Started with fish, ended with chicken


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Asia » Cambodia » South » Sihanoukville
April 18th 2010
Published: April 19th 2010
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GH guy had told us the tour bus would pick us up at 7:30 this morn however we suspect this may have just been a ploy to get us to eat breakfast there as when we went down at 7:25 first thing he asked was if we wanted brekkie then if we wanted to book our bus to Sihanoukville then he informed us bus would actually pick us up at 8. So we went and sat on the swing seat overlooking the river. Rob noticed a fish on the boards beside us being nibbled by ants. We thought it was dead but then I saw its gill move out of the corner of my eye. I went over and his little eyes were moving so equipped with a baby wipe (they really are handy for all occasions!) I picked him up and threw him overboard then watched him swim off 😊

When the 4WD picked us up there were already 9 people in it so we just had to squish in. It was a one of them side seat things like in Cameron Highlands. Boker National Park was quite a drive away and Boker hill station was even further (going on 2hrs). We saw the Black (Panther) Palace on our way up basically just a ruin now. Boker hill station (high above sea level which gives it a nice refreshing atmosphere) was abandoned in 1970 in the Khmer Rouge era. There's a church, a P.O., police station and the Boker Palace among other buildings. Apparently the Khmer Rouge inhabited the area for a time living in the church (they even built a kitchen extension) and using the palace as a prison. They used to throw people to their deaths of the clifftop near the palace.

I think that the area would have had a much more eerie feeling had there not been 5 million Cambodian tourists! The palace with it's bullet hole ridden walls is still impressive although now it's little more than a shell (as are all the buildings). The church is also worth a visit. We rushed round to cram as many buildings as possible into our 1hr30 there. Our tour provided a free lunch after- cheese and tomato baguette, a banana and some water- and then we headed back down the hill. Part of the way down we went for a 40min jungle trek. We saw a chameleon (so cute) and a huge horrible spider (eeek!).

When we got back to town we were told that a 2hr30 cruise down the Mekong was also included in the tour. Robby was sceptical about spending so long on a very uncomfortable looking boat especially one that looked like like it was sinking even before anyone got in it but I persuaded him. I soon regretted it! First thing the driver did was start pumping water out of the boat and the boat constantly leaned to one side and felt very unstable with 16 of us in it. Anyhoo we set off looking at boats and houses on stilts and very soon we were very bored and uncomfortable. Then after 45mins the boat man marooned us on a biggish stretch of sand and told us we had an hour here- an hour in our trekking gear on a beach with no shade and no shops, magic! After an hour of sweltering boredom we spent 45mins getting back.

Found internet and rang home then ate at a place called Piggies. We had BBQ chicken, JP and salad, there was so much meat and it even passed my standard, it was lovely. At about 10pm there was a big thunder and lightening storm and the electricity kept going off so we went onto the balcony and Robby got some great shots of the lightening.


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