…And then the sun came out after all

Since we moved on from rainy and slightly dead Otres Beach, we have made ourselves a nice base just next to the marina at Orcheuteal Beach. And no, it’s not the pristine and quiet “paradise-like” beach we were hoping for on Koh Rong, a deserted island and only a short boat ride away from Sihanoukville. But given that the weather wasn’t great initially, we decided on saving the boat ride money and enjoy the number of bars and cheap restaurants around here. Plus, the beach is actually not bad at all! I can see how during peak season the resort might be slightly overrun with party hungry backpackers, but since it’s off season, the place has a very mellow vibe with just enough going on to keep us happy for a few days.

Stranded.

We are staying at the Chinese run hotel GBT3, which I probably never would have picked myself, but our buddy Rick, who is staying in Sihanoukville for a couple of weeks to help out local friends building a bar, recommended it to us. And whilst the bathroom could be nicer (or in Tom words: “It’s so skank!”), the room is big, gets cleaned every day and is literally next to the beach. And at 8 USD, there’s nothing more you can ask for, me thinks. We feel like we are back on holiday again, lazying on the beach, eating lots of fresh fish, drinking fresh fruit shakes and ice cold 0,50 USD beer, playing beach ball (Sam: 44 is our highest in Cambodia so far, but we are working on breaking the 50 mark as a minimum! EDIT: we just hit the 62 mark!) and stocking up on our vitamin D levels.

My boyfriend turned into Atze Schröder!

Orcheuteal Beach

Local children enjoying themselves too.

Marina from where the boats go to Koh Rong island. We decided against it as there will be plenty of nice beach opportunities in Indonesia.

One evening we had an amazing BBQ dinner on the beach with Rick and what was announced as a short story (“Let me trace back for 3 minutes…”) turned into a 2 hour sailing/smuggling adventure story told by Rick. He is currently writing a book about his life as a sailor and I really hope that it will be published and potentially even turned into a movie (as he told us). The stories he was dishing out were unbelievable and Tom and I were just listening in awe, feeling slightly sheepish by how boring our lives are compared to his. But then, I think we are both quite lucky with how our lives have turned out so far.

Beach ball & banana-chocolate shake

Gin rummy – it’s a close race!

Prost!

Life could be a lot worse.

Our time in Cambodia is coming to an end as we are heading to Phnom Penh, the capital, tomorrow. We are planning to stay for two nights there, which should be enough based on what we hear from other people, before boarding the plane to Indonesia, our last Asian country. For now!