We lucked out here in a way we haven't since hitting on the Rikitikitavi in Kampot last year. Only the second place we looked at, and without doubt the best value in Sihanoukville - we looked at a few others after we'd checked in, and had absolutely no regrets with our choice. Small enough to be imtimate with only 34 rooms, It's only a couple of years old, and the GPS reference shows only an empty building block.

The hotel has a few different kinds of rooms, including some very nice looking family rooms, and we were able to negotiate the price of $30 because we wanted to stay for a week. Prices appear to be quite changeable in accordance with high, mid and low season and length of stay, and they are very open to negotiation.

Our room had a large double and large single bed with comfortable mattresses and pillows, reasonable quality linens, adequate storage (including a very handy coat rack), a table with two comfy chairs, cable TV, a fridge, air conditioning and most importantly for us a ceiling fan. The windows had fly screens which is an added bonus for those of us who prefer the fan and open window at night to air-con.

The bathroom, like the main room, was very clean with a good powerful shower and a vanity unit big enough to get all of our bits and bobs on - I'm always surprised at how many hotels have a sink with enough bench space for a toothbrush, bar of soap and nothing else.

Oh, did I mention the free 1.5mbs internet connection? Sometimes it was actually going beyond 2mbs. Happy days.

The pool was great and a really good size. The water was always as warm as a nice bath, and being an early riser I saw the staff cleaning it every morning as soon as it was light enough for them to see what they were doing. They also kept the entire grounds spotless, with someone always sweeping or cleaning the chairs and tables when nobody was nearby.

Also, quite unique in comparison with the other places we looked at in town, there were more sun lounger beds than rooms, all with good a thick mattress and a huge pillow. If the sun lounger is not to your liking, there are loads of the mama san-type round chairs and sofa's - again all with the huge pillows - and plenty of other comfortable seats to choose from.

Even if the place was full to capacity, in my opinion there would still be somewhere for everyone to get themselves nice and comfy. As the sun moves during the day, one half of the seating/lying area is always in the shade, so sun lovers or haters can both be happy.

The buffet breakfast was one of the best we've come across in years. Plenty of healthy museli, fruits and salads, but also plenty of eggs and bacon and other terribly unhealthy (but too good to resist) things.

For the rest of the day, the restaurant - part indoor and part in a lovely garden setting - had good quality and reasonably priced food, and within a 2 minute walk there were at least a dozen restaurants, all with pretty similar menus to each other, I though Apollo's was the best, but everyone had their favorite. Dotted amongst the restaurants were a few mini-marts where you could buy just about anything you needed.

A pleasant 4 or 5 minute stroll gets you to Ochheuteal beach, which is nice during the day, but really comes to life at night with dozens of bars and restaurants setting up right on the water's edge, Different places cater for everyone from older couples to wild teenagers - fortunately the wild teenager places were further down the beach and their noise and antics wouldn't bother anyone eating in the more civilized area.