Beach Time!

After the emotionally draining days in Phnom Penh, I decided to see what the beach life in Cambodia has to offer and heading South to Sihanoukville for a couple of days of chillaxin'. Since my previous 2 travel partners were very spontaneous, fly by the seat of your pants kind of guys, and I'm trying to go with the flow and not over-plan I didn't book a place to stay in advance. I arrived at the beach town and hoped on a "moto" (basically a taxi that's just a motorcycle, which are everywhere in Cambodia and cheaper than a tuk tuk) and just asked him to take me somewhere relatively cheap to stay. After going to a few places that were all full, I started to regret my spontaneity and figured I'd just have to suck it up and spend a little extra. Our last hope was a spot right on the beach for $5/night. When you see the pic of the room you'll know why, and I didn't even bother to take one of the bathroom. But really all I need is a bed so I figured, ""why not?" I enjoyed a nice, relaxing afternoon on the beach and just kept to myself, read my black-market copy of The Lonely Planet and did some journal writing. I did have to continually decline the dozens of offers for fresh fruit or massage or mani/pedi by the women who wandered up and down the beach, but otherwise was undisturbed... such a tough life, I know. :) I watched the sunset in a comfy nest chair on the beach and had a great dinner under the stars.
Aside from the beach, I realized that the only other reason people go to Sihanoukville is to party. Whether it's to take advantage of the "Happy Hours" that last for 3 or 4 hours or the tuk tuk drivers who all seem to be dealing something, there is no struggle to satisfy vices. But that wasn't really what I was there for so I passed on the parties and headed to my room. I didn't think I'd have to use the mosquito net provided because they didn't seem that bad until I heard something hit the bed beside me and looked to see one of the grossest bugs I've ever seen. I have no idea what it was but it was about 2" long and fat and very crawly. So I decided I needed to protect myself and opted for the net. Now, being right near the beach may seem like a good idea and be convenient during the day but listening to other people party isn't all that much fun. So the next morning I decided to do the responsible thing and spend the extra $7 on a nice, clean room where I could actually get some sleep. (Mom, aren't you proud of me?)
That day I rented a bike so I could check out some of the other, less popular beaches and I'm so glad I did. I found a beach with hardly anyone there and had a peaceful aftenoon and a great swim in the surprisingly warm water. That's really pretty much all I did...I biked around some more, had dinner, and actually ended up watching the inauguration since I didn't want to feel so out of touch with what's going on back in North America.
Today I headed back to Phnom Penh and tomorrow I'm off to Vietnam. I know there's a lot here that I didn't see but I'm still not leaving Cambodia with the same desire to return as I did with India. It's definitely a beautiful country though and recovering from a horrible past.