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I've made it!!! I am finally in Thailand, not that I have been desperate to get here No, I really mean it... I haven't been desperate to get hear. Cambodia was full of really nice people, both travelers and the locals, and I really enjoyed my time on Cambodia's coast. It wasn't very touristy, few people around and although the beaches weren't like they are supposed to be in the South of Thailand, they were none the less relaxing and tranquil.
As I predicted in my last blog, I only stayed in Sihanoukville for a short time. Three nights and two days was long enough to discover the place and the surrounding beaches by scooter. Some noticed I used the word 'we' a lot in my last blog and this is because I have been traveling with a group since I left Phnom Penh on the 14th. We subsequently split in Kampot but I have continued to travel with a fun German called Richard. No matter how I treat him, he has still followed me to Koh Chang and we have had a blast together.
Richard and I had a fun, first night out in Sihanoukville as it was full moon party time. This celebration of the full moon originated in Thailand and as Cambodia is so close, clubs have tagged the name and used it to promote themselves. We were invited to one particular place that had free glow paint, which people enjoy smothering over themselves and others to see how crazy they look in the illuminescent light. This was all fun until someone mentioned it does not wash out of clothes which annoyed me as people were cleaning their faces on my favorite traveling t-shirt!
The following morning I awoke without Richard sharing the room and I was interested to hear of his adventures later that day as he met me in another hostel I had upgraded us to. After the early start to ensure I got us a new place to stay, I felt rather tired. Nonetheless, I hired a scooter and drove myself around the local area to check out how it looked. I found a secluded road and made my down it to check out what it looks like where tourists never go. As I made my way past a number of developments intended to sleep hundreds of wealthy Chinese and western holiday makers, I soon realised they had all been abandoned. Skeletons of hotels must have been left for years as they are beginning to become over grown with weeds and some even had trees inside. The atmosphere inside them was almost as eerie as the abandoned French town. It was like a deadly disease, or fearful creature had scared everyone off as all of the developments must have stopped at the same time and I doubt it was the recession that influenced this, they have been left standing too long! Most of the coast line of Cambodia has been divided up by these developments and big fancy walls with engravings mark allotments for large private houses, and you can't help but wonder what sort of terribly over developed, noisy and busy place this will become.
Rain forced me to stop by a beach where a number of Cambodian families were sat enjoying each other's company on the biggest day of celebration in the year for Cambodia. Known as the "Water festival" no one could describe to me in clear enough English what it is in celebration of, but it is certainly very popular. Seaside resorts are fully booked and we even struggled to find a place. Tourists are warned to avoid the capital as so many local people attend, you would be lucky to get into the city and then move around. Unfortunately, this year was marked with a terrible tragedy where 400 people were killed on an overcrowded bridge. You may all be aware of it already and there will be a day of mourning for the country later this week. As I waited for the rain to stop, a family near by beckoned me with a can of beer. In the circumstance, I thought to myself.. why not!? After one and a half hours of laughter I left them to continue my journey. I enjoyed their curiosity as we exchanged laughter without much need for conversation. The language barrier didn't matter but one man helped out as he was the only person who could speak a little English. No matter, as they taught me 6 Cambodian words which were enough to get me by and I was able to crack better jokes with those 6 words than I could have if they had spoken English. One man in particular, the eldest of the family was particularly interested in me and insisted we shared a bottle of what tasted like watered down whisky. As I had two cans of beer and a long journey a head of me, I was trying to be sensible without offending him and he finished the bottle by himself! He also liked my glasses and taking pictures with my camera. It was a privilege to have shared their open company and I was pleased to have so many pictures of the experience and as the elderly man took them I did not feel guilty for encroaching on their privacy. It was very special and something I will always remember the Cambodians for. As I said goodbye in Cambodian with my best accent, I hoped we had all got something from our exchange and I left the glasses with the elderly man as he seemed to like them so much!
It was a struggle to walk to the bike in a straight line (this is an exaggeration for those elderly people who will be 'tut tutting' at this point) but became no problem as soon as my wheels were in motion. I made my way along a rough and boring road and turned straight back as I reached the end. I made my way around the rest of the town and along the beach before making it back in time for sunset. That evening was more relaxed as we made our way to bed early for 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep! As we took a gentle start to the following day we agreed one more would be enough before we left for Thailand. So we took the scooter to a local beach and chilled out before we ordered our tickets to take us to Koh Chang the following morning. One more late evening, which we agreed would be early, and 3 hours sleep later, we were on a bus feeling sorry for ourselves.
We had been told the journey would get us onto the island for 15:00 but as we sat on the boat at 17:30 after a long and stressful day crossing the border, we realized that wouldn't happen. We managed to find two of the only very small huts left in the area with a Swedish girl we met on our journey, down a street nicknamed 'hippy street', after a long and uncomfortable ride in what the locals know as a taxi, and us westerners know as a pick up truck. Wow! That was my longest single trip across country so far.. 14 hours with only 4 hours sleep, a headache, a bellyache, a small bottle of warm water, no breakfast, no food, and $2 between us! Ouch ;-) and yes… we brought it on our selves mum ;-)
Tonight will be a chilled out movie night hopefully, and then we plan to hire scooters and explore the island tomorrow. I'm not sure how long I'll be here and I guess I will simply see how far south I can make it before I need to head back north to Bangkok for my departure from SEA on the 15th of December. I am planning on taking it slowly before I head home for the manic festive period that is Christmas!
Now I sit here after five hours of blog writing and photo uploading ready to make my way to the beach but the sun is soon to set. With less than 3 weeks left of my trip, I am beginning to miss traveling already but I can't wait for Christmas, to catch up with all of you and enjoy dinners and movies in front of a cosy fire. This life has taken some getting used to and thanks to the Cambodian people who made me feel so welcome in their country. I left Vietnam thinking two and a half months of traveling was plenty for me and could never imagine a year long trip like a lot of other people are on. Now I feel confident I can travel later in life, for a longer period and feel very open minded about choosing a lifestyle and career that match what I want out of life. Only now am I starting to learn a little more about myself as my confidence grows and I start pushing my boundaries in countries that make me feel comfortable. It will be hard to let this lifestyle go and who says I have to. I have met so many people who have managed to combine work with travel and I have so many ideas of different jobs I would like to try around the world! Watch this space... there maybe more blogs in the New Year ;-)
Now please bear with me, as I originally wrote this part on Koh Lanta but I did not have the time to finish it, so I shall continue it as if I were still there:
My four days on Koh Chang were great and I enjoyed hanging out with my German buddy Richard! As you may already be aware after looking at my pictures, we enjoyed some time chilling out on the beach and searching for paradise on the other side of the island. After my first day of updating my blog, we had a night out which was a fun and friendly affair as the area in which we were staying was full of backpackers/hippies who enjoyed a social time and we made some friends and danced the night away!
The following days were also relaxed. One day on the local beach, and two days on a scooter searching for paradise… which we found! It was a bit of a mission, two 80kg guys on a 100cc scooter, but we made it up even the steepest hills, and I mean they are STEEP! At some points it was so steep the front wheel would lift from the road as we were driving!
After running out of fuel and getting lost, we made it to a resort with barely anyone there! It cost us 5 pounds a night and we had a beach, bay and pier to ourselves. The following day we made our way along the roughest road I had seen on my entire trip and found ourselves in a French populated paradise, which is where we took the photos on the swing. After that, a spontaneous kayak trip around an island proved most rewarding as we came across only 4 other people of a deserted, perfect beach, and we were left feeling very chuffed with our achievement by the end of the day! By this point my plans differed to Richards and we said our goodbyes. I was off in search of a pre perceived paradise in the south of Thailand, a decision I did not make lightly as I have only two weeks of my trip left, and Richard is off to Australia.
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