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Other entries in Sihanoukville

new country!

made it into cambodia - juwst when what little thai I knew was coming back, time to learn a new language....and get my brain back in that mode....

yesterdays trip included a (thank god) air-con mini van to get us to sihanoukville and the south beaches of cambodia. if you have a guide book from 4 years ago, they say this road might happen. now they sell rides to tourists so you'd think its OK, but turns out it's maybe 1/2 done, so that means 20% pavement, the rest rutty/washboardy dirt road and NO bridges. we saw posts for bridges so if you come back in maybe 2 years, you'll like this ride, but now, every 45 mins or so, we'd pile out, stand in wicked hot humid sun, wait for the 10 cars in front of us cross the river by ferry until it was finally our turn. load cars, then people, cross river, reverse.

each crossing had mini economies set up to sell anything you could consume in 15 minutes. we had maybe 5 or 6 of these crossings - I lost count (heat wave malaise). and the whole ride took 6-7 hours, not the 5-6 advertised :). but at least we had the air-con van. the locals (I'm sure you can guess what I'll write next - this is so typical) do it with twice as many people piled in a same size van with no air. such respect...

it really was cool to interact with these mini-economies - the river crossings became a great way to eat strange food, drink home-made drinks. I thought I was all smart thinking "what will happen to these mini economies once the bridges are built" until I talked to this swedish guy who pointed out a paved road will do more for their overall economy that a few ferry river crosings. so true. life will probably be better for them. hadn't thought of that.

damn those swedes are smart....

side note - our bus was full of swedes and fins (my people!) so we pink-skined blondes had a great time.

I also met up with 2 peeps from england/scotland. we were headed to the same town so got a room together on the hillside overlooking the bay/beach. sweet view. and I'll try to limit bragging about how much (little) I'm paying for everything. just know it aint much.

today wandered the city with a couple other peeps (US & taiwan) in search of snorkeling options. we had lunch at a roadside restaurant with pricing in local currency (riel), not touristic US$ (which is everywhere on the beach). I made universal hand motion for "menu". instead, the woman took the lid off this pot to show us noodles and pointed to raw meat sitting on a table. said "soup". perfect - just what we were looking for. vietnamese beef pho. except for a little OD on the hot peppers (and a stupid wipe of my face with that hand that made me burn for about 10 minutes), all was good.

other things Ive seen so far in cambodia:

- water buffalo! mystery to me tho is that the dirt road is red (just like in argentina/brazil - so strange), but the buffaloes 2 feet off the road are covered in gray mud. I have yet to see a red buffalo or grey dirt road.

- naked kids

- a woman selling tiny bags with 3 quail eggs each in them, in a basket-tray, on her head.

- motorbikes everywhere who stop to ask if you want a ride everytime you stop walking. so keep walking!

- a store that offers 2,500 CDs to pick from and transfer to your mp3 player - an indispensable service if you're sick and tired of your music....is this the internet cafe variation of the future? (Id consider it if I was sick of my music, but I'm so NOT, yet.) I think this is an idea worth watching for.....

k, the sweat all over me is so wicked sticky, I have to take a shower. after that, to the beach. 

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