25th March 2009

Our first choice of bus company, Paramount Angkor Express either left Phnom Penh too early or too late, so we opted for the super cheap option of Sorya Company at the bargain price of $4.50. it was leaving at the reasonable time of 10am, so we managed to have ourselves a fairly civillized morning, with even time to eat breakfast.

It was a quick journey only spoilt by the fact that the overhead air con decided to leak towards the end of the journey, resulting in a rush of water pouring into Clares lap! That's what you get for bagging the window seat yet again! Adam tried to catch the water in his cupped hands, but alas most of it poured onto Clares lap as she dozed! We had the usual 20 minute break at a roadside layby, where we were joined by two cows meandering leisurely around, this was all too a familiar sight for us now in Cambodia.

We soon arrived in Sihanoukville and knowing how it all worked from our previous visit, we were soon on a tuk tuk speeding towards the Beach Road Hotel. As we checked in, the reception staff informed us that they had a power cut and had been without any electricity for 2 hours. They were unsure how much longer it would last for, so we quickly left our luggage in our room and headed straight back to the bar. It wasn't very pleasant in our room without a fan, air con or even a working shower as the temperature in the shade was in the late thirties, nevermind in an unventilated concrete hotel room!

We sat in the bar with sweat pouring from us, as we ate a well needed lunch with ice cold drinks. There was no breeze at all and without any ceiling fans working, felt pretty unpleasant in there. We waited and we waited, but still there was no sign of power. At around 5pm we gave up waiting and decided to return to our powerless room regardless. As soon as we entered the sauna like room, we stripped down to our underwear and opened all the windows to try and let in the non existent breeze outside. Unable to relax or lie down, we decided to play cards to try and take our minds off the unbearable heat. After a few hot and sticky card games, a small miracle occurred. The fan suddenly burst into life, we had power! Quickly we turned on the air con to it's lowest setting and enjoyed the cool air all around us!

After eventually cooling down we had a very good evening. We visited our favourite restaurant, The Bayon, and enjoyed a tasty Amok and then rounded off the evening with a good few games of pool at our hotel

After a decent sleep, only marred by the fact that we had a particularly smelly bed, it had a lovely musty aroma, we set about finding ourselves somewhere to stay on Otres beach. Before we arrived in Sihanoukville, we decided we would like to spend most of our time on Otres, so we set about calling our favourite resort, the Small Green Bungalows. Amazingly they had a bungalow free for the following day and even better, they had dropped their prices to only $15 a night!

We couldn't believe our luck, as during our last visit we struggled so much in getting a booking with them. So we quickly booked the room and spent the rest of the day shopping for supplies, as Otres beach is very remote and has no shops at all.