What happens in Sihanoukville…afternoon of day 4, all of day 5

Posted by: missmegs1 on: January 20, 2011

• In: Cambodia | travel
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…stays in Sihanoukville! So don’t expect too much from this blog!

Sihanoukville was the place we decided to spend new years eve, a popular beach destination and tourist town in Cambodia. Because of a recommendation from one of Laura’s friends, we had booked a room at “Tranquility” on Serendipity Beach…such a peaceful sounding place! And it really was just that…beachfront bungalows on the far end of the busy beach, making it fairly quiet and calm.

beach view at Tranquility

We did a little shopping and wandering around the town. We found a bookstore (again, something lacking in Vietnam), and stumbled upon the Cambodian Children’s Painting Project…an amazing organization that helps underprivileged children working and living on the beaches in Sihanoukville. They provide children with the opportunity to develop their imagination and skills through artistic painting, generate some basic income from the sale of their paintings, and help the children pursue formal schooling, among other things. I bought a few paintings on our first afternoon, and returned the next day to buy more. I even had the pleasure of meeting one of the young artists and purchase one of his paintings.

sweet and talent young artist at CCPP

On New Years Eve day, I woke up early and took my book to the beach. It was a beautiful, calm morning, and I had the opportunity to take advantage of the wifi and call some family and friends from the beach to wish them a happy new year. The rest of the day was spent soaking in the sun, and taking naps in order to prepare for the evenings adventures.

The fireworks on the beach started while we were eating dinner at around 6pm, and didn’t end until around midnight. The children on the beach were selling “power” (fireworks), and on more than one occasion, someone commented how dangerous the combination of “power” and drunk people on a beach really was. After dinner at Tranquility, we wandered down the beach and settled into some comfy beach chairs, one row back from the water, where most people were setting off their fireworks. We started drinking “buckets”…buckets of alcoholic mixes…meant for several people to share, but hey, it was NYE and we had some partying to do! Before long, we were joined by several Aussies and another Canadian, and we all continued to order bucket drinks.

me on NYE

"you want power?"

one bucket in...happy new years!

fireworks

fireworks

Oddly, there was no countdown to midnight, and we all kind of “forgot” to wish each other a happy new years. It wasn’t quite the night we had planned for, but memorable none the less. Too much alcohol and not enough sleep made for a looooooonnnnngggggg bus ride the next morning at 8am back to Phnom Penh!