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Published: March 19th 2007
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Leanne talking to Todd.
The guy in the background is a beggar with a dog. If you stand in his way he walks around, and he always knows whether to say "Please Sir."or "Please Madam.", If he's blind then, then, then. Well he's just not ok. Oh, and the dog carries a bucket in it's mouth all day. Sun 11th March Got up at 6.30 am and got the bus to Sihanoukville. It was a pretty uneventful bus journey, straighforward. Got off the bus and got the Moto.
Yes, they fit a giant rucksack at the front of a motorbike and you sit on the back riding pillion. There are no helmets here for driver or passenger. So we got to a nice hotel called 'G.S.T guesthouse'and hired a bungalow, it's pretty nice and about 100 metres from the beach. Sweet. So we just chilled out, watched TV for a bit and then hit the beach.
There are loads of beaches here, the one next to us is Ochheateal beach (Neither of us can pronounce it). It leads on to Serendipity and some other beach that the locals seem to like best.
At the beach we met a guy called Todd. From Galvaston Texas, works on an oil rig and does 5 weeks on, 5 weeks off. Nice enough guy, bit too open about his sexual exploits with Thai and Khmer 'massage' ladies, but it takes all sorts. He showed us that you can pick up a jelly fish! They can't sting the palms of your
hands or the soles of your feet.
Something we didn't know. There are loads here. Usually about 8 or 9 inches, ranging from see through or pink to a really deep electric blue. We saw one that was about 3 feet long though.
Mon 12th Just sunbathed today. Went to bank, found Supermarket, that was about it. We noticed the number of tauts and beggers on the beach is ridiculous.
Tue 13th Walked to Downtown (The main city centre) to see the market (A let down of epic proportions). Had breakfast at Apsara (A mis-spelling of Aspara), a burger each. There was no bun, no salad, no sauce, just a patty of mince, red in the middle that was so greasy it just disintegrated as you touched it and was bulked out with onion. We both felt sick.
So we went back to the beach. Leanne had a manicure from a lady-boy. Did a good job. Matt didn't like him/it/she/whatever-the-PC-name-is, kept touching his arm. Later a lady came by with some string, Matt said "Yeah, I'll pay $3 to have my back threaded - after all women have their legs done - It can't hurt that much.". Firstly
threading isn't all that painful, but - threading on sunburned skin and over mosquito bites can hurt.
For those who don't know - Threading is a thin rope/string that is rolled twisted and pulled over your skin to rip hair out by the roots.
Later we went back downtown so Leanne could change her book and get a new Jodi Picoult, the shop had more than Waterstones.
Last of all we had dinner on the seafront - literally. The tables nearest the see could get tides just ebbing the legs, with possible wet feet scenarios. There was a mini powercut, so we were there on a warm beach, eating good food, under starlight with a candle lit table whilst all you people were busy at work or trying to avoid the cold and rain - I hear it even snows in the UK now.
Wed 14th Went to the beach again. But with a plan. We went left and decided to do some 'Rock-hopping'. Not quite rock-climbing, but almost. So we went across the Ochineateal beach past Serendipity beach and did the rock-hopping for about 40 or 50 metres, then we found it - paradise. Sokha beach.
The snake
Matt almost trod on it on the way back. Sokha beach is basically the private beach for a posh hotel, which costs betwenn $160 and $1000 US p/night. About 50 metres of the beach is not the hotels', so it's pretty empty. However the hotel clear all the litter, and even rake! that 50 metres aswell. It's pro's were: There were no beggars or tauts, the beach was wider, it was cleaner, it was quieter, the nearby shack/shop was cheap, and it was different. The Con's : It had no shade. So we started to burn.
Whilst there, Matt climbed on a rock and slipped, like a ninja he made the split decision to try and roll (God forbid his Ray-Ban's would get damaged) and landed on his back on another rock before slipping off the second rock into the Sea. No real damage done though, Just a small graze and a bruise on the hip. Judo as a kid really pays off. Matt's first parenting tip.
Later we met some people staying next door and opposite. Next door are Elaine and Sam, a mother and Son from Dublin, Eire and the two girls Bernie (from Devon) and Julie (from London). The 2 girls and Sam and
The secluded beach.
From our daytrip to Ream Park Elaine had been travelling together on and off for 6 weeks, they all met in Luang Prabang. So far we've all had a pretty similar route, but now Elaine and Sam are off to Vietnam next, Bernie is doing South Thailand via Ko Chang and then going home to have her back mended, whilst Julie is doing pretty much the same as us up until Bali. So we all went for dinner and socialized etc. It was good.
Thurs 15th Sunbathed all day. did nothing of interested except go to Ocean Mart where Leanne finally, finally found Salt and Vinegar crisps. Kettle chips though, not the same as walkers. The shops and bars that let you use their sunloungers are really laid back we noticed. If you want to pay the next day that's okay, they just don't seem to care about anything. Later we all went for dinner (the 6 of us) and were joined by two more people that the other 4 knew, Peter and Mikkha, from Holland just on a 5 week holiday here. Nice enough people, but he was at the other end of the table so we didn't get to talk that much.
Baby Monkey
at ream park on the way back from the beach to the boat. Fri 16th Again, sunbathed all day. Had buckets again at night. It's great. We are living the dream. A bucket by the way - is 35cl-ish of Whiskey, rum, vodka etc, mixed with 2 cans of coca-cola, sprite, red bull whatever, put into a jug or mini 'bucket' with ice and about 6 straws. The thing to watch out for here though is that they do a cheaper version of red bull called M-150 which uses Amphetamine (Speed) instead of Caffiene.
Sat 17th St. Patrick's Day Did a day trip today. Saw Ream national park. It was a good day, we started by driving to a little village where we got on a boat and then we stopped at a docks and walked a bit before climbing a giant wooden scaffold structure. The 'nature viewing tower' was okay, but there wasn't that much wildlife about. We saw a bird. After that we went to another village and did a mini jungle trek where we saw 2 snakes, one the guide wouldn't even go near, he used half a tree branch to scare it away. It was small and red. The other one you can see in the picture below. After the minii-jungle trek we got to a small isolated beach. Just our party of 6 (Us 2, Sam and Elaine, and the Swedish couple we had met before on the bus from Laos to Cambodia) and some people russian magazine people.
So everyone swam or paddled a bit. Matt took a group photo for some Russian wildlife magazine (www.darvin.ru) that were there (and was a bit jealous of the photographer's Nikon D200). After that we went back to boat and had lunch, although neither of likes fish, we tried the Barracuda and it was okay, wouldn't buy it especially, but it was edible.
Later we all went for dinner again, and then we said "Goodbye." to Elaine and Sam and the 2 girls as they all leave us tommorow.
Sun 18th- Mother's Day Sunbathed all day. Leanne left a message on her mum's answerphone, Matt rang his mum. That was about it. Had buckets again.
Mon 19th Sunbathed again, bumped into the Mandanga guy we met at Green Lake guesthouse in Phnom Penn, and talked about the dump, mhow Angkoe wat gives it's money t petrol companies etc (Marxist/Leninist type) and finally booked our bus tickets. We will leave, honest. At night it rained pretty heavily. We sat on our patio and watched in awe.
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