After a few days of temples and history, we were ready to head to the beach! So we caught an overnight bus to a town called Sihanoukville. Of all the overnight buses we’ve taken in the past few months, this one was by far the best! It was called a “Hotel Bus” and was awesome. Brandon and I had our own little cubby with lay-flat seats! We were able to lay back, watch a movie, and really get some sleep which was a first for these bus trips.

We’d planned to go diving the day we arrived, but the boat didn’t end up going out that day. So instead we hit the beach! The nice beach area is called Otres Beach, so we grabbed our stuff and walked down the beach until we found it. We got set up in a few beachfront chairs and ordered lunch thinking it couldn’t get much better than that. But then, I was offered a beach-side mani/pedi! How could I say no? It wasn’t until I was sitting there with wet nails that I realized a sandy beach may not have been the best place to get my nails done. Oh well! It was relaxing and ended up drying pretty fast.

The next day we got our dive on! I got certified to dive with enriched oxygen (Nitrox) before I left and it was the first time I got to use it. And it was the first time I ever consumed less air than Brandon on a dive. Woo hoo! Other than those highlights, these dives were not much to write home about. But it was nice to get back in the water. The next day – which happened to be Valentine’s Day, we went out to the island of Koh Rong for another day of beach relaxation.

We were supposed to go out for a night snorkel to see the bio-luminescence, but the currents were a bit rough so we opted out. Instead we headed out to a romantic dinner. Unfortunately, that was delayed when I stepped on a nail on the dock. Awesome. Luckily it wasn’t too bad and there was an Israeli soldier at the next table to jumped in to action and patched me up! The rest of the evening was spent enjoying a fundraiser event for animals on the island. This also meant I got to play with puppies on the beach, so I was quite happy!

If we were to do it again, we likely would have based ourselves on Koh Rong for our entire stay in the area. Maybe next time!