Cloud9 Bungalows Sihanoukville

... else to do at that precise moment I said yes. So off I go to the **** end of nowhere to speak with a bunch of kids from 5-18. Quite a surreal experience really and an hour later, after establishing that my favourite colour was blue and that I do in fact like Indian food, I came away with a CD by a band called 'Dengue Fever' for my efforts. Can't wait to listen to that collection of traditional Khmer hits.<br><br>I left Battambang for Siem Reap, home of Ankor Wat ...

... ask me to spell it) swooping around duty free spritzing myself with Chanel and feeling excited about Cambodia. Departure lounge was fab with free internet so used it just for the sake of it. Felt a bit weird at this point but blamed it on my body digesting a raw mango I ate earlier. As we took off it got worse, turbulence kicked in and then there was no mistaking my feeling, i felt sick for real. "Oh Christ" I thought as the seat belt sign flashed and I ...

... my forehead and nose and down my cheeks a bit, and hurts like hell. The rest of me, the patches i missed are also very pink and sore (I put 2 helpings of factor 30 on for gods sake!) and Aly's not much better but not bistering. <br><br>So Im sitting in our large hotel writing this with pink anti-septic cream all over my face that refuses to sink in and getting strange looks - especially from Cambodians who being dark skinned dont understand.<br ...

... next to the bar so we decided to splash out and go with our first choice. We checked out getting our money back and checked into the $10 a night hotel up the road.. it was great.. lovely rooms and huge blue swimming pool with a pool bar. What more could ya want. We walked around the small town and got $.50c beers and had cheap good food.<br><br>The next day we took a walk along the beach and did pretty much ...

... need. Quite entertaining! The begging wears a bit thin after a while but everyone needs money. The saddest time was probably when this little boy of about 6 who was absolutely filthy was running around the beach trying to collect empty bottles so he can get money for recycling them. I tried to give him mine but he was too scared to come near so I put it on the sand for him to get. He was totally scared of everyone ...

... jungle time - we saw some really big, beautiful tropical birds that we think might have been a type of hornbill. we also went snorkelling one morning and saw some more parrot fish, cleaner fish, a big boxfish, and many other beautiful fish.<br><br> other than that, we mostly lazed about, played scrabble and cards, read, swam, watched the amazing skies and relaxed! we ended up staying an extra day and were really sad to say goodbye.<br><br>

... for Mexican. Utopia bar across from our Guest House was jumping when we returned. The music is the best that we have heard in SE Asia so far! Two internet cafes were closed, but the 1 near Utopia is open until 3 am. I am sure that there is a lot of drunk emailing done here! We found down via email that Ally had been recovering, but then took a turn for the worse. The vet is recommending to put her down and we have agreed. Our poor baby. Bill and I are both pretty upset...

... large until the day they die! One highlight of the night was drinking glasses of beer for 17p if only it was like this at home I thought. The next couple of days were pretty similar go to the beach come home have something to eat repetitive but it was nice to relax all the same after a week of constant travelling. Another annoying thing was we had to move guesthouses as they had double booked our room, it was probably the best in ...

... to Cambodia, our first impressions was of a very friendly but not so pushy people, where we were quickly approached by a Tuk-Tuk driver who following more astute negotiations we set off with for a tour of the sights. This was a town doing its best to recover from the ravages of the Pol Pot regime. There appeared to have been quite a lot a new development and we were taken to see a newish Buddhist temple, another amazing market and then left at the beach for the afternoon. The ...

... and searched the streets for a minibus to take us to the Cambodian border post at Hat Lek. A young man approached me in the street and said "Monsieur, ou allez vous ?", perhaps a foretaste of the French linguistic legacy left in Cambodia. Boarding his minibus we seated ourselves in front of a shelf on which rested a number of whimsical Chinese Buddhist figurines made of china and affixed with double-sided tape. I fell asleep again and awoke at the border post an hour later, just as ...