We are in Sihanoukville and have been for the last three days, today is our last day here. I know I have said it before but we love it here! We are having a particularly lazy few days, there are quite a few things we could be doing and we decided it was time just to recharge batteries.
To give you a picture, I am sat on the small veranda of our beach side bungalow, I am in a circular cane chair which is padded and very comfortable. If I wanted to I could climb into the hammock which is by my side but this would make doing the blog quite difficult. Our veranda overlooks the garden and the sea, In front of me is a large fan palm, some coconut palms, a pink hibiscus and an aloe vera type plant and through all this foliage I can see the sea.
The bungalows are all built up a hillside so everyone has a perfect view. The accommodation has its own bathroom, is built from wood, is pretty basic, and very rustic - but then so is the price of £20 a night for us both. I think they make up their money on the food, which is quite pricy for here at about £3 each. We were just saying we have been in South East Asia too long as we are starting to think that is expensive!
We have just been for breakfast in the dining area by the sea, I had fruit salad and yogurt, perfect. (John had a full English, you can't change a man overnight). The other guests are the usual mix of Europeans and Americans but all are friendly and fun. I think we are the oldest ones here.
Yesterday we broke our pledge of just lazing around and reading books and went out on a boat to the Islands which are about two or three miles away. There were six of us in the boat, us and two German couples who were really chatty and nice. (I am amazed at the good level of English spoken by all the non-English people we meet, I can't think that we have ever been in the company of anyone who did not have a decent grasp of English.) We had an excellent day on the boat and spent some time snorkling around two of the islands. The snorkling was good but not brilliant, there were some lovely corals but also some which had been badly broken, I don't think the boat owners take a lot of care when they drop their anchors as I think these do quite a bit of damage. John also thinks that they may have been using explosives to stun the fish to make them easy to catch, this too has caused damage. The fish were few but lovely, I think I was spoiled for snorkling in Oman where the fish and coral are plentiful.
We landed on Bamboo Island, the boat driver said it should be called 'No Bamboo Island' as there actually isn't any bamboo, seems logical to me. We lazed on the beach and had a swim then climbed back on the boat and had a delicious lunch of fish and salad and french bread with fruit salad for pudding, it was just lovely.
I just mentioned climbing back on the boat, well, that is exactly what you had to do. When we were going out towards the Islands I had scanned around the decks looking for a ladder as I could see that there was quite a drop into the water. I had asked to John if he had seen one, as the eternal optimist he said he felt sure there was one. The first time we stopped and the snorkeling equipment was handed out, I casually asked if there was a ladder. Of course there wasn't but I was assured that there were ledges along the side of the boat to help you get in. Ever the pessimist, or should I say realist, I didn't believe this and getting into the water was difficult enough.
All the time we were snorkeling I kept thinking of how I was going to get back in the boat. With dread we approached the boat and, to my horror, I saw the others were already on board - I was at least hoping I could be undignified in private. My first attempt to lift my leg to my shoulder height to get a grip on this so called ledge failed miserably and my suggestion that they tow me along was not taken seriously, although I was deadly serious. After a series of contortions that Houdini would have been proud of I eventually landed on the deck like a dead fish being slapped on a plate. This manouevre was repeated on three occasions during the day. You would have thought my technique would have improved but in fact the last attempt was the worst. I am just pleased there was nobody in the water viewing me from behind! Just as a footnote the other two women on board were in their late 20's with bodies to die for, I think you get the picture.
Tomorrow we are off to Laos. So we leave here early in the morning to go the Phnom Penh airport to fly to Vientiane which is the Laos capital so more blog from there later.
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