Happy, Very Happy, or Ecstatic

Time to head for the beaches again, arranged an overnight stay in Phnom Penh before setting off on an early bus to Sihanoukville. Only paid 2 pounds to join the locals on a full bus, so full, in fact that a Cambodian man pulled up a plastic chair, and sat in the aisle beside Eileen for the second part of the trip. She said afterwards, "it wasn't so bad, he didn't move much, cough, or anything. He, like the rest were all seemingly engrossed with a crazy, loud, show on the TV. I had to listen to my MP3 to try, and drown out the racket, although Marvin Gaye, Carl Thomas, Anthony Hamilton, and Robin Thicke couldn't quite do it, so I had to Crank it up with Arcade Fire.


When we arrived at the station, no one was there to pick us up as arranged by the guest house. We were surrounded by Tuk tuk, and moto drivers asking 6 dollars for a tuk tuk, or 1 dollar each on a moto bike. No contest!, much to Eileen's horror, that was, until she was wizzing down the road on the back of a motor bike. She wants to do it again, some time soon.


Booked into the Orchidee guest for 10 pounds a night, this is the price we seem to always pay, more than we have to, but the standard of rooms at that price suits our needs. Have to laugh at all the young backpackers who book into 5 & 6 dollar accommodation, then spend all their money on expensive western food, like pizza, and cheese burgers.
Another thing, for such a poor country, how come it is so expensive, especially meals. Certainly we frequent tourist areas, still puzzled tho. It has been suggested to me, it's because they have to import everything.


As always, we moved to another hotel 2 days later, which was only 8 months old, it has bright, airy rooms for 8 pounds, result! This hotel in Sihanoukville is only a few hundred metres from Occheateul beach, a busy one right enough, but it is lined with restaurants. Lots of people head there in the evenings to sample their seafood barbecues. This is one of the few places in Cambodia, where the prices actually reflect the state of the country, 1 Pound, 50 for Barbequed Barracuda, and 25 pence for a draught beer. That's more like it! The only thing is, you have to put up with lots of sellers, and beggers. Our favourite restaurant was the Moonshack, great seafood served at the water's edge.



Cambodia it seems, has another food speciality, PIZZA TOPPINGS, Their favourite topping is not anchovies, but a herb with many names, weed, skunk, waccy baccy, etc.
They have many restaurants serving them up, in fact in Siem Reap, we seen three restaurants in a row. HAPPY PIZZA, VERY HAPPY PIZZA, and ECSTATIC PIZZA.


Hired bicycles, and did a bit of exploring for a few days. We stopped in at the Vietnam consulate for a visa, this took all of 10 minutes, and cost 35 dollars each. Then we discovered Independence Beach, a much quieter one, with a little restaurant named Hanoukman, who let us use their sunbeds for free. In between swims we caught up with our tans. The temperature of the water is so warm. FANTASTIC!!. Also cycled to the Victory Hill area, which used to be the place to be. It looked a bit rough'n'ready to me. We watched moto drivers openly deal dope, and it seemed a bit run down.



On our last day, we were joined by a Canadian girl, Dutch guy, and a French couple on a visit to Ream National Park, starting with a boat trip down the river, past the mangroves towards the estuary, where we managed to catch a glimpse of a dolphin. Afterwards we were dropped off at a remote beach for a swim, and lunch, barbequed fish again, Great!!. Then we went on a little trek through the jungle, where the sounds of insects was almost deafening. our boat was waiting for us at the dolphin station to take us back. Another good day.



We left Cambodia on another long bus journey via Phnom Penh for Vietnam. Interestingly, as we passed through the Cambodian border town, which looked like something from the wild west, with it's casinos, and dodgy looking blokes, I saw a young man standing by the
road with a Celtic football jersey on. This is the only one I've seen in Cambodia, and I was only yards from the border!! nae luck!!!

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