Oh my Buddha, I found paradise*

Sihnoukville was paradise to say the least. We really gambled with the weather going during the rainy season (especially when it was calling for rain) but we decided to take a chance anyways. The weather gods took pity on us and it was absolutely exceptional!!! Not a cloud in the sky all weekend and it was hot hot hot!

From left to right: Jenny from Buffalo, Catherine from Belfast, meeee, Jaclyn from Long Island

When we hit the beach we were instantly greated with a small crowd of kids trying to get us to buy their bracelets and buy their fruit. This sounds annoying and to many people this is, but these kids were genious. They remembered your name every time they saw you.. they could calculate to the cent the conversion rates between US dollars and riel.. they used guilt and manipulation to get you to buy things. It was incredible the lines they used, "open your heart, open your wallet," "if you dont buy this you dont support Cambodia," "dont think too much, it makes you look older," and my all-time favourite for the cute factor was "oh my Buddha." We became friends with these kids and built a good relationship with them and they started to watch out for us on the beach a bit -  telling us to close our purses and making sure we didnt leave anything in the open for taking. They would go through our magazines and books picking out pictures of their wannabe boyfriends and would give us all the ugly ones. They were such a riot and I really enjoyed my time laughing with them.

                                     
Children on the serendipity beach selling bracelets and fruit 

We spent all day Saturday on Serendipity beach which was a 5 minute walk from our hotel. We also splurged for a hotel that had hot water.. this is definitely somethnig I have missed!!!! There is a beautiful walkway along the beach with hundreds of beach chairs and umbrella's set up infront of dozens of restaurants and bars. To sit in the chairs along the beach you need to buy drinks at the corresponding restaurant - this wasn't an issue for us. We sat infront of this family run restaurant all day and they made us this delicious grilled seafood dinner with shrimp, squid and baracuda.

Restaurant owner and her nephew's making us dinner

Without getting into too much detail, the bars are open 24hrs! 

On Serendipity beach watching the sun set 

On Sunday we did an island boat tour, went snorkelling in a coral reef, and then spent the afternoon on Bamboo Island.

 Snorkelling around Bamboo Island

The island, the water, the breeze, the jungle, the fish... it was paradise... the most beautiful place I have ever been. No picture could capture the beauty and perfectness of this place.

The boats tied along the shore of Bamboo Island

 Doing a little reading and a lot of loving life!

Later that night we took a bus back to Phnom Penh and I had a delicious chicken curry thanksgiving dinner with three wonderful ladies!!! There is no place like home but this weekend was absolutely perfect :)