Sihanoukville

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We arrived in Sihanoukville yesterday. We have a private driver for the next week (we hired our friend Sam that we had met last year but he was in a very bad motorbike accident-road rash on face and hands-so he couldn't make it-he sent his cousin Mr. Sear) so we will be exploring quite a lot. We checked into our hotel that overlooks the beach, headed down and Steven found his new best friend-Seryang-a young lady that sells lobster. He ate 12 lobsters for 4$. He didn't get sick so I will have them today!

WARNING-if you are scared of snakes do not read this next part.

We ate dinner at The Snake House, owned and operated by Russians. The restaurant is 5 star-white linens, server standing by the table at all times, and really good food. We had pasta, fried frog, and salmon rolls (you can guess who ate the fried frog). But the interesting part of the restaurant is not the food. They have over 30 varieties of snakes in tanks all over. Some of the dining tables are actually snake tanks so you can eat literally while they look at you. Burmese pythons, tree snakes, rattlesnakes, rat snakes, along with tanks of iguanas, giant snapping turtles, exotic fish, and the lone Cockatoo. Being a huge snake fan I had to immediately check out all of the tanks. I have to say, the tanks were very well maintained and the reptiles were really healthy. The big attraction is their crocodile that is actually on a leash around its middle chained to a wire suspended above the OPEN (yes, open) habitat. There were two tables next to him-we did not choose to sit there. We sat at a table next to an aquarium about 40 feet long-our table was even with the water. They also have crocodiles in the back-if you order crocodile it is 25$ but apparently fresh. The rules were funny-don't put your hands in tanks, don't let your children walk around by themselves, don't feed the reptiles. HA! DUH! We did not take pictures. Although it was a fascinating experience and we can definitely chalk it up to the strangest dining we have ever participated in, I felt really bad about the crocodile. Seeing any animal chained is awful-seeing a wild animal chained was really awful. Beautiful, exotic, and really, really wrong.

Visited the local market in the evening for a bit. A vendor was selling: grasshoppers, snakes on a stick (I thought it was pretzels-a bit disappointed), chicken liver skewers, and anything else you can imagine. The fried snake was quite popular with the locals.

Off to find a quiet spot on the beach-this place is quite touristy but hardly any westerners. Mostly Vietnamese, Chinese, and Koreans vacation here-we stick out a bit.

Love to you all and remember-don't chain your crocodile!

Suzie and Steven

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Photos

12 Lobsters for 4$
Here is Seryang with Steven-she was quite the saleswoman.

Bracelets for Sale
This little one sold me some bracelets.

Snake House Restaurant
This was our meal at the Snake House-pasta carbonara, sushi, and fried frog. You know who ate the frog!

Watchful Monkey
This is just one of the monkeys at a Wat we visited.

Bad Monkeys
These juvenile monkeys were pulling each other's tails and trying to knock each other down.