Cambodia Day 2

Cycle to Ream National park past Sihanoukville airport.

Major road between Sihanoukville/coast and Phnom Penh – LOTS of traffic, and the shoulder was dirt/potholed, so we were forced to cycle on the road getting pushed off every now and again by trucks/buses overtaking in other direction.

 

The vehicles themselves were often overfilled

But there were surprises along the road as well…

 

Past Airport – road construction – don’t just do one side first – the whole road gets done at the same time meaning a major dusty, uneven chaos

We made (another) friend – he was most interested in our bikes….

 

 

 

Just before the end of the road, we saw the start of a huge Chinese resort development – complete with temporary shanty village of some 700-odd workers.

 

At the end of the road (an then a bit further) is the beautiful little primitive backpacker resort Monkey Maya – end of our 15km road/path detour

The beach here was absolutely wonderful, but as with lots of beautiful sites we have come across in Vietnam and Cambodia, fully littered with rubbish – lots and lots of empty water bottles, Styrofoam food containers, and ever other imaginable trash. We found a slightly “cleaner” portion of the beach and hit the water – I must have been in the water for over 1-1/2 hours.

 

Dinner in the resort was reasonably priced (considering they have a captive audience – nearest place otherwise is 5km down the road) and quite tasty. The staff (all of the 15 people there other than 3 westerners) could speak remarkably good English. The place is owned by a group of English – expats (none of them in Cambodia at the moment) and is run by a younger swiss couple who have been there for almost 2 years now – they do quite a good job. No electricity expect between 6pm and midnight (diesel generator), no Wifi, just plain relaxation and peacefulness.

After darkness, you can go down to the beach and into the water (great temperature), and if you wave around lots in the water, the luminescent plankton light up and create a cloud of light around you (like fireflies in the water) – was a cool experience…

Tried to stay an extra night – but alas the bungalows were all booked (no wonder there).

As there is no electricity (for fan, etc), we slept with all the doors and windows wide open all night – falling asleep to the (quite loud) sound of waves and insects all night

 

(99km / 128m)

Day 33 (12.03) – to (almost) Sihanoukville

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