Hello everyone, it’s been quite a while since I last posted something, so it’s time to bring you up to date. I’m going to do 2 posts for this one.

So, as you know I was heading to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I got talking to a guy on the bus who was a French/Brit who was living there with a Vietnamese wife, and also owned a CRM/ERP business (quite a lot of common ground there). We decided to meet up for some drinks later on.

Once I arrived I was immediately attacked by the normal amount of touts and prowling transport drivers who saw me as a walking money dispenser. I’ve developed a good tactic to fight them off now. Basically you find a café and go to ground for an hour. It’s a good thing I did, as this promptly happened…

Anyway, I then roamed off to find a guesthouse, eventually finding the Top Banana. Was OK, but the main gripe was that it was an internal room (no window) and aircon was a disproportionate $5 more! Just went with a fan only in the end.

I then chilled out on the roof terrace that was very good, and then went to meet my bus friend. On the way I worked out PP was pretty seedy and not my kind of place. Too many girlie bars etc. Still, I had a friend to meet and plenty of drinks were had before I headed back exhausted.

The next morning, waking up in a pool of sweat, I decided I was going to move it to Sihanoukville, which is more of a beach sort of town. 8 hours of coach ride later and I was there. Was tired again so I just checked into the first guesthouse that I recognised from Wikitravel, Mick & Craig’s. This place was still fan only, but the room was shaded and did have good ventilation, so it felt cooler. It was also without hot water, but this didn’t matter as the water that did come out wasn’t freezing and I was taking cold showers to cool down. That aside it was very plesent and I had a handy bar and resteraunt right downstairs!

Headed out to the beach to check out the local area and realised I had made the right choice with Ochheuteal Beach… plenty of places to eat right there on the seafront and cheap prices all round! Dinner was a traditional Khymer Hot Pot.

The next day… ah screw it … I went to the beach after buying some super strong sun tan lotion, here are the photos…

I went to the market a bit later and saw these clearly genuine items…

Anyway… back to the beach later on for more chilling and beers… I then decided to go scrambling over the rocks to see what I can see…

Back to the hotel for the first aid kit.

Went out that evening, had Baracuda BBQed on the beach for just $3… so I spent the money I saved on boose… lots of it… in fact I think my Mekong Bucket may have been spiked as I was nearly passing out on the walk home.

The next day I dragged myself to the nearest full English breakfast and then planned my escape, not that I didn’t like Sihanoukville, in fact I loved it, but I had to get to Thailand soon and I was also fighting a hangover…

Bus ticket to the border was $10. I left the next day