The most famous seaside town in Cambodia has to be Sihanoukville, named after the Cambodian King and home to some wonderful white beaches and a relaxed vibe. This place is a cure all for the ills travelers suffer on the Cambodian roads, the bruises racked up while raiding tombs in Siem Reap and for the mind numbing brutality that is exhibited in Tuol Sleung and Cheung Ek.
We based ourselves in Serendipity Beach, a still developing part of town: the road leading to the beach is a mess, and much of it is lined by construction sites. The plus side to such a situation is that prices are still relatively low ($7 for a double room with fan and TV) and very close to the beach - we literally could roll out of bed and find ourselves on white sand! There isn't much to do in Sihanoukville besides laze on the beach, and that is exactly what we did for most of our stay. The beers are incredibly cheap (50c for a pint) and in the evenings the beachfront huts all offer a great sea food barbecue for just $3.
Our week at this beach side haven consisted of waking up late, walking to town for a light lunch, then hitting the beach for a swim in the warm tropical waters. This was followed by an afternoon of lazing in the sun, and not much else!
We diverted from our daily routine of sun-worshipping just once when we took a trip out to Ream National Park. Ream is one of the more recent national parks in Cambodia, having been established in 1993. It is home to a variety of animals, including sun bears, elephants, monkeys and tigers, as well as large numbers of birds. The river is also home to the rare Irawaddy dolphins; but on out trip all we saw were birds, and they provided quite a show. We saw three eagles catch an unweary sparrow in mid air, as well as several storks digging for mollusks in the mud. The most abundant wildlife we came across while riding down the river were locals - either fishing with nets or wading in the water for estuarine oysters.
That's pretty much it for Cambodia - we rode out the last few days till our Vietnamese visa became valid soaking up the sun in Sihanouk, before proceeding to Phnom Penh for one last night before taking a boat down the Mekong into Vietnam. Our visit to Cambodia allowed us to see the highlights of this rich and varied country, and if time weren't a limiting factor we would certainly have explored further, going off the beaten track to meet more of the friendly locals and see what the countryside has to offer… maybe next time!
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