Work at the beach

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After the heat of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh we felt it was time to go to the beach. And when you are in Cambodia and want to go to the beach you go to Sihanoukville. It's a small town divided into the 4 beaches and a downtown area. The population is 77 000 and I reckon about 75 000 of them are motorbike drivers. Every ten second or so you get "motorbike sir?". Not a problem though, just comical.

Well, we thankfully found a room for four dollars, cheap cheap thinking that we arrived just in time for the Chinese new year. A guy from the place where we stayed in Phnom Penh knew this place and booked a room for us. He said it would be 8 dollars, but thankfully it was only 4 when we arrived. The first days we didn't really do much, we had gotten into the pace of doing nothing and we didn't enjoy it too much. So we decided to go on a snorkelling trip. Most places can arrange one for you but we thought it would be best to go through a dive-shop as they would know more about the good places. So we walked in into a place called Ecosea. The man that met us told us that he had just sold his half of the company and if we wanted a trip we should se a short Japanese ladie called Kyoko in the bar next door. We did and arranged the trip not the next day but the day after that.

The next day we took it easy and then it was time. We got on the boat with several divers and then out to the island Koh Rong Salem. The snorkelling was good, not excellent but many colours and a few small things we hadn't seen before. We spent the night on the island in a newlybuilt bungalow (rainshelter) that Kyoko had had built by the locals. They were building another one and after that a toilet and a small restaurant area. This was so that there could be sold overnight trips to this island. Unfortunatly they hand't completed the toilet when we were there but fortunatly I didn't have to do number two. I spent a couple of hours in my hammock reading during the afternoon.

The next morning again into the sea for some snorkelling around the shore. Just when we arrived the big diveboat came back and I went with them to snorkel again. But when I jumped into the water from the boat the mouthpiece of my snorkel came off and went down in the big blue. I had to borrow a snorkel and of course it was proper shit compared to mine. And my mask kept on fogging up so I didn't enjoy myself very much. Happier I became when the divers came up and Kyoko had found the mouthpiece.

When we came back we decided to meet up with one of the guys of the boat for a beer in the evening. His name is Clint and he is 20-something Australian training to become a dive-master. He is one of the most stereotyped people I have ever met but he's really nice. While having the beer the boss Rudi saw us in the bar and came to have a beer. Rudi is kind of the boss of Ecosea, even though Kyoko is the owner and the boss. If Rudi says something Kyoko won't disagree. He is late 30-something, German and was seriously injured by the tsunami. He kind of asked us if we wanted to work and I took it as a joke but the next morning Amie went for work. And she did well and we both got a job for them.

Our job is to sit in this little hut on the beach answering questions and selling dives and snorkellings to passer-bys. During a good day you sell 4-5 things so it's not really intense. And while waiting for customers I play the guitar, read a book or speak to the local sellers. There are plenty of kids selling fruit and bracelets and postcards and so on and we have got to know a few of them.

We had a big party, a staff party and it was quite hectic. A lot of people got properly drunk during the party and the afterparty at 3 different bars. A guy called Rob just recently graduated dive-master got the snorkel-test. He's got a snorkel in his mouth and 3 beers were poured down it. I took it easy but managed to down a lot more than I thought I would. The crowd was very friendly and it was nice to see the Cambodian people socialize with the foreigners. The next day we hadn't planned any diving so everyone had a day off.

The day after that Amie went on the overnight diving trip so I had to run the store myself for two days. It was fine, well, I didn't sell anything but that was not solely my fault. The weather was windy and cloudy and then not many people go to the beach. I ate fresh papaya for lunch bought from one of the kids, our favourite, a 14-year old girl called Mee.

We have rented a motorbike for a month, costing us 50 dollars. And we moved into Rudis place, it is basicly a big openplan livingroom with 3 walls so it kind of turns into a balcony and then 3 bedrooms with ensuites hotel-style. The worst thing is you have to open 3 different locks to get in and it is on the 4th floor but it'll be cool. We have a bathtub, hot water, proper toilet, aircon, fan, cabletv, fridge. Luxuries!

As this was way out of plans we have had to rearrange a few things. We were gonna go to Vietnam and get new flight from there but have arranged it to get a credit for the part of our tickets that is not used and it will be waiting for us in Ho Chi Minh City when we eventually get there. I really hope it does, you can't always trust these things.

Since we planned to go to Vietnam we had our guesthouse in Phnom Penh get us Vietnamese visas before we left for Sihanoukville. We did get them, but the wrong starting-date so we left them in Phnom Penh to get it all sorted out while we went to the beach. Which ment our passports were in Phnom Penh and we were gonna live in Sihanoukville. We also had to somehow extend our visa for Cambodia as it runs out on the 4th of March. The best way of doing it would be going on a visa-run to Thailand to get a business visa which can be extended easily and cheaply. But to cross the boarder we would have to have our passports. So we left for Phnom Penh.

In Phnom Penh we decided that we really just needed another month on our visa as we had to get into Australia and New Zeeland on set dates to activate our working holiday visas. If we would be to stay for long we would miss these dates and that would screw everything.

So insted of doing a long bus-journey to the boarder and back we just extended our tourist visa for another month.

So right now we are in Phnom Penh, I have just bought myself a new pair of swimming shorts. Tomorrow we will go back to the beach.

Even though we have only worked less than a week, this is a nice break and feels like a little holiday. And the people at the guesthouse are nice so it's all cool.

Working we won't get paid in money, well we could get 10% commission but opted to get a advanced and a rescue-dive courses. They add up to about 500 dollars in money so it is way more than anyone gets paid here. We could go for divemaster but then we'd have to stay maybe another month and I am not sure I have enough skills to be able to do it now. It's mainly the hard swimming test I don't feel confident of. I swim very well with my super-fins but without I just get tired. Anyway that doesnt matter much. We plan to do a month, get our courses done and then head to Vietnam, then Laos (which I am seriously looking forward to) and then northern Thailand.

Cambodia is nice, the lack of laws is a bit weird but I quite like it now. Driving can be scary, they don't have any rules. Sometimes you drive on the right side of the road, sometimes on the left. But everyone looks out so there isn't much trouble. And of course the speeds are low. As everyone only looks forward and not in the mirrors (most people don't even have them) you have to beep people from behind if a situation is about to happen. It actually works really well, people are very relaxed in the traffic, no road rage.

Now it's time to go back to do some diving (if I can remember how). Well first it's time for all the Premier League games tonight. They show 3 every Saturday, it's really great. And 2 Italian and 2 German games. And after that there is the Sunday games. Tv is far superior here!

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Comments

[Anders]

jag, avundsjuk..? inte då..
tjena man. det gör lite ont i hjärtat att läsa om era eskapader, men jag är såklart glad för er skull. bara en tidsfråga innan jag åker tillbaka själv. ett tag sen du uppdaterade. var är ni nu? om ni kan, försök ta er in i vietnam via mekong-deltat. jäkligt coolt, och inte så värst turistigt. bästa staden i naam; hoi an. och saigon är också ganska nice för att vara en större stad. dont miss out. fred & kärlek. hälsa amie. /the anders.