Sihanoukville - 2nd - 8th May! 

We stayed in Sihanoukville for a week and had a brillaint time!  We arrived the 2nd May and rented a gorgeous little bungalow a short walk away from Serendipity Beach for 3 pounds a night! 

We got a bit settled here and had to force ourselves to go and sort out our Vietnamese visas out to get us moving, as once you've given the vietnamese an entry and exit date you have to stick to it. 

We met back up with the Aussie lads and Jay from the US, we all met on the bus journey from hell to Siem Reap and have bonded ever since! (hi lads if you reading this!) and had a few good nights out in Sihanoukville together! 

Our first night, us, the aussies and Jay had dinner on the Beach then headed to Eden a club on the beach, was a great night and didn't stumble home till the early hours after all vowing we would meet up at 10.30am to swim to one of the islands!  Needless to say when the alarm went off a few hours later i couldn't be bothered moving!  Si on the other hand somehow managed to drag himself out of bed and swam to the island with the lads, although he narrowly missed hitting his head on a rock when he reached the island.  The lads have said it wouldv'e been really nasty. 

A few nights after that we went out again as the aussies decided it was time they moved on to Phnom Penh before heading to Vietnam (they came to Sihanoukville straight from Siem Reap) so we all went out early with the intention of coming home early as they had to be up at 8am for their bus and we had booked a day trip to the islands.  You can all guess the rest......we started early and the party just went on!  We started the night off in our Guesthouse, Monkey Republic, where Doyle won Killer Pool so we bought shots with the winnings (not a good idea) and then ended the night in a bar called Snake Pit with a swimming pool at the bar.  it was messy!  si and i managed to drag ourselves away at 3.30am but the aussies and Jay didn't get home till 9am, therefore missing their bus back to Phnom Penh....oh and we found out later Jay got arrested twice! ....long story.... so you can imagine the mess we were in. 

We somehow managed to get up for our island tour but we were extremely ropey... i felt ok until i got on the tiny fishing boat that was to take us to the islands!  a hangover and sea sickness do not mix well!  I ended up being sick numerous times!  i couldn't help it!  very attractive!

We eventually got to the most beautiful island called Bamboo Island (Koh Russei) but i was too ill to really appreciate it,  The photos i managed to take are good though!  It had lovely little bugalows right on the beach, crystal blue waters and white sandy beaches...all wasted on me as i was dying somewhere!  

We got home and then found out the lads never made it to Phnom Penh so had a few drinks to chat about the previous nights events including Jay's arrests! 

So that was about all we did in Sihanoukville, chill on the beaches, drink, party and enjoy how cheap it is here!  we never really spent more than 5 pounds on a meal for the 2 of us and if we did we had pushed the boat out.  The Khmer people here are really poor though, we got speaking to a waiter one night who we had asked to take our photo and he said that he worked on the boat trips to the island by day and then the restaurant by night and only earned 7 pounds a month.  He said he was unable to get married as he needed 250 pounds to get wed and he didn't have it.  (how happy would you be if it was only costing you 250 pounds paul and bex?)  we felt awful as we had just spent half his monthly wage on one meal between us! 

the only thing that annoyed us in Sihanoukville was the the Khmer kids on the beach as you couldn't relax without them hassling you to buy a bracelet, manicure, pedicure, have you legs waxed, a painting etc.  they would sit on your bed and continually ask why when you said no!  If you said you had no money they would say go the bank!  After a while it was infuriating! 

so from there we started our trip to Vietnam...which we will update now since we have loads of time to do so today...

photos will follow soon love shell and simon