Diary | Sihanoukville and Koh Rong

Here is the promised post about my beach getaway! I'm most excited to share this trip because I still can't get over how beautiful the places I visited were. Call me basic but I love sand, sun and fun.

Sihanoukville

 Day one was dipping in the waters of Sihanoukville. We arrived around noon and swam till sunset.

 This beach was littered with people, locals, townies and a lot of tourists. I mean the tourists were almost the majority of the population of Sihanoukville. The view is average, pleasing to the eyes but nothing out of the extraordinary. The experience is better. The tides are gentle and I didn't once step on a seaweed. I don't know if that's good or bad. It's definitely good on our feet but it could possibly mean the sea is dead. However I don't know the bio-life of the beach and it's history, so as far as I know, I'm not stepping on seaweed. The sand is a major selling point. It's almost white and grinded to dust. Again, this is good for the feet. If you're noticing a trend here, I don't like touching things with my feet. The water is at perfect temperature. Not too cold but cold enough to save you from the beating sun. I found I didn't need to get used to the water and found the transition from dry land to finding my fins a relaxing and comfortable one.

Here's the thing. I may not seem like the whole beach girl type while I'm here in New Zealand but that's only because Auckland beaches only appeal to me aesthetically. Practically, I can't seem to fully enjoy rubbing my feet against shell pricked sand and cold waves that swerve sand and dirt in them. Picnics and hangouts on the beach are the bee's knee to me so don't confused me for hating the beach all together. Beaches outside of Auckland appeal more highly to me. Take the Coromandels for instant. But that is out of town so you can imagine I don't see it often....like as in I haven't seen it in over 4 years, give or take.

 Anyways, back to the beaches of Cambodia. Here's Lisa jumping for joy (obvi v excited to swim).

 But first we must take photos.

 Lisa and her leg castles?

 We hired a Jetski and Wayne (family friend) took turn taking us out to sea. It was so exhilarating and if you haven't tried it I hope you do soon. Once out at open sea you're far away from everyone else and you realise how small you are to the ocean. You realise how lucky you are mother nature allows us to skip along her body when she can easily swallow you whole, with no fight at all. Not to mention you're going at a crazy fast speed, bouncing along the ripples. Need for speeeeeeeeeeeed.

In summery, it's really fun. 10/10 would recommend.

We also hired a giant floating banana. In theory it was meant to be fun because hello, how does a giant floating banana sound to you? Yeah, it spells fun. ba-FUN-na.

But it was hooked into a jetski that the business owners had to drive. I don't know if he lacks experience at his own business, and/or lacks comprehension of  basic physics, but he was lacking something. He went at a speed that a giant banana, carrying passenger being hand held by short cords, should not be going at. To top off his stunt, he makes a sharp turn, just for a kicker. As in gravity kicked us off the banana out at sea. I lost my sunglasses. I know these things are meant to capsize sometimes and that's part of the fun but my mother, who is terrified of water, came long . I think it was a mutual understanding that we wanted the ride to be relatively smooth, maybe minor slips here and there, so I wore my sunglasses on. It wasn't a haha we fell off kinda fun, it was like being thrown at the water. I'd been wearing my sunglasses all day without it falling off, even while riding a jetski myself. , I'd had to have hit the water with force for it to fall off. I know I'm being whiny but I really liked those sunglasses. It's not often I find giant circular sunnies.

It was safe to say, no one was keen for the giant banana after that. Why does the funana betray me so?

 Nevermind that, it didn't spoil the fun we had before and after. Besides, look at the sunset. What a couple they make, the sea and sun.

 If you've read my last post you'd know dogs in Cambodia are not friendly (in short, or you can read the whole explanation in the previous post). I almost gave up hope of meeting any until I came to Sihanoukville. I don't know what it is about this place... I don't really care either as long as I get to pat some dogs.

He's not pooping, he's mid-sitting.

Koh Rong

 The next day we set off on a boat to see Koh Rong. Let me just say that in English it's officially called Koh Rong Island but the word "koh" means "island" in khmer. "Island Rong Island"? It's like calling something "tea tea" or "desert desert" or "union union". Oh wait....

 Bottom feeders touching the butt.

 Dangling my feet over the side of the boat to watch the water dance against the boat.

 We stopped at a tiny island. I've forgotten the name but it's very deserted and peaceful. We were allowed time to jump off the boat and swim. The touritst went crazy for that. Speaking of which, this tour was also very foreigner-dominated.

 Boy do I have a story to tell about these two. Keep in mind I didn't take a photo of them for the purpose of the story. I had already took the photo before the story played out.

They complained about EVERYTHING.

They said the snorkling was shit. The food was shit. The boat was shit. Direct quotes, no joke. Here's the thing, we had to downgrade our boat because the one we initially booked had a engine problem. We ended up with a smaller less flash boat but it did the job of taking us places and it wasn't like we were cramped on there. We got to Koh Rong, which is so beautiful, you'll see in a bit if you scroll down. Instead of soaking up the beauty like most of us, I guess they set off to look for some mystery waterfall. When it was time to return to the boat they engaged in a conversation with a lady sitting next to us. They complained about how they couldn't find the waterfall and that it's possible the tour lied about it. Then the guy continued to try and provoke the lady to complain with them saying how they weren't happy about downgrading boats. The lady told them that coming on a bigger boat would not have made the experience any better. I don't even think she said it with sass, she was genuinely making a valid point. She asked them where they were from and you'll never guess where. Washington D.C. Lisa and I looked at each other and tried so hard not to laugh. I know stereotypes are bad but when something like this happens, I can't help it. All the stereotypes of Americans being fat, obnoxious and rude, him and his partner ticks all three. Forgive my cousin Lisa but she lends over and whisper, "I bet they're republicans too". I was going to loss my shit. We had a good laugh at midnight recounting everything, rolling around the bed in a fit.

Aside from that after moving to the top of the boat to sunbathe, we found our spot near an attractive boy. We're not creeps and chose the spot because of him. It was the only available placement. Any-how, his face looked like a Michelangelo sculpture, with hair as light as the sun and eyes as clear as water. He's a minor so don't run your imagination. Him and his brother were reading their books, making me regret not bringing one with me. The ride was very long and peaceful, which equals the perfect time to read. His younger brother was "making love to his coke", as described by Lisa. If you can't picture it, think of a little boy slurping away at his can while it being vertically up right, so you're not sure how he even expect to transfer any coke at all. I guess he was too into his book to even notice. Since I couldn't read I kept a scenic lookout for a while before dozing off into a sweet nap.

We also kinda made friends with these two really buff guys. They were just really friendly and nice so they made friends with everyone. Johnny thinks they're twins but perhaps all topless buff guys wearing sunglasses and a cap look the same?

 Look how clear the water is!!!?!?!?!!?!!?

 I was fangirling Mother Nature so hard. Woman crush erday.

 Picking coconuts from the coconut tree nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah

I hear my name.

 Once we checked into our hotel we found they had a pool! We were meters away from the Sihanoukville beach and had two days full of swimming but I guess we couldn't get enough.

 There were fireworks and for what reason, we do not know. Maybe they hadn't gotten over New Years yet.

Sihanoukville

 I don't know what was the highlight of the trip. Seeing the most beautiful beach I've ever seen or meeting monkeys up close and personal?

 Look at the little baby. He was so polite!

 They all were polite! Calmly waiting for us to go up to them first to hand out bananas instead of invading us and snatching them away like most monkeys do (according to stories from other tourists in South East Asia). Something about Sihanoukville breeds friendly animals.

 You can't see that well in this picture but one of the monkey had a beard. A BEARD. We named him Pops, for he is the old and wise one.

 Murrrrrrkaaaays.

 We were out of Sihanoukville by here but I don't know where.

 My kawaii grandmas.

Not my kawaii puppy.

 Mamon Chino!

Holding hands with my grandma (the one who doesn't live with me in New Zealand).

 On the last day of our trip just happened to be my parents 20th wedding anniversary. Hooray~

That concludes it!

If you haven't already seen my first post on Phnom Penh, go check it out here. I forgot to post a bunch of photos from the zoo I visited so even if you have seen the post, go check it out again to see some furry faces!

To see my tour around Cambodia, go check it out here.

My haul will be up next!