Sihanoukville. The beach. After seeing the sights in Phnom Penh, we headed down to the coast. Arriving late at night after a comfortable bus ride, we headed to our “boutique hotel”, which was neither boutique, nor a hotel. Basically a normal guesthouse with silk curtains, our overpriced accomadations didn’t even have working tv, let alone a strong toilet (a must in developing countries). Hungry after a long day of traveling we settled on eating at possibly the most western place we could find. The Mexican, a clean new place seemed the perfect place to grab some food and relax. After eating some unimpressing mexican food and some tastless fried rice, we headed back to our overstated guesthouse. Within a few hours, The Mexican came back to remind us that no food is safe here, no matter how nice the restaurant looks. Ugh…We promptly left the next morning for a huge Khmer hotel, that while slightly expensive, and with swimming pool in the parking lot, had working cable and a proper bathroom. Basically the only thing we needed during our “day off”.

After a day of watching movies and light snacking, our bodies recovered, we finally made it to the beach. While maybe not the dreamy Thai beaches with palms swaying overhead, Cambodia’s coast does have some fantastic white sand beaches. With water as warm as a bath and just about anything you want/need being sold by passers bye, it’s pretty relaxing.

One of the many beach sellers. She’s carrying grilled lobster.
In the mini surf
Grilled squid
The beach

After the sun goes down, the restaurant switch from umbrellas and lounge chairs to papazans and bbq. This place had a great baked potato.
Sunset over the beach

Beach vendor at sunset

At night the kids come out and sell small roman candles to whoever will buy them. If they don’t sell any, the walk along the beach setting them off. There’s nothing scarrier than 7 year old kids waving around romand candles.
As with any touristy beach in South East Asia, there are fire twirlers.