Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Well, Sihanoukville was our next port and it is situated on the west coast of Cambodia. It is a deep-water port and many people flock here as it is the country's leading port and premier beach resort. Cambodia is about 69,905 square miles and has a population of approx 14.8 million people. The people are known as Khmers and speak the Khmer language. We chose a ship tour today to see as much as we could here and the first stop was to see a school and the children there. What a great visit! They were so friendly and looking at their work shows how much they are taught. Their writing looks difficut but the classrooms were quite well set up.

Next stop was to see a local house where the owners were very happy to show us about. It was two storey and very clean although very basic in its facilities. Of course the children were on hand to greet us and they were well presented and well mannered too! Wat Krom was next on our itinery and from the road looked really interesting. It was first built in the 1960's, destroyed in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge but rebuilt in 1975. There are many statues and ornate areas to see and the temple was dedicated to Ya-Mao to guard travellers and fishermen. The main temple as figures and the walls are covered in pictures with a history of times gone by in religion. The monks were very friendly here and one was feeding a bird with some fruit. It ate without taking any notice of the cameras clicking around so must have been used to it. Wlaking around more we discovered many more statues, all gold in colour and even though we had no information found the visit most enjoyable. The day was warming up now and it was good to get back on the coach and cool off. Driving on through the main town allowed us to see more of the homes and buildings of this area. The roads were quite good and soon we arrived at Sokha Beach. There are many beaches here, and some of the others of note are Ochheuteal, Serendipity, and Otres. Here at Sokha we were welcomed by a band and dancer and then invited to walk along and enjoy the beautiful grounds of the beach area and hotel. The beach was all set up with umbrellas and beach chairs for people to enjoy. Ther were restaurants and facilities here but no shops for a change - thank goodness! Time to leave this amazing area and go back to the ship for lunch. Another stop, quite near to the dock area was a small marketplace that specialised in seafood. There were lots of photo opportunities here as the children were happy to hold up the prawns etc for us and let us take their pics. They are gorgeous kids and their parents were just as nice. No problem to take a photo even if you are just putting the baby to bed!! The prwns looked great and we would have liked to buy them but not today..... We have seen lots of this small part of Cambodia and it only wetted our appetite for another visit. There was so much to see but not enough hours. However a quick trip back into town allowed us to use the internet and check out the supermarket and again relax with a drink before returning to Arcadia in the late pm. Our sailout here was so good as the afternoon sun reflected on the fishing village that was quite close to the ship. The village looked busy with many fishing boats coming and going and its pretty obvious that the sea here provides a living for the people. P & O Arcadia