hooked on s'ville

This was me, about 3 weeks ago...gone fishing in Singapore, near the rustic island of Pulau Ubin. You can see Malaysia from it's shores!

FFWD>>
A week of fruit shakes, fresh coconuts and swimming was super relaxing!! And very easy on the pocket :) A night in the Mealy Chenda guesthouse in Sihanoukville (named after King Sihanouk of Cambodia) was only US$2! The beaches were not as nice as in Mauritius, but the water was much warmer - almost hot! I think it is about 29 degrees.


I took a boat trip out to some of the neighbouring islands (including Kos O'Russey - but there were no bamboos on bamboo island...only a military base!) and we went snorkelling. My broken snorkelling tube confirms that yep, the gulf of Thailand has really salty water. Such colourful fish and coral! For lunch, our guide Borey grilled up some fresh Baracouda fish (from the dirtiest market I've seen to date!) with tasty French baguettes and salad. He was studying for an economics exam later that day too. Many young Cambodians work very hard, making ends meet with day-jobs and studying at university in the evenings. Ooh, and scary, a girl I met on the trip had dengue fever! DEET, here I come!

I don't know what it was, maybe the local water, but my tummy wasn't feeling too well the first few days in S'ville. So I went to the "best" restaurant in town for a mediocre meal that cost 5 times the price of my room. Ha ha...hanging out at the Sokha Beach Resort's swimming pool was nice too - met these two high-flying American travellers, Diane and Susan, and they were nice enough to take me in their private A/Ced taxi back to Phnom Penh. Amazingly, our taxi driver had survived Pol Pot's regime & the reign of terror under the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. He recounted the harrowing story of his life as a teenager working on the railways for the KR. I also read "Stay Alive, My Son" by a Montreal-trained Cambodian engineer that managed to escape to Thailand during the same era. It's frightening to think that this mass genocide happened under everybody's noses less than 30 years ago...and we haven't really learned from history, have we?

*Michelle!* I drowned my free Robots watch too... as I was diving into the pool, I remembered! oops...the US$1 replacement I've got isn't entirely ugly.

Phnom Penh is a pretty condensed capital. There are wide boulevards, but cars, motorbike drivers and tuk-tuks line the streets and weave in-and-out spontaneously. Traffic lights don't mean too much, and I feel like a deer every time I have to cross the street. A couple of Norwegian girls taught me a good trick. Anytime someone offers, "MOTO?", you say, "That's not my name!" Good stuff!!

Cool things about Phnom Penh:

• the Royal Palace is beautiful
• cheap internet...but slow (US$0.5/hour)
• awesome people (kids diving into the tonle sap river that is a murky brown), friendly moto drivers
• great view of the Boeung-Kak lake from the lakeside guesthouse
• nice bars on the riverfront
• random people singing...and it sounds pretty good!

The not so cool things about Phnom Penh:

• Boeung-Kak lake is probably toxic! so dirty!
• The Lazyfish guesthouse made me want to leave Phnom Penh! US$3 or not, eep, mosquitos aren't worth it!
• HOT HOT HOT. I think it must be 35 degrees out! and wind doesn't really tunnel through these streets...lol
• garbage everywhere! I don't think it is in the Cambodian culture quite yet to use rubbish bins.
• the seedy sex-tourist business rears its ugly head now and then

Currently, I am waiting to meet my new French friend (Romain!) and we're going to Vietnam by bus this Saturday. Can't wait for...pho...