Cambodia - Sihanoukville

Cambodia is a largely Buddhist and very poor country with one port (Sihanoukville) and many fishing villages. It is trying to pull itself up but is not quite sure how to do it. The beaches are beautiful. The streets are filthy. People are friendly. There are seven national parks, mangrove forests with jungles that contain cobras, boas and other snakes as well as many birds and monkeys. Shrimp fisherman with crescent-shaped nets, swimming oyster harvesters and net fisherman are everywhere in the shallow river near it's mouth.

The beer is great at $1 per can and their currency , the riel, sells for 4000 to the US$.

We did a boat trip down the Prek Toeak Sap River in Ream National Park for about 1.5 hours and then trekked through the jungle to a lovely swimming beach.

Cambodia is a democratic monarchy but we suspect that the government is quite corrupt. Where would one start - perhaps education, a program of recycling, waste and garbage disposal would help.

Many of our fellow cruisers did the 4.5 hour drive to Phnom Penh and back. Others went to Ankara Wat and will meet the ship again in Ho Chi Minh City. Another time.