Our group has been moving every night for quite a few nights now, so we were all very grateful to have two nights in the same place at Sihanoukville, named after the former Cambodian king. The area is on the Cambodian coastline, has very nice sands and is scattered with islands. There are numerous beaches here - we were close to Serendipity Beach.
My initial impression of the town had been negative. We were warned to not walk around at night alone and could see the backpackers and characters that are often drawn to the loose and leisurely pace of beach towns. More evident here were the older white men, either in pairs, or alone, who inspired my suspicion that they were on the lookout for hooking up with Camdodian women. This element is not as distinct here as in Thailand, but they were definitely in this beach town. However, the crowds were less dense than I had feared and the quality of the seafood overcame my initial prejudices.
In view of the fact that I live within a mile-and-a-half of a very nice tropical beach in Florida, my heart wasn't leaping at this novel experience (I'm embarassed to admit). When you consider that in the 21 months I've lived in Fernandina Beach I haven't gone swimming, you can guess how I spent my day here!
The impact of my constant travel was starting to show up in my body with just a scratch of a sore throat and the tooth that was bothering me. While others in the group took advantage of a day trip on a boat for snorkeling and swimming on a couple of islands, I chose to take it easy and get more of that 'down' time. I think I would have enjoyed the boat trip, as I like to snorkel, but I chose not to stress my body with more sun exposure and just took it easy. I did get out at lunch time with one of the other group members for a very nice lunch at one of the beach-side restaurants.
You could tell that the tuks tuks were anticipating the return of tourists when the boats returned from the islands. They were lined up a very long way along the street.
Later that evening we returned to the beach for a relaxing seafood meal ........
........and set off Chinese lanterns.
Safety rules here are much more relaxed than at home. There were people juggling paper lanterns, fireworks being set off and paper lanterns being launched.
I always wonder what happens to the metal bits that fall to the ground - but it was fun!
Good you took it easy today. Love those Turk Turks!
ReplyDelete