Hello!!
It’s been a while since my last post… My schedule got really hectic, and also I moved into a new apartment – which takes a lot of your time as you might guess… Also, into the new apartment you are getting those details to make it from “a new apartment” to “home”, and also trying to maintain my regular routine of gym and meeting friends for drinks/dinner.

So, my last trip was to Sihanoukville, to which at this point, it was more than a month ago!!! It was during Hari Raya, which is the marking point of the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. As I have mentioned before, here in Malaysia we have many holidays pertaining to the mix of cultures in the country. Ramadan is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic belief.

This is the second time that I witness Ramadan, but this has been the first time that I have fasted. I did it for one day (which is not much considering it is done for a whole month). While fasting, from dawn until sunset, you refrain from consuming food, drinking any liquid, smoking (if you do!)…My team and I did it as a way to support our boss who is Muslim. The experience is really challenging, mostly because you cannot drink water, and I drink like 3 liters of water only at the office. By noon I was really thirsty, but I need it to wait until about 7.15pm to be able to drink or eat anything –an I did, with a lot of struggle! But having dinner with my boss later on after fasting, hearing his stories about family gathering during Ramadan and in Hara Raya was really nice and interesting—it is a time of the year to get together with the family and celebrate. I’m glad I did it, and I did feel happiness on the first sip of water I got, just as my Muslim friends had explained to me.

Back to Sihanouville – It was really nice! I was looking for a place of tranquility, where I only had to take a book, relax at the beach and enjoy the peaceful site, and I found exactly this there… (More info about the hotel @ White Boutique Hotel )

You have to flight to Phomn Phen, and from there is almost 4 hours by car!!! I know, it’s super far, but starting this September, there will be a direct flight from KL, not bad eh? The way by car is ok, there is a lot of traffic to get out of the city, and then later the highway is only two lanes, so a little bit dangerous when passing the cars. On the way, it started to rain like crazy, and it is because it’s raining season in Cambodia (something that I didn’t know until I got there :/). Got to the hotel and it was a super nice white boutique hotel along the beach, exactly as it is shown in the pictures featured in their webpage.

I and my friend Kim (from New Zealand) were taken to our room, which decoration was super cool with a world map created with stickers of the names of the countries. The room was really nice, every detail really well thought, and everything brand new. I love the tiles of the bathroom, and how new it is! After leaving our bags in the room, we went to the little restaurant which is located next to the pool. The hotel has a magnificent diverse Menu, with western and Cambodian dishes full of flavor… my first choice: Ceviche! It was sooo good, so delicious that I actually repeated the very next day! 😛

The rain continued most of the night, and the next day we only had some sun during the morning… But still, I was so happy to be there and enjoying the beach and the site!

The next day, we decided to take a boat, which was going to take us Island Hopping – of course, there was no Island Hopping and we were taken directly from the Ferry Station to Koh Rohn which is one of the biggest islands close by and the most famous. The island has a hippie vibe, but I personally did not like a lot, as it was full of garbage. I like that it has many restaurants along the coast line, quite a variety of places, but the water and around the beach was not clean—at some point wanted just to pick up the garbage and go back to the hotel. Still, we enjoyed our time. We sat at a Vegan restaurant which has amazing detox juices. Along with our book we had a pleasant afternoon.

The next day was again another day at the beach—this day the Sun was bright and at its fullest! And, Sihanouville said good-bye to us with the most beautiful sunset I have ever seeing in Southeast Asia, we were all breathless!

The Orange Sunset!

Would I come back? I would!!… But in the non-rainy season! 😉

Fabi

PS: So excited that my next post will be most probably about my next trip: NEPAL!!! Im soo excited!! 😃🎉🎉