Blogs from Sihanoukville, South, Cambodia, Asia - page 67

- FOOD: Noodle and fish soup for breakfast; very alcoholic Mekong and coconut shake; good shakes; barbequeud squid; rice in a pancake with sugar; small donoughts; great Indian meal; Tim Tams! - AREA: Ochhentual Beach - the best and quietest although with a fair amount of rubbish and building work; Victory Beach - busier but a nice, narrow road with lots of food on offer; beautiful scenery on the bus ride. - PEOPLE: Lovely bike men who didn't even try to rip us off; children sellers who know how to talk and hassle you to death (I gave in and had my legs strung - ow); bumping into Tania; Cambodians on holiday and locals splashing around; nice family owning the Indian restaurant; friends back at the Capitol guesthouse. - ACCOM: Really nice, new and cheap guesthouse ... read more

After some difficult goodbyes in Siem Reap, we got on the road to Phnom penh. We spent a few days here and based ourselves in the lakeside area; a backpacker part of town soon to be bulldozed as the land is apparently too valuable to be wasted on budget guests. It was a little run down, but had a lot of personality. It appeared to us that they were trying to change the face of tourism for a much cleaner image of Cambodia, other than that of child prostitution and shooting ranges where you can buy a cow and blow it up with a B-40 grenade launcher. We squeezed in a lot of things during our short stay, but little did we know that a visit to the bank would be one of our Phnom penh ... read more

Anisa needed a break after her last week of school so we went directly out to the beach on Monday. It's technically the rainy season - though it hasn't really rained much yet - so we were almost the only tourists there. It was very relaxing and we didn't do much besides sit around on the beach reading. I've been feeling pretty sick since Sunday morning: stomach cramps, probably from eating poorly washed vegetables in Vietnam. Poorly washed doesn't just mean washed with tap water it can mean washed in the river or not washed at all. The south along the coast is much greener than around Phnom Penh. The scenery between PP and Sihanoukville was beautiful. It was a big change because we started into the hills, everything around Phnom Penh is flatter than the ... read more

I am indulging in one of the many delights of being overseas - traveler romance - and so am currently touring a small section of Southern Cambodia with Eddie, a cerebral Glaswegian. Well, we had an adventure-packed day boating through some mangroves to a tropical island of white sand beaches where we swam and ate freshly grilled barracuda for lunch. I almost had a slimy encounter with a giant (yes giant) jelly fish. Eeuuuk! Then we walked through some jungle (it's a National Park but of course there is heaps of illegal logging and poaching) tracing the steps of many before us. Even though the area was a Khmer Rouge hide-out, there are no landmines. Thankfully. There were no monkeys or elephants to be seen either. Sadly. We arrived at the other side - after passing ... read more

I have finally decided that there is no future for me in this town, and after some thoughtful nights, had come to the conclusion that Vietnam might offer a better life, both money-wise, work-wise, and not the least food-wise. So, I get around to all my friends here to say my goodbyes and to collect my share of e-mail addresses. Finally I get to Bamboo Light, which in the two months I have been here, have become my regular hangout joint. I talk to the owner, and tell him that I am leaving now, that there wasn’t enough work for me here, so I am off to Vietnam next week. The next thing I know, he has called up a friend in Phnom Penh, and I am told to prepare my CV and go to Phnom ... read more