Sihanoukville, Ortres beach and Bamboo island

After 2 weeks of working and citylife it was time for a break. So i catched a bus to Sihanoukville, in the south of the country to have a little beach holiday. Yes, cambodia has beaches,  Lonely planet says its like Koh Phi Phi and Koh Tao 10 years ago. That sounds about wonderful, and indeed it was. I took the latest bus because i still needed to get my Passport from the Thai embassy, where i applied for a 60 day visa for Thailand. My appointment was from 3-4 pm to collect my visa...at half past 4 still no sign of my passport, and me and several other people where getting really impacient and anxcios. The worst thing is that nobody actually talks to you to tell you what the hell the problem is. So if there was somebody coming to the office, seperated by thick glass windows from the angry crowd, everybody would storm forward to ask about their passports. Sometimes he would look at you and just say..No ..not yet...so i asked, what are you doing then? " still signing....still signing.."   WHAT? They had my passport for 4 days and now it occurs to them that it should be about time to sign it....seriously....i didn´t know what to say... So i told them the truth, that my bus is leaving at 6 and that i have to go..." yes..yes...at 5 pm should be ready"....Well, turned out that i just couldn´t wait that long because i still needed to pack everything and my pickup from the Guesthouse was at 5.15 pm. So i just left and hoped that i can collect my passport the next time beeing in Phnom Penh.
In typical Julia style i threw all m belongings together, said goodby to some fo the girls that where back from their day-task and off i was to the bus station.
The bus was fully booked, but as the Cambodians are very ( very!) stricked with their seating orders ( seriously..if they give you a seat, you´ll better stay there!! Even if the bus is half empty, don´t mess around with them!)  and also very attentive who they seat together ( in this case, the white people ) i ended up beside a girl from holland and in front of a bunch of english guys. As we all hadn´t booked any accomodation yet we decided to go to Mushroom point at Ortres beach, which is about 6 km out of Sihanoukville, isn´t in the lonely planet and looked awesome on the internet ( well, i had no idea, but the others found it on hostelbookers, so i just followed the mob)
After a nearly 6 hour drive with at least 4 nearly crashes on the busy road we finally arrived, all still alive, to be surrounded by  tuktuk drivers and motos offering their services for horrendous prices. We managed to get them down to 2 dollar each, wich was actually a really good price according to the distance and the time ( nearly midnight). 4 people with their backbackes in each tuk tuk and off we drove through the darkness. Halfway through our drivers turned into this prehistorical dusty road with a lot of wholes and we thought for a moment..oh no..where the hell are they bringing us? But yes, it was actually really far away and it was one of the last places of the street....which turned out to be fully booked. Snap! But well, as it was late we just had to take what was left, so we booked into a place 2 doors down which was totally fine.

Beach..finally! What can i say, hanging around, reading, getting a massage, drinking fruitshakes and just relaxing..that a life!
Boattrip to Bamboo island with snorkel stops..never mind snorkelling though...you can´t see anything...but i decided to stay at the island for 2 nights and tried to do nothing. So i waved my english friends goodby at the shore and went with 2 other guys, Miranda from Australia and Mitchel from England, my new friends for the next 2 days to find our accomodation at the other side of the island.
It was just fantastic, beach bungalows, really nice  dorms, an open space restaurant near the beach..hammocks pitched up everywhere. Well, you can imagine, the next 2 days where just about enjoying the moment and beeing happy to be there.

sunset at bamboo island

Bamboo island 

I could have stayed a week, but i had my bed at Mushroom point already booked for the 3. night, so i sadly had to take the boat back just to go and relax a little bit more at the other beach ;-) out of one night make two but then it was about time to go back to PP and be ready for another adventure: Ratanakiri Province in the Northeast of the country. 11 hours drive from PP and not really a major tourist place. Perfect!