Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Gitcher motor runnin'!

On our last day in Sihanoukville, we decided to rent a motoscooter and check out the nearby National Park and some of the surrounding beaches. It's possible to do a tour that includes all these activities, and our last couple tours had actually been pretty good - but we were still ready for some independence.

So we rented a scooter and took off (don't worry Dad - unlike almost everyone else, we always wore helmets! I prefer to enjoy my vacation without brain damage, thank you very much.)


We had a SWEET moto scooter and Tom got to wear the most X-TREME helmet. It was SICK!


On the way to the park we passed some water buffalo.


We thought the buffalo were super cool, but they weren't nearly as interested in us.


We soon found the entrance to the park.


The park ranger was very uptight.


Once inside the park we stumbled across yet another gorgeous beach.


We veered off the paved road and followed a dirt road along the water, through a grove of palm trees.


We were very happy to be doing some exploring on our own! With a moto as a means of transport, the world was truly our oyster!


As we were driving along I noticed movement in one of the trees. Turns out it was a guy climbing one of the trees - with no rope, no harness, no tools. Nothing but his bare hands. Scary and amazing! He seemed perfectly comfortable (as with all photos, click to enlarge).


We cruised past an oceanfront fishing village.


More shots of the fishing village.


Eventually we came to a bridge. Although we were feeling very independent and X-TREME , we decided that crossing this bridge on a scooter was a little too X-TREME for us.


So we got off, stretched our legs, and then headed back into town.


But you know what they say - it's not a real adventure until something goes wrong! Ten minutes from our guesthouse, we got a flat tire. Luckily it was fairly easy to find a roadside shop, and this guy took care of us right away.

- Jessi

Sihanoukville - Christmas in Cambodia

Although Cambodia is a Buddhist country, most of the backpackers traveling through the country are not, and so Christmas Eve is actually a pretty big deal in Sihanoukville. By "big deal," I mean that all the beach-front bars have special Christmas Eve dinners, and people in Santa hats shoot off fireworks over the ocean. Hardly typical, but definitely fun.

We met Nashib and Maria at an all-you-can-eat buffet which was absolutely packed. No surprise there - you've got a beach full of backpackers trying to live on $20/day, and for $5 they can eat til they're stuffed? Let's just say all-you-can-eat buffets are a rarity, and that's because no restaurant would be able to stay in business if they offered them nightly.

We watched another gorgeous sunset, and then feasted on a Christmas Eve dinner of Khmer curries and rice, with Angkor beer to wash it all down.


Christmas in Cambodia - not bad!


Tom, myself, Maria, and Nashib


During dinner a fire-twirler put on a show right at the water's edge. Very cool.

After dinner we decided to head over to the Snake House restaurant, which was exactly what it sounds like. A restaurant and bar filled with snakes and other reptiles. We'd been told it was not to be missed.

It was very difficult to take pictures of the creatures because they were all in glass cages, but believe us when we tell you that there were some crazy critters there. Huge boa constrictors, cobras, and even a croccodile.


In the center of every table was a snake enclosed in a glass cage.

By far our most exotic Christmas yet!

- Jessi

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Islands

Our first night in Sihanoukville we met a really cool Canadian couple named Nashib and Maria. We had a few drinks with them, and decided to join them the next day for a tour of the islands lying off the coast.


We took this boat to reach the islands.


Once there, we spent the morning doing a whole lotta nothing.


Happy campers


For lunch, our guide cooked us up some FRESH barracuda he had just caught that morning.


We ate lunch with our group around a little palapa on the beach. It was one of the best meals I had on the entire trip!


In the afternoon Tom, Nashib, Maria and I wandered off down a trail that led through the center of the island, to another beach.



And then we wandered around on that beach too.


Like I said, busy days. Busy busy days.



There was even a little palapa bar on the beach, so we had a couple beers before heading back to the mainland.


We heart Cambodia!

- Jessi

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Doing Nothing

I know. I know. We've been so bad about blogging! The problem is, we've still got so many Southeast Asia pics and stories to tell that it's downright overwhelming. And really, as much as we want to share it all with you, we want to get back to blogging in the present! But we can't, until we finish all the vacation pics. But there are so many pics left to post...

You can see the vicious cycle. I have to admit, I'm kinda shocked. I'm a big fan of making lists and getting stuff done. Typically, the more I have to do, the harder I work. I never really understood how people could be overwhelmed into inaction - it just didn't make sense to me. But that is what has happened.

And I'm procrastinating even as I write this post! Let's get down to business:

After crossing the border into Cambodia, we spent one night in Phnom Penh and then headed straight for Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville is a beach town in southern Cambodia, aptly pronounced "Scenicville."


Woohoo! A new map, finally!

As you know, rain had been chasing us down the coast of Vietnam and it was a real treat to find warm weather and sunshine waiting for us in Sihanoukville.



We wandered around for awhile, searching for cheap but nice rooms. Turns out there's no such thing in Sihanoukville - at least, not around Christmas! We wanted to actually enjoy our beach time, so we ended up going with something a little higher end ($30/night):






After we'd dropped our bags at our hotel, we walked 5 ft down a path to the beach, where we did.... nothing. All day. It was great.

The cool thing about Sihanoukville is that it's not totally built up. Although there are plenty of backpackers and tourist activities, there aren't a bunch of high-rise condos. It's still possible to eat dinner right on the beach (like, with your feet in the sand), which is exactly what we did.





Blue skies, gorgeous sunsets, friendly people... this is what we'd been looking for!

-Jessi

Into Cambodia

I realized that it's taking WAY longer to blog about our trip than to actully go on it, so I decided to get off my ass and write a little.

We came back into Saigon from the Mekong and started planning our escape to Cambodia. We were ready to move on. Vientnam was good, but we were searching for the sun, and word on the street was that Cambodia had it.

We decided to head out for our last dinner in Vietnam, which honestly I don't remember. What I do remember is we ended up at a Frenchman's bar eating delicious crepes for dessert, and having a few drinks. Or maybe a few more than a few drinks... still can't remember. Come on, we were kinda celebrating leaving Vietnam.


Yup, a Black Russian with a straw... that's how they roll in Vietnam.

And even though we had had a few drinks we still weren't as bad as this guy.
(WARNING: that's a 3MB video file for those of you with slow connections, or low patience)

So, it was a good last night in Vietnam. We decided we'd take a bus trip to the border the next day, cross the border into Cambodia, and start our adventure there.


We took a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, crossing the border at Moc Bai.

We were ready to be somewhere different... try something new. It was kind of nice getting on the bus. We had plenty of room and the trip to the border wasn't bad at all. We met this really nice couple from New Zealand, and this really nice (although a little clingy) man from Canada. They all made it a much nicer trip, we had good conversations and generally joked around. We were actually a little surprised at how well it was going. But, of course, Vietnam didn't disappoint... or I guess it did, depending on how you look at it.

While crossing the border into Cambodia we had to go through several Vietnamese checkpoints: Checking our bags, checking our passports, clearing customs, etc... at the last Vietnamese checkpoint, the guard took our Vietnamese visas out of our passports and kept the visas. We really wanted them as souvenirs, so we asked repeatedly if we could have them back. He kept saying, "NO, just go!" and waving his hand...

There comes a point when you think, "Is it worth getting shot at the Vietnamese border for a souvenier?" Obviously the answer is, "No," so we moved on disappointedly. When we arrived at the Cambodian border, it was all smiles. The guards were very nice and helpful, and they even taught us some Khmer.

The best thing they told us was, "You can't come into Cambodia without an exit visa stamp on a Vietnamese visa." Oh, shit. When we told them that a Vietnamese guard had taken our visas, they all kinda chuckled, looked at each other knowingly, and sent us back towards Vietnam.

Now we were pissed, and a little worried. The prospect of spending the rest of our lives in the buffer zone between Vietnam and Cambodia wasn't exciting. We sped back over to the guard, afraid he might not still be there, and said, "They won't let us into Cambodia without our visas!" At which point he reached into his pocket, pulled them out, gave them to us with a pissed look on his face and dismissed us with a grunt and a wave. He was gonna steal our visas and sell them on the black market!! Ah, Vietnam!

On the other side of the border we caught up with our group and awaited the bus ride to Phnom Penh. We had a nice little lunch at a street side cafe, and told our border crossing story to our new friends.


Me, the Canadian, and the Kiwi couple enjoying some lunch.

Not too much later a guide came up and told us the bus had arrived, so we hoisted our packs and wandered over to board the bus. When we got on the bus, it was already almost full. Luckily, the five of us got some of the last seats on the bus. And, of course, everyone's luggage was piled up in the aisle.

But then more people started getting on the bus...with more luggage. Turns out, there are several tour busses that get you from Saigon to the Vietnamese border, but only one that takes you from the border to Phnom Penh. So this bus was crammed with like 4 different tour groups. And, of course no one had thought far enough ahead to realize there wasn't gonna be enough room for everyone. So they got creative...


That's right... plastic kiddy chairs in the aisle.

We couldn't believe it. We thought it was gonna be Vietnam all over again... Especially since part of the trip involved stopping to wait for a ferry. When the bus stopped, these ladies approached the bus.


Peddling their wares to the bus riders...

But the touts weren't really aggressive. It was refreshing. The ladies just stood there with smiles on their faces. If they caught your eye, they'd offer something up... but there was no yelling or begging, and everything was done with a smile. Ah, Cambodia. After about a 10 minute wait we loaded onto the ferry. Keep in mind, these ferries aren't quite Washington State Ferries...


A view out of the bus on the ferry. Look closely at the back of the motorcycle (click to enlarge).


Hanging out on the ferry

Soon after we drove off the ferry, we pulled off to the side of the road. At first I wasn't quite sure why. But our Kiwi friends were on the other side of the bus and told us we were "filling up." I didn't understand, we were just at the side of some dusty road. They said, "Give us your camera..."


Texaco - Cambodian style.

After the refueling operations were complete, it was an uneventful journey into Phnom Penh.
So nice to be out of Vietnam and into Cambodia!

-Tom