We rolled up in Sihanoukville town late at night and struggled to find any accommodation, the only thing we could find was $15 per night so we had to take that. The next day however, we moved across the road to a small, dark, damp, smelly room for $9 which was more reasonable in price but wasn't great to live in. Sihanoukville is a small coastal town on the south of Cambodia, the area we stayed at, Serendipity Beach, was mainly based on one red dusty track which led directly to the beach. It's a stunning place with fantastic beaches and a good but still yet underdeveloped tourist scene.

The first night we made our way to the famous amongst backpackers bar, JJ's and met some of the locals. The two owners Jonny and Jason talked us into the boat trip that they had arranged the next day so we went and got an early night. The boat trip went really well there we about 60 people, a bar and a great sound system on board. Halfway to the island we stopped off for a dip in the sea and took it in turns to show off our moves by somersaulting off the boat. The day was spent chilling on a tropical desert island with a frisbee, bat and ball, some great music, a BBQ and lots of beer. All in all it was a really fun day and we met loads of amazing people from all over.

The next few days we rolled around town eating our way through all the local restaurants and the nearby beaches. Our beach is a bit annoying, it's beautiful but jam packed full of tourists and dirty old men with the pretty little Cambodian girls they've picked up for the week. Every ten seconds you're hounded by sellers, "wan some fruit madam?", "wan massage, pedicure, manicure, wan me to get rid of your hairy legs madam?", "wan to buy a bracelet now, later, tomorrow?", bless them but it does get so irritating. In the sea they had a huge blow up playgound with a massive inflated slide, a trampoline, a huge inflateable iceberg type thing that was virtually impossible to climb. We all got very injured, mainly Sam who went down the wring side of the slide, caught his foot and now has a sprained ankle :( I personally think that bikinis were a bad idea as me and Cat ended up flashing young children on a few occasions ooopsy!!!!

We moved one more time to a small hostel called Sun Sea Bungalows which was based up on a hill with views over Sihanoukville. There were 20 bungalows built in groups of 4 and
They had massive windows and therefore a great breeze. It was away from the clubs so was much quieter at night. The place was like a mini farm with chickens, hens and dogs running around all day it was so cute and only cost $7 a night!

On Australia Day we decided to avoid the masses of drunken Aussies and took a tuk tuk to a nearby beach called Otres, it was way more relaxed than our beach with fewer sellers. Our friend Miranda ha discovered a brilliant guesthouse that is in the process of being built. It's called Done Right and is run by an American guy and his business partner who is half Spanish half Swedish. They have done a great job and the whole place is eco friendly and made from recycled materials. We all spent the day playing Volleyball with some locals, followed up by an AMAZING dinner......Cordon Bleu, so posh, hardly backpacker food!!!

Another beach we frequented was called Sokha and was utterly stunning with soft white sand, zero sellers, actually zero people pretty much and the sea was a lot cleaner too....great find.

On our penultimate night we had managed to acquire some free tickets for an island festival, we missed the boat so they had to send us another one and consequently we were 2 hours late oops. Anyway, the night was loads of fun, again we met so many new people from around the world and we all got terribly sweaty dancing around to good music in the sea and on the beach. We got back to our bungalow at 7.30am......and conked out immediately.

We caught the five hour bus back to Phnom Penh which is where we are now but I'll save that for the next blog.

Happy Chinese New Year everybody

Lots of love xxxxx