A day on the beach

The day before we'd promised ourselves to get up early and take a morning swim just after sunrise, thus having maximum time to go shoping and swiming. While the thought was valiant our actual approach to it however was not. Waking up past noon and bleary eyed we dragged us down to the restaurant to have some late lunch. 

Robert realised that his flip-flops were broken and borrowed some scissors to help him trim the edges. What started out as some modest trimming quickly got out of hand and this was the end result of Roberts over enthusiasm :p

After Robert tried out his new shoes and found out to his surprice that they still worked, we went down to the beach for the mandatory r&r time we'd come to grown accustomed to. The sun was shining through small clouds, the breeze was gentle and the sound of the waves beckoned. Before we knew it we'd spent close to four hours there and it was time to go shopping :) 

Some friends had told us that it wasn't very far and so we set out on foot. We hadn't even walked hundred meters before we got stoped by military police that blocked the road. The occation? Cambodias president/king was visiting sihanoukville and all along the streets people were forming up with flags in their hands waving and shouting words of respect as he was passing by in his car. 

When the ruler of Cambodia had passed and the police finally let up the road blocks, utter caos followed the next few minutes as people were going peddle to the metal just to get ahead of the traffic queues that were beginning to form. We watched the debackle before continuing our walk towards the market we'd now learned the name of, Leu market.

It took a good 40 minutes to walk, and by the time we got there we realised the market was closing :( Bummed out we started our way back but this time in a much slower and demoraliced pace. Luckily for us Sihanoukville is full of motorbike taxis and we emediately got jumped by several trying to sell their services to us. After a bit of haggling we got the trip back for a measly one dollar!

He droped us off close to the golden lions and we made our way down the road in search for food. We found a place selling burgers that with all the filling towered close to 10 centimeters :) Yummy!

The sun was just setting but Wayu was already tired so we went back to our hotel for some chilling and book reading. Wayu passed out after 15 minutes and managed to get seriously bit by the mosquitoes before we remembered to put on some DEET. Needless to say our day ended there :)

//Wayu & Robert

How to spend your days in sihanoukville.

We woke up early but since we had nothing but time on our hands we took it nice and slow and spent a few hours just reading in the gentle breeze. We then went for lunch at our usual place and Robert asked the chef to cook him something special. The chef questioned him about likes and dislikes for a few minutes before sending of one employee to shop something while he went back into the kitchen and started rumaging around. The clinking choping crackling and sizzling finally produced this stunning dish and by the look of Robert's face it was pretty tasty too.

After the delicious meal Hannah joined us for some time at the beach. We thought it was a bit hot in the sun and parked ourselves under the cooling shade of an umbrella. Hannah hadn't eaten anything yet and Robert set of with her in a quest for some food. They were in luck as the local squid lady was standing close by with squirming delight slowly sizzling over the open fire.

It was surprisingly soft and not chewy at all which led to Wayu trying a bite or two aswell. 

After our squid chilli diping, we got more or less attacked by the beachs' hawkers. One and same person could ask something in the likes of:

- Heloo you want braid? Massage? Clip toenails? Ring? Bracelet? Manicure? Pedicure? Color your hair? Shaving? Threading? Waxing? No??! If you want you come to me! Pinky swear!¡! 

And then there were something like 15-20 more waiting in line to say the exact same thing... Kinda funny :p But then some people relented after the 10th or so hawker and bought a thing for a dollar or two.

At around six we went to eat some dinner and then headed to Sky Bar for a power hour. For all of you who don't know about it its basicly a drinking game where you watch a bunch of funny vidoes in a row and take a sip after each clip. Wayu played with choco-banana milkahakes and the others with beer. We played for little over 20 minutes before the internet went out, but it was just aswell as the six pints and two big milkshakes everyone had in the beginning now were gone. 

We had just finished the game when a guy called Jimmy entered the bar. After spending some time chatting about this and that, we found out that he was a vagabond sing/songwriter who cruised all through SE Asia and made a living of playing his own music. He played us a few songs and we leaned back and relaxed. His music made us feel really at ease and his voice was something else :)

Jimmy told us that he was playing later in a bar up the road and invited us to come and listen before he went off to prepare. 

We stayed in Sky Bar for another couple hours enjoying the company of everyone there. We all shared stories of past glories and failures and had quite a few laughs while doing so. Then it was time to go see Jimmy preform and merrily we walked up the road.

When we got to the bar there was no singing but everyones faces was turned towards the different tellies (TVs) who showed the Wimbeldon final. Apparently an englishman was playing and our friends got sucked right into the exitement. It was iceing on the cake when he won aswell and we joined the cheers with the rest of the bar. Jimmy acted like that was his que and imediately started playing something to suit the mood. 

We listened to Jimmy play untill midnight before we felt it was time to say godbye to everyone. We ended the night with a slow stroll back home to the hotel, and in our minds it was a very good ending to a very nice day. 

//Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - Rain, nails and celebrations

We slept in this morning and took our time with getting ready. Last night we'd moved from our hotel with pool, to a place closer to the beach and pretty much everything else aswell. When it was time to go to the beach we got there in under a minute. Wayu headed of with Charnai to get her nails done all the while Robert had to sit all alone with nothing but the beach and a good book to keep him company. Tough life.

Wayu arrived to the beach with pretty nails and alot of rain in tow so the plans of a beach day went down the drain. Luckily our new hostel had alot of comfy chairs just outside our rooms overlooking everything that was happening on the street outside and it just so happend that we stayed there all the while the rain was pooring down. It made for a cozy afternoon. 

In the evening we went down to our usual place to celebrate Charnai's birthday. She was working her cook hard, making curry for everyone that showed up. After dinner her sisters came in and she got to make a wish and blow the candles :) 

Lovely picture!

We stayed untill midnight and then bid our farwell. The night might still have been young but we all felt (including Charnai) that it was just about time to head of to bed.

//Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - Of to Otress

Waking up relaxed and ready to take on everything the world could throw at us we took a quick swim in the pool before walking over to our new favorite restaurant for breakfast. This box reflected our mood perfectly:

After a splendid meal we felt it was time for some adventure and together with the British we rented 4 bicycles to take us to Otress Beach. Our bikes were old and scrawny but we as we were only borrowing them for a few hours we figured it was okay. Off we went and with slow trudging motion we wound our way along the country side. We didn't go 100 meters however before one of Wayus pedals flew off. Guess you get what you pay for :p 

We had to stop to ask for directions several times but in the end we found the beach! The tide was high and the wind was blowing with some power so we had to build a protective wall around us so that the water wouldn't drench our stuff. Wayu took it a little bit further and build a castle to go with the wall :)

We walked into the cooling water and Wayu had her first taste of how waves can be both fun and dangerous. We played around in the water and had great fun letting the waves lift us up, or diving through them but suddenly we found ourselves being a bit to far out for comfort - no longer being able to reach the bottom with our feet. With the waves being so high not having any leverage was dangerous and so we started swimming back to shore. The problem was that the waves were strong and instantly pulled us back out again. You had to have the exact right timing to be able to move forward. Robert who had some experience with waves like these managed to slowly get back to shore, but Wayu swam with all her might only to be pulled back out again. It took about ten minutes before Wayu found the right timing and managed to get back to shore. Exhausted from the excertion and with adrenaline pumping from the trying experience Wayu sat down in the sand to rest and calm down.

After this we were all pretty much out of energy and we decided on some late lunch. The boost was sorely needed and afterwards we took our bikes and began our way back home. Wayu immediately said that her bike was acting up again and sure enough she had a flat back tire. 

We slowly trudged forward, the way back almost only uphill while dodging cows also travelling the road. Oh and did we forget to say that it started pouring halfway back? 

Needless to say, luck was not really on our side...

When we got into our room we both collapsed in a chair and read our respective books for a while without even uttering a word. 

After a while we felt it was time for some beer for Robert and a banana chocolate smoothie for Wayu so off to Sky Bar we went. The english couple was already there when we arrived and also a slightly older Norwegian couple with their son. They were both a great crack, especially the father whom spoke with ease about everything. 

We brought them to our dinner place and we all enjoyed really good cuisine, except the son who was a  bit picky with his food and only ate a bowl of rice.

After dinner we went back to Sky Bar for some more drinks and ended up staying untill wee hours. An eventfull day with many laughs cries and alot of frustration to say the least!

//Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - A calm day

We woke tired but with fond memories of the night before. When we looked outside our windows all we could see was rooftops of bars and Ankhor beer comercial. Not feeling keen on walking to one of them, we grabbed a quick brunch and then just relaxed by the pool with a book in hand for most of the day.

The sight from our window. All the red signs are bars.

When at last we felt the need for some social interaction we wound our way down to Sky Bar. Charnai was still hungover and even the cat Simon looked a bit somber to our eyes. But there is almost nothing that good company can't fix and after while we were all our old selves again. 

Even Simon the bar cat woke up and played with us.

The British people came over to the bar and took us away to dinner at a place close by. Crazy cheap and the food was great! We liked it so much that we ordered double meals :) 

Afterwards be bid them farwell and took a stroll down the beach in the moonlight. It was very tranquil as the stars overhead shone bright and the gentle sounds of waves breaking lulled us into a state of pure contentment. After walking for a little while we came upon three Cambodians honing their skills in Poi (fire art) and we caught a glimpse of how good they were with fire sticks.

Feeling happy with the world we slowly walked home and snuck into bed to watch the last of an Anime series before falling asleep with a smile on our faces.

//Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - Kind strangers

When we finally got on to the last bus we found a guy sitting in one of our seats. Little did we know he was not only Swedish but also a local! It didn't take long before we were asking him about anything and everything. Five hours later when we arrived at Sihanoukville we felt like we actually knew a bit about everyday life in Cambodia.

He paid for our Tuk-tuk, a whopping 1 dollar, since he knew how to barter like a mad man. We got droped of at our hotel and we decided to meet up later for a beer or two at a place called Sky bar, but first we had to get the dust of from the road. 35 hours on different busses require a shower to say the least.

The hotel was really nice and the pool beckoned for us to go in. We ended up staying at the hotel a little bit longer than planned and when we finally set out towards the bar the sky was already darkening. It took us a while to find the bar as people didn't really understand english and thus it was hard for us to gain the right direction.

At last we arrived at Sky bar and saw Dennie sitting there with a cute little Cambodian lady that squealed with exitement when she saw us and basicly ran up to introduce herself. The lovely little lady was named Charnai and later we found out that she was the owner of the bar. Everyone was crazy friendly and it felt like we fit right in. Dennie brought more friends that were from Sweden and Denmark and we befriended an English couple at one of the tables next to us.

At around midnight Charnai closed her bar and we headed out to see the nightlife of Sihanoukville. With that lady there was no way we could have a bad time. And we were right cause we had one of the absolute best nights out in a long time! 

//Wayu & Robert