A Second crack at Perfection?

After we got back to Sihanoukville we decided to find a quiet beach on the mainland for Christmas and headed to the not too distant Otres Beach, arriving in the dark we found a bungalow, not only was it directly on the beach but it was also made ontop of an old boat, we slept the night and awoke in the morning opening the door to a view over the calm blue ocean, paradise had been refound....unfortunately the boat was only the size of a double bed, and contained a double bed. So we walked down the beach looking for something a bit more roomy, who says beggars can't be choosers.

A straw bungalow with a wooden interior 20 feet from the water on a quiet stretch of beach, our own table, chairs and sunloungers on the sand where the restaurant would bring our food, and the door an large window opening onto the sea. We made the most of the loungers and the fly free sand, dipped in and out of the water as we pleased, and ate the delicious food from the restaurant, and fruit we had bought from the market while watching the sandcrabs run up and down the beach. We had a nice couple from Germany with a baby in the next bungalow and a couple from Horfield (!) that we could share some Christmas drinks with. We had found our paradise and it was still a day until Christmas.

After a night in our bungalow we awoke on Christmas Eve to the view of the early morning sun catching the flat sea and ate a fresh mango on our porch, unfortunately (again) there had been a mix up with the bookings and we had to move again. It was tough but we had to move to a not quite such luxurious bungalow a bit further down the beach, it was not the end of the world and we were back on the beach and had a fre lunch as compensation.

A quiet Christmas Eve included my foot being 'pinched' by a crab while in the sea, a few drinks in the evening and returning to out new bungalow to find a bat flying round the room, a cockroach on Vicky's toothbrush and being jumped on by large beetles. We jumped under our mosquito net, so much for 'nothing was stirring not even a mouse'. We kept laughing.

Christmas was a beautiful day, we woke up early and swam under the rising sun, ate a breakfast of fresh dragon fruit and watermelon and opened a few presents on the beach (Thanks Ann, Pete, Sarah & Ben). We maintained soem traditions by hanging a silver snowflake from our beach umbrella (unfortunately no cracker hats), spent time with new found friends and ate and drank lots - the coconut shakes topped up with rum were particularly good as the sun was going down. We ended the day as it had begun with a quick swim. A brilliant day - we hope you all had a great Christmas too.