The past few days have whizzed by. We had a wonderful last day on Koh Rong Samloem; we found Lazy Beach! The best thing about the day was our dinner. That morning, we saw a guy jump off a boat in the sea and wade to the shore with a basket of giant fresh fish on his head. FanFan and all his family were clearly excited and all ran out to weigh the fish. They bought the lot!

That evening, FanFan set up a bbq on the beach. We got to choose which fish we wanted - despite choosing the smallest one, it was still massive! We had it bbq'd with lemongrass, pepper and ginger. It was very tasty! FanFan also moved our table further on to the beach to be more under the stars.

The next day we returned to Sihanoukville. The wind had picked up causing waves over 10 foot high and there were times when the waves were coming over the boat - quite scary! On the way back, we visited another island, Koh Rong. Again it had gorgeous beaches but was a lot more commercialised with bars, restaurants and sellers lining the beach. It's a shame, Koh Rong Samloem will probably be like that in years to come.

Back in Sihanoukville, we tried to check in to Otres Orchid a day early but unfortunately they were full. We tried each place along the beach and started to panic a little when five places were full and the sun was starting to set. But we then struck lucky when Rise had a spare bungalow for $15 for the night. Rise has a really chilled out vibe, a great round bar on the beach with music, good food and cheap drinks. Lots of kittens too!

The day after, 22nd December, we went back down the road to Otres Orchid which we had booked for 5 nights. We are staying in a traditional Khmer bamboo bungalow with ensuite and hammock on our balcony.

After facetiming our parents so late last night, we had a lay-in today. Steph opened a few cards and a present (gorgeous pandora earrings smuggled in Max's backpack) for her birthday then we headed out to have a full English breakfast (well the best version we could find anyway).

We got a tuk-tuk to Downtown Sihanoukville which is really spread out and hilly. Walking around to try and find some semi-normal shops, we stocked up on a few supplies. Cambodians don't really do birthday cakes, or even normal cakes, so when we saw a place that did brownie with ice cream, we decided that would have to do and we had brownies for lunch.

It was then time to do our Christmas shopping! With $10 each, we headed separate ways near Serendipity beach and agreed to meet in an hour. For dinner, we sat on comfy chairs on the beach and had an odd take on spaghetti bolognese which tasted a bit like curry and a pizza. Oh, and a bucket of cocktail of course!

Thanks to all for the birthday messages, and the many cards and presents that I opened before we came away.

Steph and Max x