Sihanoukville

Travel is tuff
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We have a 4 hour bus trip to get here.  The tuk tuk mafia are waiting for us. In serried ranks they await the arrival of the bus, then cluster round the door trying to grab you as you get off, they grab yours or anyone elses luggageand load it onto their tuk tuks preparitory to doing a deal to take you to your hotel, we don't even have a hotel, in fact a couple of days ago we'd never heard of Sihanoukville.

Today we use the "Barkers patented backward Russian hawker confuser" to deal with them.  Try to imagine some one speaking Russian, on a record (ask your mum or dad), playing backwards as you change the speed from 45 rpm to 33 and back (ask your mum or dad).  What ever they ask you just make this unintelligible noise in reply while gesturing toward the sky.  After a very short while they wander off, confused, looking for easier marks.

Magic Sihanoukville
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Once they'd all buggered off and we could think we trekked all our stuff up the road to where there was an info booth, we bully them till they phone some hotels, we negotiate a deal with a tuk tuk driver and he takes round hotels and waits while we check the rooms on offer.

I know you'll all go AAAAAAAAHH  poor sods, but we had a quick tot up and think weve stayed in around 35-40 hotels in the last 3.5 months not staying put longer than 3 days in general so we feel we need a break!!  Sihanoukville is a good place for this, I'd never heard of it and fortunately few people outside Cambodia have.  Fact is though that there are 5 beaches here, they all have sand the colour and texture of flour, the Ocean is crystal clear and warm as a tepid bath, the temperature is a constant 30-35 degrees.  We have a room overlooking the beach and we ain't moving 10 days, except on my birthday when we will take a trip to a small largely deserted Island where if we wish we can stay in a thatched beach hut for the night.

Travel is tuff 2
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At night the busiest beach here gets lit up like a Christmas tree as all the beach bar /restaurants set up for the evening.  It's end to end sparkling lights around the bars and in the trees that line the beach, fireworks are going up constantly from the beach and a small boat which cruise the bay from end to end....it's just magic!. You sit with your feet in the surf and they barbecue what ever your heart desires.  Huge shrimp or squid at $4 a plate or langustines at $2 for 10, with cocktails in the happy hour (all night if you work down the beach) at a dollar fifty and beer at 50c a pint it's hard not to have a great time.  We're chuffed to bump into Kim and Gary again and have just a magical night with them, we so hope we can meet up again in our travels.

Enjoying dinner with Kim and Gary
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We're spending our days here on the beaches, where you can get fresh Coconuts, chilled, which taste like heaven on earth; and pretty much anything else you want bought to your beach chair and rack up maybe a 5 quid bill over the whole day.  The hawkers are into selling just about anything, manicure, pedicure, massage, leg shave, sometimes their approach is a little short of subtle.

"Madam, you want leg shave??

Kim "No thank you very much"

"You need leg shave"

John enjoying a birthday drink!
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"no thank you I like them hairy"

"Oh no Madam you look like monkey"

We've managed to get a beach front bungalow here and it's really wonderful, seriously lovely. From a little balcony we look out over the entire curve of the beach, we see the sun come up over the hills and sink into the ocean at night.  The sunsets are simply staggering, I have never seen a sky so red, a scarlet color like I've seen nowhere else.  Most evenings we watch the sun sink into the sea while we have our feet in the surf and a cocktail in hand, then cruise the beach restaurants for the best barbied shrimp.  Most mornings we're woken by the waves on the shore, life is a bitch sometimes aint it?

On the subject of food it's interesting to note that any meal on a menu can be made "happy" for an additional $2. So in addition to vanilla in your shake, Oregano on your pizza, Basil in your Spagh Bol or whatever..... you get a liberal sprinkling of a certain well known 'erb"!

Open letter to Main Man Pizza Express

Dear Dude

I could really dig you laying a franchise on me man, like I have a really cool idea for a new topping that will just trip you out.  I don't wanna be like a bread head or anything uncool man, but if we can come to an arrangement I can lay some serious bread on your ass by sharing my idea with you.

I'm guessing like that you'll be stoked with this trip man so get back just as quick as you can.

Hang Loose

Colonel Blandford Fly.

Getting internet connections can be really tough, it's not so much that internet cafes aren't around it's just that in terms of speed and the standard of the machines some times aren't fully up to the job.  A day ago Kim got an electric shock from our digi camera when trying to download some images.  The technician came up with a really complicated and space age solution..................."ëverytime you touch camera, make sure feet off ground"

Had my birthday here in Sihanoukville and to celebrate we went to a little desert island, Bamboo Island.  It's an hour off the coast and just idylic.  We had got a tip from someone who'd already visited and took a 20 minute trek across the island from where they land the boats (itself a lovely beach) and found a beautiful beach a mile or two long with golden sand and pine trees down to the waters edge.  Some of these were leaning out to sea and I guess you could dive from them into the crystal clear water.  However if it's your 51st birthday you just use ém for shade from the sun, there are maybe 4 other people in sight............lovely.

Our last day in Sihanoukville the beach got invaded by Americans they stormed up and down the beach buying everything in sight, which was great as they kept all the hawkers busy with massages, manicures, pedicures, lobster, bangles, books etc etc.  One guy bought all the beach kids in sight an ice cream, nice gesture and great to watch, they all disapeared around 5pm full of beer, weighed down by purchases in a cloud of tuk tuk smoke and goddams.  An hour or so later we saw a big cruise ship sail across the bay and figure that by tomorrow they'll be buying up Saigon ..........as for us we'll be picking our way around the temples of Angkor.....