We booked a gorgeous villa at the top of Serendipity Beach. The place was called “Above Us Only Sky” Bar & Bungalows. The room was big as you can see, and had the best views! There was a great porch with comfy lounge chairs on which to hang about and watch the ocean.
View from our porch. Yes, we were porch monkeys (reclaiming the term!)
You can just see the bar, below the bungalow
In the afternoon we hopped on the motorbike to check out the beaches we hadn’t visited yet. Sokha Beach hadn’t changed much – still only accessible at the ends, due to a big private resort there. But the bit you could get onto, was lovely, with fine white sand.
Independence Beach was likewise cordoned off due to the very upmarket Independence Hotel, so we zipped along to Victory Beach. On the way we saw a bunch of monkeys hanging off the private resort’s fence, and they were so cute, we just had to stop.
At Victory beach we saw the fairly bizarre Airport Disco – a bar/restaurant that had an actual plane in it. We stopped for a drink and Dom went up into the plane cockpit, but we decided we’d return to Independence beach to try to catch the sunset.
It was a race against time, as the sun was getting low. The only entrance we could see to get onto the beach had a checkpoint and the guy pointed to a sign saying the beach was for hotel guests only. Damn.
As we drove away, we saw a little sidetrack that was all rocky but bugger it, we were going for it. Success! We dismounted and ran to the shore, just in time. There were just a few Khmers there picnicking and watching the sunset with us, and it was lovely.
For dinner we went to the restaurant at Cloud 9 bungalows next door to where we were staying. It was right next to the beach, and you could see all the way down Serendipity and Ochheuteal. Fireworks were going off constantly and it was very festive.
I’ll be honest and say we had a snooze b
efore heading out later that night; we wanted to make sure we could see in the New Year. A bit of beach barhopping was in order, and everywhere was packed! It was a full moon that night and the beach was packed silly with backpackers, flashpackers and Khmers. If it wasn’t for the Khmers, it’d look just like Ko Phangan. I wouldn’t want to see it like that every night, but for New Years Eve it was fun, and at least the locals were enjoying themselves too.
efore heading out later that night; we wanted to make sure we could see in the New Year. A bit of beach barhopping was in order, and everywhere was packed! It was a full moon that night and the beach was packed silly with backpackers, flashpackers and Khmers. If it wasn’t for the Khmers, it’d look just like Ko Phangan. I wouldn’t want to see it like that every night, but for New Years Eve it was fun, and at least the locals were enjoying themselves too.
As the countdown to midnight started we downed our beers, watched the fireworks in the sky, and stood by the shore. When it hit 2010, we went into the water, up to our knees.
And as people packed the dancefloors or dwindled off slightly, we grabbed some papasan chairs by the sea, and just watched the waves. It would’ve been even better if we’d had mates with us, but it was pretty good.
Unfortunately, while we were ready to hit the hay by 2am, the loud pumping music kept going til almost 7am, so we had the worst night’s sleep of our entire stay. Great bungalows, great view, but just too close to the action.
Next day we cancelled our booking for that night, and decamped to Otres Beach.
Last instalment of the Cambodian Chronicles to come.
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