After a few days we had visited most of the places we could within Pnomh Penh and were basically just wandering around, exploring. During one of these wanderings we came across a scuba diving shop, so decided to pop in as we wondered if there would be a day trip somewhere that David could go. The woman inside was very helpful and told us that there wasn't anywhere close by and on hearing that we had already been in the city for a few days she advised us to take a few days out and go to Sihanouk Ville which was about four hours drive away, as they do scuba diving. We priced a bus to get there and it would cost about £6 , travel is cheap over here, so we decided to go for it, this would make the best use of our time as we were not doing anything productive in Pnomh Penh.
So we found ourselves in Sihanouk Ville which is a port that was made in the 1950's It was made because the Cambodians wanted to have direct access to the sea as their other access via the Mekong River was at that time increasingly under the control of the Vietnamese. Nowadays, it is very much a touristy place, seaside, bars and restaurants but to be quite honest not much to do. Thankfully we were only booked in for a couple of days so David could get a dive.
When we went to book our bus trip back to Pnomh Penh we remembered that the staff at One Up Banana hotel, the hotel we had stayed in, in Pnomh Penh, were also in Sihanouk Ville at that time on a staff holiday weekend. We knew this because they had invited us to go with them but we declined , mainly because we didn't want to spoil their weekend away, after all it was a holiday for them so they wouldn't want tourists along.
So we decided to email and ask if we could get a lift back with them as we were staying in their hotel on our return to Pnomh Penh. Well, we got a very excited reply saying that that would be great and to feel free to join them.
So that is how we ended up on a mini bus with a bunch of very happy Cambodians, some tipsy singing Karaoke. They were having a whale of a time and it was lovely to see. David sat beside one of them, who we didn't know, he spoke very good English but was suffering from partying the night before. Turns out he was the owner of the hotel and it was him who had laid the treat on for his staff. Sadly, the karaoke was written in Cambodian script so me and David couldn't join in but it was funny listening to the others and at times we could clap along or sing Oi at the right time while raising our arms.
The journey took a scenic route via Kampot, so we could pick up some people. When we got there we stopped at a hotel also owned by the owner and had a lovely meal. It was chucking it down with rain but most of the young lads on the trip still went in the pool, they were making the most of their time off and good for them . Me and David saw the pool rules and decided not to join them, too strict by far - cheeky but funny!
So we found ourselves in Sihanouk Ville which is a port that was made in the 1950's It was made because the Cambodians wanted to have direct access to the sea as their other access via the Mekong River was at that time increasingly under the control of the Vietnamese. Nowadays, it is very much a touristy place, seaside, bars and restaurants but to be quite honest not much to do. Thankfully we were only booked in for a couple of days so David could get a dive.
When we went to book our bus trip back to Pnomh Penh we remembered that the staff at One Up Banana hotel, the hotel we had stayed in, in Pnomh Penh, were also in Sihanouk Ville at that time on a staff holiday weekend. We knew this because they had invited us to go with them but we declined , mainly because we didn't want to spoil their weekend away, after all it was a holiday for them so they wouldn't want tourists along.
So we decided to email and ask if we could get a lift back with them as we were staying in their hotel on our return to Pnomh Penh. Well, we got a very excited reply saying that that would be great and to feel free to join them.
So that is how we ended up on a mini bus with a bunch of very happy Cambodians, some tipsy singing Karaoke. They were having a whale of a time and it was lovely to see. David sat beside one of them, who we didn't know, he spoke very good English but was suffering from partying the night before. Turns out he was the owner of the hotel and it was him who had laid the treat on for his staff. Sadly, the karaoke was written in Cambodian script so me and David couldn't join in but it was funny listening to the others and at times we could clap along or sing Oi at the right time while raising our arms.
The journey took a scenic route via Kampot, so we could pick up some people. When we got there we stopped at a hotel also owned by the owner and had a lovely meal. It was chucking it down with rain but most of the young lads on the trip still went in the pool, they were making the most of their time off and good for them . Me and David saw the pool rules and decided not to join them, too strict by far - cheeky but funny!
May need to enlarge to read.
There was also this sign on the door.
I don't think we actually picked up any people but we did pick up the owner's dog.
It was a very eventful journey and was lots of fun, it was really good to socialise with the staff of One Up Hotel but at times me and David just looked at each other as if to say, " What on earth, are we doing! "
No comments:
Post a Comment