Serendipity Beach in the town of Sihanoukville (pronounced shanuck-ville) is perhaps the most perfect little beach resort: Beautiful white sands, blue seas, stretches of deserted beach and on the main beach, an endless row of beach bars where you can deposit yourself on a sun lounger and have mango shakes and noodles brought to you throughout the day before watching the sunset with an ice cold beer. One of the bars even had the good taste to play some Charlatans (really obscure ones too!): Jesus hairdo & Theme from the Wish
Truly Serendipitous.
We stayed in some great little bungalows called Monkey Republic on a street beautifully named 'The Road to Serendipity' - the great thing about so many guesthouses and bars in Cambodia is that they generally give their profits back to the Cambodian people through charities - for example the British guys who own Monkey Republic donate money to a local school to give all local kids free schooling. Kids hawking bracelets and fruit on the beach is a bit of a problem - it encourages them not to go to school, so we all resolved not to buy from them.
I had fully intended to take the others out sailing on a Hobie Cat as the sea was beautifully calm & flat - unfortunately a little too flat - there wasn’t enough wind on the day I did manage to exert myself enough to head down to the sailing club on a moto and the sun was just too warm, and the sea too gorgeous for me to summon up the energy to head down there again. Pathetic, I know.
It was a really lovely few days - relaxing on the beach, doing absolutely nothing, with no compelling force sending us out & about. Even our nights out were fairly restrained by our standards - mainly involving chilling out on the beach with a few beers. Sometimes life can be really tough.
