Sihanoukville - Wednesday 18th

We took the bus trip south to Sihanoukville, which is a beach resort that is supposedly a 2-3 hour journey away.The bus was sweltering, despite the A/C and it was full of high-pitched chat, local pop music and mobile phones going off every five seconds.The 2-3 hours stretched in to 5-6 hours, as the coach took unscheduled stops to let passengers on or off.We were glad to be at our final destination, although things didn't look too promising as the town is very dirty and crowded.To our relief, the area that we were staying in was fine and the hotel was pleasant and run by four young westerners.We had a huge room, which was fine with the only down side being that the bathroom and toilet is open - no door.This will test our whistling skills!We went out to a lively bar and got talking to lots of local boys, who were friendly and a local girl, who appeared to want to get even friendlier, before we decided to make a prompt exit.

Thursday 19th

While Stephen had a haircut, Suz had a manicure and pedicure and the total bill come to $7.We then went to get some downloads for our iPod and ended up getting 65 albums updated for next to nothing.We went down to the beach and bumped in to a bloke we had met at the bus station, so stopped to talk to him.Within minutes we were surrounded by kids selling bracelets, women wanting to do manicures, pedicures, foot massages or head and shoulder massages.Of course, because we are such softies we had the work done and also bought some bracelets, sunglasses and bookmarks that we don't need. Moving on, we thought we might get less hassle further down the beach. Then another girl came up and pointed at our tuna sandwich, so we ordered her a hotdog, however, she couldn't have been too hungry as she didn't hang around to wait for it (or maybe she was a vegetarian!)The young boys and girls who sold us the bracelets earlier soon appeared and polished it off instead.After their versions of 'lovely jubbly' and 'awright mate' they eventually left us alone to enjoy the sunset and a cocktail or three.After one last shoulder massage we headed back along the beach hoping to get back before the tide came in to find the whole hotel in darkness due to a power cut.

Friday 20th

Went to a secluded beach and spent the day away from the hassles and read and swam in the sea and just basically chilled out.In the evening we were drawn to the glitzy lights of the casino.However, the fact that on the inside it was more like a village hall with 1000 watt strip lights, half a dozen Chinese gamblers and a sea of croupiers with miserable faces, soon had us heading back out the door.

Phnom Penh - Saturday 21st

We took the coach trip back to Phnom Penh, which was another frustrating six hour journey.Our tuk-tuk driver from before came back to pick us up as promised.We went to a less expensive hotel rather than the 5* luxurious one we had before and found that although this room was OK, it lacks one important thing, and that is a window, making it feel a little like a broom cupboard.