So we continue to the south coast, in search of sun, sand and seafood. What we get, in Sihanoukville, is 2 days of rain and another dose of travellers tummy for Athole after some less-than-fresh prawns. We play Scrabble in the guesthouse overlooking the beach - it's like being on holiday on the west coast of Scotland! Eventually we decide to have a proper Scottish holiday and head out into the rain regardless. We go to the beach, build a sandcastle, play in the waves....yes, all in the rain. Locals think we're a bit odd - "Don't worry, for us this is normal!"
One of the best things about the rain, however, is that, to fill up the time, we go to visit the old Independence Hotel, once the top destination for rich Cambodians before the Khmer Rouge era, which has recently been refurbished. We stroll around reception, have a look at the bar, restaurant and (inevitably) the toilets. It's totally dead but very plush and splendid. We see one guest. Then one of the staff points us in the direction of the beach. We go to have a look. It turns out to be a pristine stretch of sand, with showers, reclining chairs and nobody on it. (Well, it is still raining.) Staff offer us towels and show us to a pair of sun loungers. Clearly they assume we are guests - we don't feel any need to disabuse them (after all, there's no-one else there) and off we go into the water. We did have lunch there afterwards (we were the only diners).
We take a taxi to the next town along the coast - Kampot. This means 2 hours rammed into the back of a Toyota with 2 adults and 2 children, plus us and bags. There are another 3 adults in the front. It's a bit sweaty, but Kampot, when we get there, is lovely and we visit a pepper farm.
Further round the coast at Kep we find an island with beach huts and the most amazing seafood - the loveliest Cambodian lady we have met serves us lunch, dinner, bed and breakfast for US$30. There's some confusion about when our boat is supposed to come and pick us up, and for a while we wonder if we will be marooned, (not such a bad thing until the dollars run out and we have to start fishing or cleaning toilets) but then we are back on the mainland and eacting Italian quality ice-cream at a restaurant overlooking the coast. We love Cambodia - tomorrow Vietnam!
So we continue to the south coast, in search of sun, sand and seafood. What we get, in Sihanoukville, is 2 days of rain and another dose of travellers tummy for Athole after some less-than-fresh prawns. We play Scrabble in the guesthouse overlooking the beach - it's like being on holiday on the west coast of Scotland! Eventually we decide to have a proper Scottish holiday and head out into the rain regardless. We go to the beach, build a sandcastle, play in the waves....yes, all in the rain. Locals think we're a bit odd - "Don't worry, for us this is normal!"
One of the best things about the rain, however, is that, to fill up the time, we go to visit the old Independence Hotel, once the top destination for rich Cambodians before the Khmer Rouge era, which has recently been refurbished. We stroll around reception, have a look at the bar, restaurant and (inevitably) the toilets. It's totally dead but very plush and splendid. We see one guest. Then one of the staff points us in the direction of the beach. We go to have a look. It turns out to be a pristine stretch of sand, with showers, reclining chairs and nobody on it. (Well, it is still raining.) Staff offer us towels and show us to a pair of sun loungers. Clearly they assume we are guests - we don't feel any need to disabuse them (after all, there's no-one else there) and off we go into the water. We did have lunch there afterwards (we were the only diners).
We take a taxi to the next town along the coast - Kampot. This means 2 hours rammed into the back of a Toyota with 2 adults and 2 children, plus us and bags. There are another 3 adults in the front. It's a bit sweaty, but Kampot, when we get there, is lovely and we visit a pepper farm.
Further round the coast at Kep we find an island with beach huts and the most amazing seafood - the loveliest Cambodian lady we have met serves us lunch, dinner, bed and breakfast for US$30. There's some confusion about when our boat is supposed to come and pick us up, and for a while we wonder if we will be marooned, (not such a bad thing until the dollars run out and we have to start fishing or cleaning toilets) but then we are back on the mainland and eacting Italian quality ice-cream at a restaurant overlooking the coast. We love Cambodia - tomorrow Vietnam!
No comments:
Post a Comment