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17.10.11 - Sihanoukville day 4 - Pool chillax and Ivan
I didn't sleep very well last night so had the first lay in of the holiday so far this morning! Whoop whoop. i woke up at 10am and checked who was online and Scott was, so not only were we able to talk last night we were able to talk this morning too which was nice. The only thing that that prevented however was me signing up for the one day course of diving. It didn't matter though since the previous night i'd been on my online banking and noticed that the rent hadn't been paid into my account, including some funds that were due to me from Paypal. Second to that, i had a really bad belly ache through the night from all the beer i'd drunk so it was probably best that I didn't go diving today anyway.
After a little lie in that i'd had already, I was desperate to get the contents of my backpack clean and dry since i was starting to run out of much needed underwear. Serendipity although quite small has EVERYTHING you need and i was able to wash all my dirty clothes, dried and folded, and returned the following day for a small fee of $3!!!! Fantastic!!!
i headed back to the hotel shortly after having a much needed yummy bacon sandwich this morning. I'd decided I'd try and update the majority of my blog since i had the time to relax, and of course get the first of my photos up on the blog too. since checking my bank the previous day and stressing a little that the rent hadn't arrived into my bank account too, I definitely just needed to chill out today and try and catch up on sun and sleep. Not only that i was lacking in the form of exercise for a few days, and actually i spent a lot of the day swimming lengths in the pool to take my mind off of things back home.
While i was sitting around the pool most of the day, loads of new faces, mainly men kept coming and going from in and out of the rooms. All of which sounded American and all knew one another. Later on in the day too, some of them were dressed in military gear, including the white naval uniform too. Naturally i was distracted from swimming and typing my blog for a while when they kept walking past the pool, lol!! something like half an hour later, and since it was SO hot today I was swimming in the pool when one of the guys who'd walked past earlier in his military uniform got into the pool too. He was Ivan and started to talk to me immiately. He was 44 and a US military soldier. He basically told me his life story (but i'd already asked loads of questions too). He had signed up when he was just 18, and him and all the others guys i'd seen around the resort were on a 'mission' in cambodia. Immiately I was gripped and wanted to know everything but naurally there was only so much he could tell me. It turns out that actually the next country with the highest threat of terrorism is the Phillipines apparently and they were there to do some investigation work. There ship is docked over at the port back at Victory Beach where I was only a couple of days ago while they're here sorting out some things. they had Cambodian interpreters with them also. it was so exciting. Naturally I was careful with some of the questions i asked. It was just so strange and it funny because all i could think about was what people had said to me before I left home, and that was that i'll get to meet so many different people. I guess I just didn't expect to meet a military officer in Cambodia.
We talked about his wife and the fact that he's basically travelled the world as part of his job, with his wife in tow too. At just 44 he is able to retire next February for long service. How cool is that. He currently lives in Singapore but owns a property in both Seattle and in Hawaii, Maui - where he is originally from. His wife, who I got to meet the following day and had a few drinks with he following night lives with him and goes everywhere he does. I was so jealous. What a life!
We spoke for ages and although I was there to chill out and spend some time alone, he was just so cool and interesting to speak with. A really genuine nice guy who loved his country, loved his job and has basically spent his life working for his country, all the while getting to see the world with his wife who he absolutely adored at the same time.
Later that night and feeling really content that actually I was sharing a resort with a whole bunch of American military around me.... so no chance of being unsafe here, I got myself showered and changed and decided to head back to the beach for another beach BBQ, except this time i went by myself.
Ivan had done a great job in distracting me from my worries and concerns re the rent and everything this afternoon, but i wanted nothing more than to head on down to the beach, eat come truly equisite seafood again, sat in the dark with nothing but candlelight, the sound and feel of the waves lapping up against my feet, looking up at the stars and losing myself in my surroundings.
With a full belly and feeling quite sleepy on the way back to the resort I passed a massage place. I had the most amazing back, neck and shoulder massage followed by yet another foot massage. As I laid there being massively pampered I realised that I should stop worrying about home and make the most of this truely amazing adventure Im having. The places im seeing and the people i'm meeting. It goes without saying that this night I slept like a baby.
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