After a bit of guide book reading, I decided to head south to the coast, and have a bit of a change.
I got up early and turned up for the bus 30 minutes before it was due to leave, but they said it had already gone - yeah right...so I had to wait two and half hours for the next one. Thankfully the journey was fairly uneventful.
I'd decided to head for Sihanoukville - Cambodia's main coastal "resort".
Unlike the beaches of Thailand, the area is fairly undeveloped, and sees relatively few visitors, even though the beaches are pretty good. I managed to find a place to stay, and then went for a wander along the main beach. It's a small strip of sand, with palm trees growing up to the edge of the beach, and at one end a string of shacks sell grilled sea food.
For just $3USD, you can have BBQ Barracuda, grilled monster sized shrimp, chips, and salad. And during happy hour (basically all day :-) beer is 35 pence a pint - yes 35 pence!
Being that it was Saint Patrick's day, I had a look to see if there were any parties going on - but it was really quiet (the locals say that there are usually more people here at this time of year - I'm wondering if the credit crunch is impacting how many people visit). There was basically nothing going on - so I decided to celebrate anyway:
The next day, I decided to go and get a visa for Vietnam, as the consulate here has a reputation for turning them around quickly. It took all of 8 minutes and $40USD, and I had a shiny new stick-in Vietnam Visa in my passport.
The problem is - unlike most visas - this has a strict start and end date, and I'd assumed that it would start at any point in the next few months. I'd picked a rough date, but had various options in mind - including heading back up north. Unfortunately it means my options are a bit limited, and as there's not enough time to go the north of the country and back, I'll have to hang around for a week or so to be in Vietnam on the day my visa starts.
Which is not a problem, as I'd been thinking of taking some lazy days and doing not much.
Which is what I've been doing (or not doing - depending on how you look at it).
Plenty of reading, walks on the beach, and BBQ. I've also been listening to a bit of music (mostly Rush - the last two albums really rock), while watching the sun set...
Here's a few pics:
Not something you see everyday:
The Beach:
BBQ and Beer shacks:
Because there's not that much here, it gets really dark at night - and every single night there have been electric storms. Mostly off in the distance, so after dark it was still possible to sit and watch the sky lighting up. It also rained a couple of times - and I mean SE Asia style rain. In the space of two minutes, it's gone from dry to ankle deep water, and I got completely soaked the first night heading back to the place I was staying.
It's a great place to hang out - reasonably unspoiled - although there seem to be some hazy plans to develop the area into the next Ko Samui. Which would be a shame, because it's a really really nice place with just enough stuff going on to make it fun.
On a slightly bizarre note: there aren't any seagulls here - which is kind of weird...
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