This entry is being added two weeks later. It’s not an important entry as entries are concerned; it’s just that I wanted to make sure that I completed the Cambodia part of the trip in the blog.

The last day in Sihanoukville was a lazy day. My idea was just to take it easy, maybe do some shopping for souvenirs or hang out at the beach. Whatever I did would be okay because I didn’t make any big plans. What I ended up doing was going for a long walk on the beach. The weather was kind of windy so it kept the beaches kind of empty… there were some people wandering along, but not as many as one would expect, which was a good thing.

That was pretty much all I did that warrants mentioning here, but remember I’m writing this two weeks late… maybe I did do something fun and just don’t remember.

I left Sihanoukville early, about 8 for the long bus ride to Bangkok and to, more importantly, meet up with the tour group. I was late for the six o’clock meeting, but there wasn’t much that I could do about it, and in the end that didn’t really matter… it never has. What does matter though is meeting the people you’ll be traveling with. If you can imagine the first day of class, you know, you size up the people. Who will you hang with? Who will you avoid?

The bus pulled into Bangkok about 10 and the taxi got me to the hotel at about 1030. At that time there wasn’t anyone there to meet me, so I just went to bed.

My Cambodia leg of the vacation is over and I think I can safely say that I’m glad. I did some fun things and except for the tuk-tuk drivers I kind of liked my time here. The problem was my first impressions and being yelled at by the driver, I could never get past it. It’s unfortunate too because so many people say they loved Cambodia. Maybe if I go back things will be different, cross your fingers.

I got up at 6 for a bus pick-up at 8, way too early but I was excited. It was going to be a fun day and if I could have started even earlier I would have been happy to. As it turned out though 8 was wishful thinking, I think the bus actually picked me up at about 815, then I was dropped off at another location while I and the others already there waited for everyone going to show up. Then they served us breakfast and finally took us to the dock to board the boat. I’m not sure of the exact time, but probably about 9 or 915. That’s okay though, it was going to be fun.

We headed out in a little bit stormy weather and in no time it started to rain. Since it’s the rainy season here, the showers are expected and nothing to be alarmed at. The sea though was pretty rough and that did give me some cause for concern if only because the last thing I wanted was to get seasick.

I managed not to get sick (maybe a little bit queasy though) and by the time we got to the first island the rain had stopped and the wind and seas had died down as well. This island was just a swimming stop and not a get out and walk around stop, so we all jumped in and tried to snorkel. The snorkeling wasn’t very good and in the end it was more fun just swimming and jumping off the boat. The next island we went ashore and had lunch, swam, and generally just relaxed. We were there for probably two hours and I had a great time. I even got a little bit sunburned, but considering it was the first time I’d been without a shirt (in public) I guess I should have expected a little sunburn.

We eventually headed to the last island for some snorkeling and according to those who snorkeled there were good things to see. Unfortunately I didn’t get to go because of faulty equipment. I went into the water but my mask was leaking and when I fixed that my snorkel kept filling with water. In the process of trying to figure out what was wrong I cut my back and two of my toes. I figured it was some sort of message and decided to tell everyone that I was attacked simultaneously by one huge freakin’ barracuda and man-eating corral and stay on the boat.

I’m here in the hostel right now and with one beer under my belt I’m thinking about heading out to dinner. Oh, I forgot to mention that I met a Russian guy today that made his money in Dubai real estate and is now retired. He’s young about 30 or so. It was kind of fun talking about the places in Dubai.

The world is brighter since I left Phnom Penh this morning. The difference between this place and PP is staggering, but I’m not sure if the difference is the change in the location, or it’s just me. After my last entry and finishing my lunch I headed down to the beach. I didn’t know what to expect, but water is always a good thing for me. It didn’t take long before the sea came into view. Everything will be good from now on.

I walked to the end of a pier and watched a couple of guys fish for about ten minutes, or another way to describe it, I left when a girl started hitting on me. She was eating noodles on the far side of the pier and we got eye contact, about 30 seconds later she came over and asked where I was from, my answer; Phnom Penh.  I don’t think she got the joke, or maybe it was the snarky way I said it, but after about a minute of silence I got up and left.  I think many of the girls here regularly look for men in my age group, because these type of things are happening all the time since I’ve been in Cambodia. In Dubai I am lucky if a girl even looks at me, I can’t even imagine one coming up and talking to me, but here all I have to do is smile and I usually get attention.

I walked along the beach for about a mile taking in the pounding of the surf and the setting of the sun. It was so relaxing that I even stopped at a beachside bar to have a coke.

Tomorrow I am going on a cruise of the islands around here. It should be lots of fun, they take us to three islands, feed us breakfast and lunch, and take us snorkeling at one of the lagoons. I’m so looking forward to it and I should be able to get underwater video of it too.

So what a few days I’ve had. Let’s see, since the last time I posted a entry I was leaving Battambang for Phnom Penh. I can report that I made it there and now I’ve left and arrived in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. I don’t expect anyone knows about this place, but from what I’ve read it will eventually be the “hotspot” of Cambodia. The beaches are supposedly awesome and people are starting to come. I’ve only been here for a little less than an hour so I haven’t had a chance to check them out yet.

I don’t know if I ever explained why I’ve chosen the places that I’ve gone while here in Cambodia. Let’s see if I can correct that, somewhere around the time the tour through Myanmar was ending I was planning on going to see Angkor Wat, but that was all I really knew about Cambodia other than Pol Pot, the killing fields, and the capital city, Phnom Penh. Since I had two weeks before my next tour, I decided to follow a tour that lasted about 10 days. I’m not on the tour, but I’m staying at the spots that the tour would stay at. So far it’s worked out okay. I’m probably not seeing the same things that I would if I was physically on the tour, but I am seeing the right cities.  Sihanoukville, is the last one before I head back to Thailand.

Phnom Penh was okay. I think that is the best that I can do right now, maybe over time I’ll look back and say it was great, but not now. I managed to go to a few clubs and I really did have a great time the first night. Unfortunately that was pretty much the end of the fun for me. Because I don’t know who would be reading this entry I really don’t want to go into too much detail on my night out, but lets just say it’s been a long time coming and was what I needed (nothing lewd or lascivious).

I think I took about four photographs my whole time there and to be honest I haven’t looked at them to see if they are any good. I think there is a good chance that there won’t be any photos to add to this entry.

I decided to stay in Battambang for another day. There wasn’t really any good reason for it except that I was just too tired to make any plans last night. In fact as I write this, the next morning, I don’t think that I’ll be going anywhere except walking around the city today. Maybe if they rent bikes here I’ll go for a bike ride later.

I got back from dinner and went to my room and started transferring my images to the computer when I realized that I couldn’t find the adapter for my small video camera. I guess the lack of sleep just kind of made me a bit neurotic because I considered it my mission to find it. I emptied every bag I had on the bed, repacked everything, and generally searched every possible hiding place for the adapter. I finally gave up and resigned myself to being and idiot and moved on to my regular camera. The whole search took about an hour, maybe a little bit less, but not more than 10 minutes after I’d given up on ever finding it, I reached in my pocket and there it was. How does that happen? I know I checked my pockets about 10 times. I think it was pretty much nothing more than a lack of sleep.

I woke up at 445 from the sound of people talking and dishes being washed. I never mentioned that the hotel gave me a room in the lobby. It’s so strange to be on the level of the lobby when people are doing things. My only guess is that the room used to be for a night clerk or maybe an owner, and now they rent it out. Anyway, besides being just weird being on the ground floor, it is also very loud.

As expected I took the boat down to Battambang this morning. I was up at 445 and ready to go at 545 for the bus that would pick me up at 6, only the bus didn’t show until bout 7… gotta love it.  The bus got to the dock about 730 and we boarded what I considered to be a smaller boat than expected, but I was just happy to get the ride started. In some ways I think I was just as happy to be leaving than anything.

The boat ride was interesting as we made the 100km journey (guessing on the distance), and just as foretold by all the articles, we broke down. It was kind of funny, the boat is chugging away and at the time we were in the winding part of the river, and we went around a corner and then straight into the bank. For some reason the boat couldn’t make right-hand turns. The first time it happened we hit the bank a little bit hard, afterwards the driver took it slower. The problem kept happening until we couldn’t make left turns, at that point we moored at the bank and waited for help to arrive. It took about two hours for another boat to arrive and the mechanics to fix the problem. It was fun though just floating on the river chatting to other passengers.

We pulled into Battambang at about 530 and there was someone waiting to take me to my hotel. Sure was nice not to have to figure out how much to pay, or to barter with a driver on where to take me. There is one thing that I don’t know if I should mention or not, but Cambodians are a strange group of people. I wrote about my experiences with the tuk-tuk drivers, but tonight was almost just as strange. I found a restaurant to eat at, so all good, I sit down and wait. The next thing I know is I’m being goosed in the ribs, it’s the waiter telling me hello, and asking if I remember him. How could I remember him I’d been in town for about thirty-minutes. Just weird. Then as I’m eating the waiter says something to me, I look up with food on my fork, and ask him what. He tells me I should be using my spoon instead. What? Another thing happened later on, but I think I made my point, Cambodians are some strange people.

I’m at the hotel right now and I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow. I don’t want to stay, but I don’t want to do all the work to leave either. I’d have to get a bus ticket, get a place to stay, and then get up early in the morning… maybe I’ll stay over one more night. I still have a week before my tour starts.