I left Siem Reap yesterday about 7.30am and had a really long day travelling, not arriving in Sihanoukville on the south coast until 7pm. The bus ride itself was fairly uninteresting, and apart from a two hour wait in Phnom Penh for the connecting bus, it went without a hitch. The ride from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville was 4 hours, and the bus was quite empty meaning I did not have to sit next to anybody. However across the aisle from me was an elderly sex tourist and a young hooker he was bringing to the coast for "a holiday". While we were waiting at the bus station in Phnom Penh the man had made quite a scene waiting for his companion to arrive, and when she did arrive she was very public about being paid, leaving no question as to what was going on between the pair. Once on the bus they pawed at each other in quite a public way, and when they were late returning to the bus after we stopped off halfway at a roadside cafe, I was rather hoping the bus would leave without them. This sort of carry on is apparantly quite a problem in Cambodia, and although I do not know the figures, there are definitely a lot of such tourists in South East Asia.

It was dark by the time I arrived at the bus station in Sihanoukville, and after haggling with a moto driver I got a reasonable fare into town to look for a guesthouse. I must say that for the first stop on my travels I hadn't actually been very prepared and was entirely at the mercy of my moto driver for a guesthouse. The first place we stopped at was full, and the second place was a little over my budget as I knew I could get cheaper, but the guy at reception went on about how everywhere was probably quite full, and it was dark and I was tired, so I got the price down a bit and settled for it. I had a quick walk around the part of Sihanoukville that I was in, and established that I was in quite a good location right by a beach, but there wasn't much else I could do so I headed back. Today I was up and out of the guesthouse by 8am and got a moto into the city centre. There didn't appear to be anything to do though, so I found a really nice cafe called 'The Starfish Cafe and Bakery' and had a really nice breakfast of toast and fruit salad. I got a moto back to Serendipty Beach where I was staying and went down to the shore. Sihanoukville is known for being quite a party place so there was mostly a young crowd about, either sunbathing or boarding boats to go on booze cruises. I found a place to sit, but sunbathing on your own is actually really boring so after I while I had a walk around. I had lunch in a little beach front cafe and then sat there reading until the sun set.

Sihanoukville has been a fairly nice place to start my travels as it is very relaxing, but there is nothing to do here except go to the beach, and it's only my first stop so I don't think I need relaxation time yet! As a solo traveller it really hasn't been very interesting, and I didn't find any friendly fellow travellers, so I am really looking forward to tomorrow and my next stop, Kampot!