Cambodia – Sihanoukville
Left the bright lights of Pattaya for a quick Airasia flight to Phom Penh, Cambodia. Met with heavy rain and a turbulent descent through the clouds but arriving in Phnom Penh easy enough these days. As times goes on the city becomes more civilised and the waterfront area now showing signs of life. And with its once pleasant buildings gaining a lick of paint and pavement cafes and good restaurants attracting a western crowd makes for a relaxing drink. Give it a few more years and will once again become a top Asian city as long as the old colonial architect survives the bulldozers. Even the people showing signs of modernisation with make up and the odd dress in what is a very conservative country.
But all told the city still offers little reason to hang around too long so now in the beach resort of Sihanoukville. Low season but a surprising amount of people and weather good enough despite the occasional shower and good swimming. Sihanoukville expands rapidly with a huge amount of hotels and restaurants, however is so spread out that will probably improve with time. But even now ATMs at the beach so progress coming fast. Sadly despite the wonderful white sandy beaches the place still suffers from too much rubbish and the annoying hassle of the beggars – same old faces from previous trips.
But a few days to relax and enjoy the beach and excellent seafood before moving on along the coast to Vietnam (on previous trips seen Cambodia well enough including the excellent Ankor Wat to not want to travel around further).
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