Sitting in Sihanoukville it is easy to imagine this place crowded with tourists. It is a beautiful beach; three beautiful beaches in fact, the nicest easily being Sokha Beach. Riding the bus back to Phnom Penh it is easy to see why the place is almost completely deserted, except for the hardy and the foolhardy (not quite sure which of those two categories we fall into).

The bus ride is brutal: five hours made worse by interminable traffic down sometimes impassable stretches of road. You have to earn a nice vacation in this part of the world. The places that are easy to get to are overrun by the truly obnoxious. On the long ride back we amused ourselves by thinking about the worse vacations we have had here. They are few and far between. Even Phuket, whose Patong Beach has to be one of the most vile spots in Asia, was made bearable by awesome Thai food and a fun dance spot. We even got to visit with our Bangladeshi mission buddies on that trip, so that can’t be all bad.

The Sunset Terrace restaurant at Sihanoukville is going down in the memory banks as one of the nicest, though. Great food (very inexpensively priced) fabulous service (Did you twitch, dear? The waiter wants to know if you need something), and a balcony seat to the gentle lapping of the South China Sea at our feet while the little fishing boats made their way back to port through the sunset.

We did our duty back in Phnom Penh, though, hiking out to Central Market to pick a sample of “favours” for the guests at our daughter’s wedding. I will reveal no secrets except to say that we have some nice choices for her to choose from. Then it was back to a newly renovated and very clean looking Sisowath Quay and the Foreign Correspondent’s Club for a light bite to eat before heading back to the Billabong for the night. I was up at 5.30 to catch the morning flight to KL. Pam will remain in PP for another couple of days to do ministry business.