apparently 4 hours, so we banked on 6. We stopped for lunch for about 20 minute, if that, and Edd and I got an ice cream. We never found any of the food particularly appetizing.

After 5 hours and 45 minutes, we got off at Sihanoukville bus station, in the rain. Edd bartered for a took took and we headed in the direction of the beach, apparently. The driver dropped us off at our accommodation and we checked in. The rooms were big bamboo bungalows on a rather large site; the bathrooms were shared and they'd built one of the showers around a tree, so you had to navigate your way around the trunk when you got in. It seemed fine.

We got our swimming gear on and headed in the direction of the sun loungers; we were right on the beach, literally, we could throw a stone at it, dumped our things and went for a swim. I"d like to say the swim was refreshing, but it was a bit like swimming in a bath, or like someone had pee'd in the water. It was over 30 degrees and cooler outside of it.

I got out the sea and was gawked at by the staff / male family members, we're still not sure. They made inappropriate comments and I rushed to get my towel around me. One was eating and got up out his seat to get a better look; Edd asked him if anything was the matter, I told him to take a picture because it lasted longer. We weren't sure how these people fitted into the picture, but we didn't like them.

We had lunch a few restaurants down, with a large selection of recreational things on the menu. Literally. They even offered 'an additional joint for an extra kick.' The woman who was supposed to be running the place, sent her young children to serve us, clear away and collect our money. She was high as a kite and barely functional; we were definitely not going back there again.

A storm hit after 4pm and it poured with rain for about half an hour, everything was cleared while it rained and people sat around under the sheltered areas while we wateid for it to pass. The skies then cleared and everything was put out again, we witnessed a beautiful sunset, drinking a G&T and a beer while we watched it go down.

The Swiss girl had been handed a flier about a night market that was on, on a Saturday night. We enquired with the staff as to how to get there and hired a took took, apparently it was too far and pitch black to walk. We had a torch, but they recommended paying $2 to get there faster.
It was a terrible ride there, bumpy as all hell and we got tossed around the back like a mixed salad. We were all very happy to get off at the night market 5 minutes later.

It turned out it was not a market like we understood it. It was rather a collection of hippie westerners that lived in Cambodia and made a living selling clothes they'd bought from Thailand, singing and selling food. One guy had a virtual reality head set that people had a go on, but he had to hold them otherwise they'd fall over. (Or they were high, we're not sure).

We had a delicious meal there, dodging dogs trying to eat off our plates and listened to the live music. The first guy up sounded like he was being tortured, we were relieved to see the back of him. The girl that sang after him was really good and left after listening to her set. The took took back was less bumpy, the guy took a different route, and we said goodnight.

We encountered a cockroach on the floor of our room and Edd encouraged it out the door, shooing it with his shoe. He then stuffed the floor mat under the door to stop any other creepy crawlies getting in. The Swiss girl then messaged us saying she had mice running around the beams of the roof in her room. Edd and I immediately dropped the mosquito net. She then let us know that she'd moved rooms for the night, but the internet stopped working so we couldn't reply and we went to sleep, hoping we would not get a visit from midnight rodents too!