Paradise

The more we stay in Sihanoukville, the more we like it. We were planning on leaving this morning for Kampot but now we're staying tonight and tomorrow night here as well. We just keep discovering new exciting things here! We were lying on the beach yesterday and an American guy came up and started talking to us about a snorkeling cruise going to some of the islands off the coast. Anyway, long story short, that's what we did today, and we had the BEST day.

The boat was 4 levels; sleeping/showers/toilets, lounge/dining, bar/lounge, sundeck. We stopped and went snorkelling at a reef off of Koh Kong Kang which was actually the first time I've been snorkelling so I loved it. We then had an 'all you can eat' buffet on the boat before arriving at the pièce de résistance, Koh Rong Samloem! The most beautiful beach I have ever seen! Snow white sand, turquoise water, absolutely stunning. The eccentric German guy who owns the boat told us all that it was completely uninhabited except for a fishing village and a navy base. I found this strange because I was sure I'd read about a guesthouse on the island.. WELL.. we went for a walk through the rainforest to a beach on the other side of the island where we found bungalows and tourists. Not many people at all, but still, the island isn't uninhabited like he says.

While cruising home we went past this very small island that looked like just a hunk of rock and tree.. but with a few buildings on it, and what looked like a 'wat'. It was very strange, just sitting there in the middle of the ocean, complete with a big statue of a shark...? We found out that it is called Koh Dek Koule, and you can actually stay there from $350 - $3000 a night!

We've found out some interesting things, and found some interesting places. Like foreigners can't actually own land here, but they can take out 99yr leases and build/do whatever they want with the place, but the government can just take it back at any time they want. Which is why they love their Russian investors here because apparently they keep pumping money into the bank accounts of the right people to make sure that their lease doesn't suddenly expire. There are rumours of a Russian billionaire snake-collector, who has bought Koh Pos ('Snake Island') which is just off the coast, and is currently constructing a huge bridge from the mainland out to the island. He is apparently the same guy who owns the aforementioned Koh Dek Koule, and a restaurant in town called the 'Snake House' where you eat on glass topped tables with snakes underneath, and a collection of snakes all around you. Apparently there are even crocodiles, and one sits in the restaurant on a leash. We're going there tomorrow night.

One day when we were swimming at Occheuteal Beach we noticed that all of a sudden the dozen or so child bracelet/fruit sellers all went running down one end of the beach. We thought this was really strange because usually they're all very busy bargaining with tourists. A couple of minutes later we noticed that there was a cop walking along the beach, and the children had sprinted off to avoid him! We thought that was a bit suss, and next time a girl was trying to sell me a bracelet, the couple that was next to us asked her why it is that all the kids run away from the cops. She answered that the cops tend to get drunk and beat the children! Keeping in mind that it could just be another sob story to try and get me to buy her bracelets, it's still a bit suss.

You might notice in some of the photos that Occheuteal Beach in Sihanoukville has a strip of sand only a couple of metres wide. We thought this must have just been normal for that particular beach, but we were talking to a guy who had been about a year earlier and said that the beach was at least 3 times as wide then! We immediately thought that it must have been all the shacks lined up right on the beach itself that caused the sand to erode, but we talked to a local and apparently ALL the sand had washed away not long ago due to a combination of a hurricane somewhere and the particular tide at the time. It's supposedly going to take a few years for the beach to rebuild itself to its former glory. I think by that time this place is going to be FULLY developed.. there'll be highrises everywhere!

Stay tuned for more!
Amiee xo