Hello everyone,

We left Phnom Penh on 23rd August and headed down to the south coast of Cambodia. We used the Mekong Express again so had to endure some more karaoke but it was a nice journey. We stayed at Otres beach which is near to the more touristy town of Sihanoukville. The tuk tuk took us down a really long and very bumpy dirt track to get there which was fun! Otres beach consists of just one small strip of bar/restaurants and a few beach hut places along the dirt track and the beach. The buildings are mostly just shack-like huts as well so it is pretty under-developed but really chilled out. We stayed at a place called Mushroom Point which is made up of funky mushroom shaped beach huts. Our mushroom had a round bed with a mosquito net, a mushroom bathroom outside and a little garden. It is one of my favourite places we've stayed at so far and definitely the most different! When we arrived we went for a walk along the beach which was really nice and then went for a swim in the sea which was really warm. Later on we went out to one of the bars on the beach for dinner and drinks.

On the Wednesday we mostly spent the day chilling out by our mushroom and relaxing on the beach. That's pretty much all that happened on that day but it was great!

The next day we were a bit more adventurous and hired a dirt bike from the guys from the the bar opposite the beach huts. I was a bit sceptical at first but Ryan was in his element. As advised by the guys from the bar, we rode all the way to a waterfall called Kabal Chai. Unfortunately we were stopped at a police road-block on the way where the policeman said we were supposed to have an international licence but that 'you can just give me some money though yes?', so we gave him 10 dollars and went on our way! The guys had warned us this might happen but they said they usually just swear at them and drive off into the bush. We decided not to try this. After eventually finding our way along a long dirt road through the forest we arrived at the waterfall which was very beautiful. It is mostly a spot where local people come but there were a few foreigners as well. We hung out in some hammocks at one of the bar/restaurants and explored around the waterfall. To continue on the route we had to cross over a really dodgy bamboo bridge over the river so I left that to Ryan. After that we continued to ride through the forest until we reached the sea again. From there we followed the coast past some villages and back into Sihanoukville where we had some lunch. After a bit more riding we arrived back at the bar to return the bike. It was quite an adventure and a lot of fun!

On the Friday we pretty much just had a other relaxed day of lying on the beach, swimming in the sea and hanging out in the bars. Otres beach is so chilled out and not very touristy at all which is great. A lot of the bars and beach hut places are run by ex-pats who must have discovered it. In the evening I turned off the light in our mushroom which caused all of the lights at Otres beach to turn off which was quite funny. Power cuts are a regular occurrence there I think as it happened a few times. In the night there was the loudest thunder storm I'd ever heard which was quite exciting. In fact there were storms most nights we were there and it was great watching them from the bars which were literally on the beach.

The next day we got up early and took another very bumpy tuk tuk ride back along the dirt track to the bus station.

Lots of love,

Jo and Ryan xxx