It took almost six hours for our bus to reach Sihanoukville from Phnom Penh. We'd booked a hotel in advance and felt a bit out of place when we turned up, with our sweaty faces and our backpacks, as it looks like a 4 star kind of place even though it wasn't expensive. Felt a bit better when we realised that there is a building site next door, no plugs in the bathtub and that the drawerhandles fall off when you open them too energetically - perhaps we are the usual standard of clientele after all! The hotel is right on a narrow stretch of beach, with a small wall stopping the sea from lapping at your feet as you dine at the onsite restaurant. About 200 metres down the road there is another, slightly bigger, stretch of beach, and about five restaurants situated just behind it. As far as we are aware, that is the extent of civilisation (within walking distance at least) and we have found it more than adequate over the last few days.

We have slipped into a routine of sleeping in until around 10am, lying on the beach until around 3pm then returning to our room for a nap (HOW can we be sleeping this much??) before heading out for food and drinks in the evening. We have been back in our rooms by around 11pm every night. Now, we know there are a couple of beaches in Sihanoukville that have fantastic nightlife but we deliberately eschewed them in favour of Victory Beach as we both just wanted to rest. It was a good move. Our blood pressures must be dangerously low after four days of this lifestyle.

Perhaps the best night was the one where we sat down to a three-course dinner by the water's edge just as the sun was starting to set over it. The views were spectacular and the food was delicious, so much so that we didn't mind spending an entire day's budget on it. The downside was that this must have given the waiter a false impression of our wealth, as he invited us out to a nightclub with him after he finished work, then casually dropped in as we were about to leave that we would be paying for the drinks for him and his friend as they 'couldn't afford it' and weren't 'rich like you westerners'. This put us in a really awkward position. We didn't really want to go to the club and had only agreed to be polite; now it looked like we were going to have to fund an entire night out for four people, one of whom we had only just met and the other a complete stranger! Er no! Luckily at this point some late customers entered the restaurant and the waiter had to serve them. We took this as a chance to make our excuses and leave, suggesting we go another night. We have spent the last two days skulking around the hotel, mission-impossible-style, trying (successfully) to avoid the waiter...

That has been the one blip during our stay here though, and the fact that I'm mentioning it at all shows how wonderfully uneventful things have been. Other than that we have found ourselves succumbing to pedicures on the beach and buying handmade bracelets and fruit off of locals even though we don't really need them, just because they are so friendly and I want to help them out and give them business. (There's a definite difference between giving someone money for goods or a service and being tricked into paying someone's way.) We have quickly become regulars at a couple of restaurants just off of the beach and the staff there greet us with huge smiles, making us feel right at home. We only realised quite how far away we are when I had to explain to one of them what McDonalds is, as they'd never even heard of it! During the day we sit in swinging seats in the restaurants, then laze and read on the loungers just in front, then swim in the deliciously warm and clear sea - then repeat again before leaving for our incredibly geeky nap. It has been fantastic. We both have wicked tan lines :-D