Though we've spent several relaxing days in Sihanoukville, we haven't really done it's famous sandy shores justice. We usually get bored at the beach, losing interest soon after our swim in the ocean is over. Today, Pete, Natasha, Maggie and Travis have offered to show us the ropes to lazing around. It goes a little something like this:
You find a clean and relatively quiet spot, unlike the one by our hotel.
You set up shop in the shade, with a book and a coconut shake.
You chill out, and don't do any work, and you try not to feel too guilty about it.
You pay for a five dollar massage that lasts an hour, and splurge on fruit when a vendor comes walking by.
You say "yes please!" to the alien-looking seafood brought on huge trays.
…and you play with the beach bar owner's adorable son.
Then, once you're nice and crusted in salt from the occasional dip in the ocean, and find yourself so relaxed that the hedonistic delights of the beach are no longer captivating, you head home for a shower and a rest.
Once the sun has set (an underwhelming, cloudy affair) and your nap is over, you return to your friends and the salty sea.
You come back to the same place over and over, so that the people remember you, and you settle into papazan chairs for a beach barbecue.
For three dollars each, you order up freshly caught, freshly grilled seafood, and find, for the first time, that you really really like it.
Then, you chat late into the night with new friends, downing fifty-cent Angkor beers, listening to the inky black sea lap up on shore.
The last order of the night is teetering back home to get some much needed rest (hah), as the whole process starts again the following morning!