Sihanoukville

I had a few days on Koh Chang. I stayed at Lonely Beach, which is toward the south of the Island. I went to leave after a couple of days but was too late for the bus, by about 9 hours. I didn't want to stay at the same place I had been at as the clubs were across the road and super noisy. Instead I walked up the hill and found a really nice hostel with a pool and very cheap food. I wish I'd stayed there the entire time.

The next day I got the bus at 7am, expecting it to be a quick drive across the border to Sihanoukville. I don't know why I'm so stupid. It took about 5 hours to get to the border, then crossing the border was relatively quick, although they ripped me off. There was no bus on the other side so another guy and I decided to get a taxi to the edge of Koh Kong to catch a dodgy local bus. It took another 5 hours to go the 200km to Sihanoukville and the driving was the craziest I've seen yet. Luckily the traffic could only move at about 50km/h so the head on with a truck I was sure we were going to have may not have been fatal.

I got to Sihanoukville and headed out to Otres. Otres is a lot like Olympos in Turkey. A long stretch of dirt road with hostels and bars along a pristine section of beach. It's my favourite place I've been so far.

There is an inflatable "water park" out in the ocean. Kind of like a small version of the wipe out course. The first night I was here I went with another guy and we swam out to it through the glowing plankton at about 3am and played on it.

Yesterday I was planning to go to Koh Rong. Unfortunately the power went out, so I couldn't get any money out, so I couldn't pay for the ferry across to Koh Rong. So instead I went to a night market unlike any other. It was all inside a bar, with live music playing and stalls around the outside. The main band was exceptionally good.

This afternoon I'll go to Koh Rong instead. I've hardly taken any photos as I've been paranoid about losing my phone. There's apparently more crime here and they don't mind shooting the occasional tourist.

Photos are:
Scuba Steve and I working hard at doing nothing.

The pool on Koh Chang.

The main street of Otres 1 (apparently there is a 2 and a 3 as well).

The beach.

The band last night.