Okay, so this is my first ever blog. I've been wanting to write one for sometime now but I never got around to doing it because I couldn't think of a name! So, as I said this is my first blog and what goes perfectly with it but a first of something big.
To start off, we're now currently based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia after having been uprooted from our native Philippines. If there is one thing worth mentioning about my family (who will from now on be known as Hubby, Daughter and Son), it's that we love swimming. Beach, pool, and I suspect any other sort of water where we could take a dip in. Most of our vacations are to places where we could swim. Enough about the backgrounder and on to talk about what my title says. Naturally, our very first vacation outside Phnom Penh is to the beach!
Sihanoukvilleis a 5-hour drive from Phnom Penh, though in our case it took longer than that because we had to reroute due to some flooding in National Road 4, I think. I was barely listening to our driver. The drive was uneventful aside from some beautiful pagodas we passed along the way. We were a day early for our booking at Sokha Beach and we decided to do what most tourists do, rent a cheap lodging somewhere and face whatever comes. By gut feel, I decided on Beach Road Hotel although there are quite a number of small hotels with very close proximity to the public beach too. My instincts proved correct as my choice was in a good spot with a number of bars and restaurants either beside it or across it. Now, this place has nothing remarkable about it except that the rooms are cheap and big enough for a family of 4. There was also a good sized pool and a resto-bar in front. After dinner we explored the area although we just stayed along the strip of our hotel. It felt safe and there were quite a number of people just milling about as well, Aussies, French, Brits and us. We liked how everything was just relaxed and simple and people completely uncaring of who everyone else was. We were expecting a completely different ambiance at the next hotel we were going to stay at.
So today we checked in at Sokha Beach Resort and it is a complete opposite of our previous one, it being a 5-star hotel. We've been to places before that others have raved so much about but only to be disappointed when we finally got there. Well, this place isn't one of those. I was actually looking forward to the beach because I forgot to mention above that the public beach had very fine white sand And Sokha boasts of a long strip of private beach in it's 25.3 hectares of beautifully landscaped property. Our room was right in front of the Dolphin Pool, the second one after the main hotel. After the requisite waiting time for our sunscreen to take effect, we went to the pool which was void of other swimmers. I was feeling pretty confident in my new 2-piece bikini not because I had the body for it but because I knew most of the other guests were Caucasians who couldn't care less if I had a roll of fat on my belly or dimples on my legs.
The pool was so wide with black tiles. It's actually 2 pools connected to each other, one for the kids and the other for grown-ups. But both were quite big. After a quick lunch of hotdog sandwiches brought in from outside (they aren't that strict) eaten at poolside, we headed for the beach. By this time we've had about an hour of swimming already. The beach was a 5-minute walk from our room and as we neared it, we could see huge waves crashing on the shore. For any other kid, it might have looked scary but not for Son. He actually whooped in excitement which amused some guests walking near us. I was scared deep inside but it's our practice as parents to try and let our kids explore, to some extent. And so the scared mom goes with her brave son to face the waves. We stayed near the shoreline, which in truth is where the current is actually stronger. But I dared not go farther into the water because the current was quite strong and it could pull us back in with the tide. We stood there together, hand in hand running gleefully (Son) and scared (me). He was thinking "fun" I was thinking "tsunami". Daughter though decided to just play in the sand.
As minutes passed the waves got higher and stronger. I am not sure if it's really how it is all the time but there is some typhoon from Vietnam which could be affecting the waters here as well. But we stayed on and after a while, I started to have fun too. After all, I used to love it too when I was a kid and had no awareness at all about the possibility of tidal waves. After that we headed to the swimming pool in the main building. There isn't really much to say about this as all we did was swim. We swam for 3 hours, in fact, and as I'm writing, I'm already feeling the effect on my arms and shoulders. Goodluck to me tomorrow.
I decided that we'd have dinner at The Deck which was at the beachfront, right where we played tag with the waves. Yes, it's been me making the decisions because Hubby was working. If I didn't have so much fun, I'd probably be complaining now. But then again, the kids were very easy to manage today because swimming keeps them in a happy, cooperative mood. The Deck was a very beautiful spot indeed, again, as advertised in the flyer in our hotel room. I love it when things live up to it's word. It's supposed to give a splendid view of the setting sun but owing to the weather, there was no sunset to witness and so the crashing waves had our sole attention. Even so, it was beautiful to look at, much more than a placid sea ever could look. It kept me from reading my Kindle, which says a lot. But that's for another blog.
They serve Japanese cuisine, tapas and a mix of other cuisines including Khmer food. The price was okay, a little bit pricey which was to be expected at a place like this. Oh, I just did some conversion and it's actually not that expensive after all. We ordered Honey Pork Ribs, Sticky Nachos which had a lot of mozzarella cheese, fish and chips, Boys and Girls smoothie which was soya milk based with bananas and honey and Four Seasons juice for me. All for a total of $32 which to peso value is less than P1400. So not bad! And the ambiance was priceless.
Finally the weather could not hold off the rain anymore and so it came. Thankfully we were close to finishing our dinner. The kids declared the pork ribs delicious, by the way. The tacos were good too except they couldn't eat it because it was spicy. All in all a very satisfying meal. And thus sated and with fatigue setting in, we're finally settled in our room. The bed is super king-sized and all four of us will fit in it. I think there would be some kicks coming my way tonight but as I'm as tired as the kids are, I doubt that I'd feel them. The only thing that's lacking is the massage I've been dreaming of. It's not happening tonight because Hubby isn't back yet from their function.
Tomorrow is another day. I'm hoping the weather will have improved so we can swim in the beach. As of tonight though, I can already say it's well worth the travel and I hope to come back soon. Yea, that's how nice it is here. We haven't even left yet and I'm already planning to come back. I'll find out if I can post pictures here as well. If my words can't convey the beauty of the place, maybe the pictures will.
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