7th email: STILL in Sihanoukville

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Hey all,

Well for the last two weeks Izabela and Kris have been chilling at their new home in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Utopia, the yellow building with the free dorms, good food, friendly yet crazy atmosphere and never-ending boozing, has become a place for both of us to relax, chill out with people from all over the world (mostly Sweden), and party! We’ve left our humble abode once to go to Kampot, a small river town an hour and a half away. Six of us rented a jeep which made for an interesting bumpy ride, where Kris got to drive. At one point, because we were lost, Kris had to do a 3-point turn around and graciously ran into a hammock. Seconds later, a disappointed Khmer man pokes his head out of the hammock, obviously because he had been woken up from his sleep by a jeep!! We started laughing like crazy and instead of him coming out of the hammock and getting mad at Kris, he gave a grunt, a fowl look and then promptly went back to sleep! We couldn’t believe it. A guy gets hit by a jeep and goes back to sleep.

Kampot, was a ton of fun. We stayed at the Utopia there, which is situated right on the river, complete with docks to jump off into the river, inner-tubes, and a rope swing that we could access by swimming across the river (approx. 200m). We chilled there and only there for 2 nights, and our bill came to $53 US, as in comparison to Utopia in Sihanoukville which averages to $10US a day. Sick. Needless to say, we’ve been saving a shit load of money here because they hardly write our orders down and forget to put Kris alcoholic drinks on our tab.

There have been many drunken nights especially with Kris. The regulars here at Utopia have been here for longer than we have, but have welcomed us into their closely knit family

Yesterday, Kris got a new haircut. Everyone got allotted a portion of Kris’ hair to shave a design of their choice. Kris’ head looks like a big collage of art--pretty rad. Our days consists of getting up to eat a great buffet breakfast for $1.50US, getting changed for the beach weather, setting up this inflatable kiddie pool, sitting in it for about 2 hours or heading down to the beach and tanning and getting harassed by the local kids selling you everything from bracelets to mangoes. We indulge in both! After some sun, everyone grabs some lunch back at Utopia, drinks some more, laughs some more, then we all take a shower (not together), and get ready for dinner. The Swedes have found this their home food at this Swedish restaurant which serves the best Swedish meatballs and Tomato soup we’ve ever had. To die for! Utopia is a club at night and people party here till 6am. Sometimes,
it’s hard to sleep with all the noise, but in that case you know you shouldn’t be in bed, and rather you should be out there dancing on stage that’s equipped with a shower and a fire pole. All Kris ever wears is his board shorts and flip flops. Bella wears a bit more. There are so many funny stories we’ll have to share with you when we get back, as an email about them wont do justice. They all have their individual quirks and it’s just been one hell of a ride so far.

We are planning on leaving this place though, after Satoko’s bday. We’re not quite sure if we’re heading to ban Lung, in the Ratanakiri province of Cambodia, where you can swim in crater lakes and shower under waterfalls. We’ve decided to leave Vietnam for another trip and instead we’re heading straight for Loas. Everyone has been hyping us on this mystical country and thus, we’re pretty stoked. After Laos we’ll be going back to Thailand.
Hope all is well at home, email if you can, love you all,

Kris and Izabela

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Photos

Sunsets at Serendipity Beach
Getting artistic with the camera.

CARLOS
CARLOS the Columbian
born, but raised in Sweden pirate, who starts off every morning with a
Mekong whiskey and coke. He eats less than the starving dogs on the beach
and drinks all day, all night, all the time. We love this guy!

FREDDIE
Freddie (aka Fredstone): is another Swede who when him and Kris get together, they feed off each other’s energy and nuttiness and make the most random comments and jokes and songs. He’s the only Swede we’ve seen so far
that’s got red hair instead of blonde. Hilarious. Sneaky Bush

ABBY
Abby is our dorm mate and the first person at Utopia we really got talking to. She’s from Liverpool, England and half the time we don’t understand her because of her accent. She’s this cute bubbly girl who giggles at Kris and his craziness all the time.

PHIL
And then there’s Phil, this good
looking guy from the south of England who never spoke a word unless you
directly asked him a question. He’d sit at the bar just looking at all
of us being goofs and laugh to himself. A really nice guy, but we just didn’t understand him. He left a couple days ago without any warning
and without a good-bye. He simply left a note beside Kris’ sandals and that was that. An awesome guy by all means.

SHAWN
Then there’s Shawn. Shawn’s from North Van, but he’s lived here for the last 2 years. Shawn and Kris could be brothers in every way. They know a lot of the same people, listen and love the same music, skate boarding, break dancing and skim boarding (we found a new way to skim board and the boys have been loving it by towing the skim boarder with a rope attached to a
motorbike-- super fun!! It’s like wake boarding with no straps. You go deep in the water, jumping waves, and doing 360s).

SATOKO
Satoko (in the middle) is Shawn’s girlfriend from Japan. She’s this absolute sweetheart with the biggest smile and she makes killer brownies and cheesecake, we love her for everything. Her birthday is this Sunday, and most of us are staying till then JUST for her.
It’s gonna be a kick ass day.

TOMMY
Tommy: the arrogant Swede who thinks he’s the funniest shit out there, constantly making jokes about others to bring himself up. In the end though, one-to-one, he’s a nice guy. We don’t get him.

ANTONIA
Carols and Toni. Toni and Nicolina are two beautiful, fun Swedes travelling together. Mmmmmm, tomato soup at the Swedish restaurant?

NICOLINA
Nicolina, one of the many Swedes, and also travelling with Antonia. They're both extremely pretty, fun to party with and work behind the bar.

KELLY
Kelly: from Cornwall, England, she’s probably the one to blame for our cheap bills here at Utopia is constantly giving Kris free drinks so that he’ll party harder. Crazy, traveling alone, never sleeps and full of energy at all times.

SARAH and CHANCE
Then there’s Sarah and Chance: Sarah
is this Swede (surprised??) who has the best mullet we’ve ever seen on
any girl. She suits it. She’s fun to drink with, has loads of drinking
games and is always up for a good laugh. She’s going out with Chance,
the manager at Utopia and a full on hippie from Utah. He’s been living
here for a long time too and has the funniest laugh we’ve ever heard.
Every time he laughs, even if it’s not that funny, everyone else laughs
because of his laugh.

JESS and JAMES
Jess and James(on the left), own the place. They’re
Kiwi’s from New Zealand (ha!) and Izabela has a feeling they’re
conning Kris into staying with them FOREVER!!! They love him, and his
craziness! James is always adding new elements to Utopia, most recently a
steam room, where everyone goes in as it gets hot-boxed very quickly. Last
night Kris came out VERY HAPPY!!

RACHEL and MARTIN
Rachel and Martin were tattoo specialists that did up Kelly's arms and Tommy's chest while we were staying there.

Tribal Art
Kris' new haircut....7 hours later.

Skim Boarding in Style
Kris pulling Shawn down the long stretch of sand.

Skim Boarding
Kris pulling a 360 as he gets towed down the beach.

Everyone knows how much she loves him
Bella adding her artistic touch to Kris' head.

Speedo Time
For Satoko's birthday, Kris showed up in his birthday suit (well almost). Needless to say, she loved it!!