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Published: December 13th 2009
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Hello!!
When we last updated, we were in Sihanoukville - we loved it so much we ended up staying there for almost a week! Somewhere in the middle there, we decided to take a break from the beaches and beggers so we booked ourselves a tour of the surrounding islands. After an early start (8am) we made our way out the front of the guesthouse expecting to be greeted by a bus full of tourists having the same idea we had. To our suprise, it was just us and a Israli women named Tanya. after a quick breakfast, we headed to the beach where we would catch a boat that would take us to all the different islands around Sihanoukville. Since the Israli women was quite annoying (Lewis wrote that, not Megan), we were very please to find that there were around 10 other people waiting for the tour. We met some more Australians (from Brisbane like all the Australians we've met) as well as a Russian couple that was a little too interested in Megan's camera (again, Lewis is writing).
The first stop was a reef just of an island called 'Lost Island' and if anyone has seen
the show Lost, it looked very much like that. Full of trees and very tall, it looked like it had hardly been touched since it was discovered. The Snorkeling was pretty bad, as the water was very murky and there was literally hundreds of sea anemones that we were told if were touched, we would need to be airlifted to the nearest hospital. Aside from that, we took some underwater shots with Megan's camera so you can judge for yourselves.
Next stop was Bamboo island. This island has only 20 permanent residents, and with beautiful beaches and clear water, truly looks like a paradise. We were allowed 2 hours here and we used them reading by the beach. Who says that couples are no fun! Lewis wanted to stay the night, but Megan decided that it would be too boring, plus she doesn't enjoy the perks that come with real bungalows (BUGS). After this was another snorkeling stop, again characterised by murky waters, Megan being scared of touching a sea anemone, and the Israli women complaining about how difficult it was to breath through a snorkel. We got back at around 4, and decided that we were planning a
big night. we went home to get changed then met up with our South African friends - Lauren and Damon, who we'd met on the beach the previous day, and had had dinner with them that night.
Coming back to the beach for dinner, we met our friends at a place called Moon Shack, and lucky for us, they were serving $1 redbull and vodka and $2.50 Mekong Whiskey (local whiskey) buckets. They weren't tight on the alcohol either. After dinner we started talking to the people who were having dinner in front of us, a couple from England (Andy and Ireny) who decided that they wanted to join in on our drinking games. It turns out Kings is an international hit already, so we played about 3 rounds of that.
We ended up heading to some sort of club by the beach where we were the only ones dancing, except for a tripper who was kind of just walking up to the girls and dancing in front of them. Lewis showed off the pride of Melbourne (the Melbourne Shuffle - in thongs might i add!) to mixed reviews. We called it a night at about 3.30 then tried
to find a Kebab place, failed, then went to bed.
The next day we were by the beach, all feeling sorry for ourselves with Megan and Lauren strangley disappearing for long periods (to visit the bathroom we assumed). We all decided to meet up for dinner, but then Megan felt a little sick so we had a lovely night watching HBO. Again, who says couples are no fun?!
After that, we caught an early minibus to get to Kampot. Kampot is a small town about 3 hours east of Sihanoukville, which is famous for absolutley nothing. Its a quite town that doesn't offer much but a relaxed atmosphere and lots of pepper (they even put it in Lewis' banana milkshake. Well, we hoped it was pepper. That or mouse poo). We got in at around 2 and went from Guesthouse to Guesthouse trying to get the best deal possible. We ended up at Pepper GH (no suprise with the name) for $8 a night. we didnt do much they day, except have a few drinks then decided we wanted to go to our room and watch HBO (ok, maybe we are boring - or still hungover from the
other night!).
The next day was a bit more exciting and parental disgression is advised. We hired a Moto, which is like a scooter, for the day and did a day trip to Kep (about a 40 minute drive). Now, neither of us had ever driven one before, but because he is the boy, Lewis was given the task of driving the INSANE traffic the Cambodia has. Aside from being pushed off the road by cars and tucks, giving way to cars on your side of the road, no dividing line, driving on the opposite side of the road and no knowing how to turn, it was pretty standard 😊. He caught the hang of it really quickly though.
Once in Kep, we found an amazing reasturant that we think was Japanese. the food was fantastic (a bit expensive at $6 a meal) and the view was amazing. After that we headed back the way we came but when we were almost in town, we were waved down by what we thought was the military. When we stopped, we got off the bike and stood there expecting to know why were were pulled over. Only one man spoke
English and he just asked us question about where we got the bike, where we had come from and where we were going. We answered the questions then he asked for $1. since they had guns and we didn't want any fuss, we handed over 5000 riel ($1.25) and they let us go. It wasnt until later that we realised we should have just driven past and not stopped. Our guesthouse told us that if you stop they wont let you leave until you pay them, even tough its illegal to hold us there. Lesson learnt (but we dont know if this applies in Vietnam). Plus, not stopping when the police wave you down at home just doesn't happen! We got back to the GH at around 5, went for dinner then went to the room and watched....HBO. (It must be mentioned that there was only club in Kampot open past 10:30, and sometimes it was a gay bar. So we didn't risk that one.
The next day we caught a taxi to the boarder of Cambodia and Vietnam (getting ripped off by moto drivers and our taxi driver conspiring against us and our foreign innocence) to cross into
Vietnam. We got through Customs OK, having already got our Visas so there was no problems. We then caught a ferry to Phu Quoc (where i am writing this from). The island is around 2 hours boat ride from Vietnam, and when you see it for the first time it really does look like the island from Jurassic Park. The people here dont speak much English, but on the boat ride we saw Andy and Ireny, and ended up staying at the same place (amazing hotel on the beach front for only $15 a night).
Last night was a quite one, with us getting kicked out of a bar at 10.30, so we assume there isn't much night life. However, we will try again tonight and maybe find somewhere that stays open past 11.
We've just booked flights from here to Ho Chi Min City for Tuesday so we'll be able to update again there (we couldn't resist $US45 flights in 1 hour vs. 2 days of traveling). We're still on the look out for sunscreen so maybe we can find some there.
We were so sad to leave Cambodia - we've had such a great time
there! So pressure's on, Vietnam. Impress us.
Slappin' the Bass
Lewis and Megan
xxx
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philippa
non-member comment
gramar
'a israli women'..nice gramar kids.. i do believe you mean 'as Israli woman'. hope you kids are slappin' da bass big time! x