Sihanoukville - Beach Time!

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26th November - 2nd December

One of our fellow volunteers from the Katelious Group, Ueli, is now working on a project, diving and cleaning the corral reef, on the coast of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Seeing as we were in the country we wanted to stop by and catch-up. Unfortunately we missed each other, since Ueli is on an island without internet access, so he didn't get our email in time and we didn't know which island he was on. However Aaron and I enjoyed some beach time anyway. Later we were pleased to get an inspiring email from Ueli in which we learnt that he's found a new passion. Through his hard work he's been promoted from a volunteer to staff, in charge of reef surveys, some of the volunteer training and writing a list of Cambodian species for the government!

 
In Siem Reap when we purchased our bus tickets to Sihnaoukville we were told we would get a minibus to the main bus station, where the bus would leave at 7am. From there it should take about ten hours including a change at Phnom Penh. So we expected to arrive in Sihanoukville about 5pm. With multiple delays we arrived at 9pm. However, I thought it was remarkable how developed the service was given that about 35 years ago the public transport system was abolished and has been rebuilt from scratch since then. (More about the history of Cambodia in a later blog). Once we arrived in Sihnaoukville we got a tuk-tuk closer to the beach. The driver was very persistent about helping us find our accommodation, but after paying him and walking away (multiple times) we managed to shake him off and find our own hotel. It made me wonder how much commission they get!



Serendipity Beach

When we walked down to Serendipity beach the following day, we were shocked to see how over developed it was. It was almost impossible to see the sand beneath the restaurants and rows of large deckchairs! Our stint at Katelious made us conscious of the impact of over developed beaches on the nesting of sea-turtles. Photos at the dive shop indicated that sea-turtles inhabited the area, so it's possible they destroyed a potential nesting beach. Even without this knowledge surely it was obvious this was ugly?


Ocheateal Beach
Walking just a few minutes down the coast, to our delight, we found a far superior Ocheateal beach. The beach was almost deserted of vendors and hotels, leaving the beautiful white sand exposed, lined by lush, green trees.


After sunset on the beach we strolled down an inland street which was lined with restaurants all specialising in appetising BBQ selections. It was odd how all the menus appeared almost identical! Aaron enjoyed perusing the selection of seafood on display in the ice cabinets. I enjoyed the tofu and veg kebabs and we both liked that we could get garlic bread, BBQ, salad and potato/fries (and sometimes mango) all for $3 and beer for 50 cents!
One day we took a three island boat tour. We got to do some snorkelling around the reef which was really fun, but the water was quite cloudy and my mask kept leaking, making it difficult to see. We both agreed the snorkeling in Kefalonia was better! During the previous days we had been very careful to keep out of the midday sun, but that day it was unavoidable. Despite using factor 50 sunscreen we both got sunburnt. It seemed quite ironic to be burnt in November!


Serendipity Beach is in the background
One of the islands we visited
Another day we cycled into town to get visas for Vietnam.

On the 2nd December we headed to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I was looking forward to celebrating my birthday in a royal palace!

Comments

sly said…
That sounds SO relaxing. I don't know how you do it...just making the travel arrangements would frazzle me!
9 January 2011 at 08:53
Unknown said…
I wonder if the suntan lotion was 'counterfeit' not a real bran? It might not have contained the ingredients it claimed to have in it?
The beach photos look wonderful!
9 January 2011 at 11:13
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