August Beach Vacation

On July 29, our family left Phnom Penh to spend the next nine days on vacation at the Cambodian seaside. The town of Sihanoukville (named for a former king) is a pleasant destination, much different from the congested capital. We had been there as a family in December, and stayed at a Hotel School that trains students in the hospitality business while practicing on actual guests. We decided to head to Don Bosco Hotel School again, and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Since it was the middle of the rainy season (not a high tourist time), we were the only guests for most of the time we were there!

a photo of the Hotel from the Don Bosco website

We had great food all week, and loved the fresh rolls at every meal!

Not only was it rainy season, but contrary to the rain-then-sun-then-more-rain of Phnom Penh, it rained for several days at a time in Sihanoukville. That, and the fact that during the rainy season, the Gulf of Thailand is pretty rough with big waves, we only went to the beach a couple times. So, in addition to watching Tom and Jerry, Discovery Channel, and DVDs, building pillow-houses, bouncing on the beds a little (the kids) and getting on the Internet (the adults)...

...when the clouds parted, we went swimming in the hotel pool. Juliana and Kai enjoyed playing in the water with Mommy and Daddy, and practicing the things they've been learning in weekly swim lessons (June-Sept).

In between raindrops, Ryan also had the chance to practice driving a motorbike on the less-congested streets. We all enjoyed going out as a family on the bike, and Juliana and Kai loved to have Daddy as their driver! Kai and Juliana in their towel cocoons, Kai's favorite thing to do after a bath

We had a great time on our vacation. It was so long and so relaxing that we actually started to miss the routine of regular life at home, which was our sign that the vacation was almost too long! Ironically, upon our return to "real life," 3/4ths of our family passed around a virus that knocked us out for a few days with fever, sore throat and headache. Upon recovery, we hastily prepared for a week-long separation, the details of which will be shared in the next post!

- Bethany