23 rd January 2013
The VIP minibus was very smart and comfortable, but they are driven very quickly with lots of scary overtaking. I’ m sure that the drivers are good, but they are young and enthusiastic! We are thinking that we may stick to the normal buses from now on.
Even the minibuses have free wifi!
We arrived right on time and were picked up from where the bus stopped by the guest house tuk tuk. The guest house was a bit more expensive as it has a nice pool. It costs around $20 per night.
It is not right on the beach, but around 200 m away, so only a two minute walk to all the beach side restaurants and bars. As you walk to the left (east) as you are on Ochheuteal Beach. If you turn right you hit Serendipity Beach. This is busier and more developed and very popular with backpackers.
Tomorrow we are planning to walk along to Otres Beach, which is the next one along and less developed.
24 th January 2013
Very little done today other than a walk along to Otres Beach. As promised it gets less developed as you go in that direction. There are still groups of restaurants and bars there. These are slightly more expensive as I suppose less competition. Still cheap by western standards though. The land at the back of the beach is used for grazing cattle. They are really delicate looking Asian breed but not sure of the name.
The problem of plastic waste is still very apparent. Even a single bottle of water is passed to you in a plastic bag unless you refuse it. Refuge collection is pretty hit and miss. Cambodia is a beautiful place, and it is such a shame when you see piles of waste plastic in what otherwise would be a perfect spot to sit and look at the view. I am sure it will improve with time, but don’t expect a western approach to litter.
After a couple of hours sorting washing and booking the next bits of the trip, the beach BBQ’s were in full swing. Every restaurant in the strip competes hard for your custom, all doing the same thing at the same price …. tricky to choose!
Tomorrow we are booked on a boat to take us to the Islands to stay in a beach bungalow. There is probably no internet, so will be a couple of days before we update .
troopytracks 