Cambodia, Day Nine (Aug. 6, 2007)

While walking to the pharmacy, we noticed the streets were packed with school children and adults alike waving Cambodian flags and pictures of the king. The pharmacist told us the king was due in town this morning.

At 12:30, we caught the bus to Sihanoukville. Meg wins the "Fastest Woman in Cambodia" award for jumping over a cooler, a small child, and three Cambodian men when someone walked off with her backpack.* Particularly impressive, since she had just taken a sleeping pill for the trip. Thankfully, it was only a bus employee moving it to another cargo area.

The bus ride was beautiful, much more so than the ride to Phnom Penh. Misty mountains snaked** across the landscape, towering over rice fields and thatched-roofed homes.***

Having had beautiful weather for the last week and a half, the heavens opened up just as we pulled into town. We were soaked, and there wasn't a tuktuk in sight -- only motos. I cornered a gentleman with a TAXI sign and asked if he could take six people. He, of course, said yes. We envisioned a Toyota Land Cruiser; we did not, however, envision a Toyota Camry. In case you're wondering, a Camry can, in fact, hold 7 people and 10 backpacks. After checking out a couple of hotels, we settled on the Markara, a decent place for $10/night, right across from Occheutal Beach.****

By the time we all got settled (and dry), it was late afternoon, so we walked across the street to Dara's for dinner. Brad and I split an order of fish and chips, which turned out to be barracuda. I'm very excited to have eaten barracuda. We spent the rest of the evening there, sprawled out on papasan chairs, listening to the sounds of the Gulf of Thailand.

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Brad and Jenn's footnotes
* Tony Hawk would've been proud. I'm not a skater, but I'm pretty sure I witnessed her perform an ollie-to-kickflip-half-nelson-organ-grinder. Or something like that.
** Fitting choice of verbs, considering what lie in store for us in a day or so. Stay tuned.
*** Also, we weren't so close to the toilets.
**** Suggested slogan: "Come here to evade your country's legal prosecution and never be found!"

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