It’s settled, Koh Samui it is for hogmanay! I doubt there will be any pictures, I’m not risking taking the camera out, but I might manage to squeeze out a field report in a few days once / if I recover!
Have a great new year wherever you are…
Monthly Archive for December, 2005
Real, geniune, Thai chicken satay, not your average Safeway’s nonsense, oh they’re good!
We’re in Koh Samui today having endured another all day and all night bus journey from Phnom Penh to Bangkok and onwards to Surat Thani before catching the boat to Koh Samui. However, it shall not resteth here, we’re going to Koh Pha-Ngan tomorrow morning as that’s where the ultimate party is supposed to be for new year.
Apparently you can’t get accomodation anywhere on the island, but hey, we’re eternally optimistic and ever persistent, I have no doubt we’ll find something… 
I’ve got a great photo of where we’re staying, but don’t have the camera with me, so will squeeze it online as soon as I can. In the meantime, the party of Koh Samui beckons…
I’m back in Phnom Penh today having left Sihanoukville this afternoon. Fergus left first thing with Roland heading straight for Siam Reap to see Angkor Wat. I’m going to skip that whole episode and head straight for Ko Samui for new years. I’ll be able to sort out the accomodation and stuff before the boys arrive.
Wes said just as we were leaving Sihanoukville, it’s odd to think that this is a place we’ll probably never visit again. Got me thinking about my memories of the place.
Roland and Fergus got friendly with some of the locals selling bracelets or fruit or other stuff on the beach. So most days on the beach we hung out with a local audience, part chatting, part trying to sell you stuff. Then they invited us to a night club one night and then a couple of nights later for somebody’s birthday. She was 27 apparently, but she didn’t look older than 19.
It was interesting to see Kmer culture first hand, with only a very small spattering of westerners. The mix of karaoke ballads and dancy technoy tunes was definitely an experience! That and the Kmers standing dancing at themselves in the mirror is a memory I won’t lose any time soon.
However, there was a real undertone of cash, one girl in particular insisted that I “invite her” which apparently meant buy her a drink. 50 cents a coke (they don’t drink anything else, which is an altogether different story) I was happy to buy her a drink. Then when we arrived suddenly it was two cokes. Whatever, it was still only a dollar.
I’d met a Kmer guy in a beachside bar who was asking what I was up to. I said I was going to a birthday party, he came along, and apparently had several beers and left without paying. The deal seems to be, they put loads of drinks on the table, then you drink what you like, and get a bill at the end of the night.
Anyway, I left Fergus and Roland with enough money to cover my share and headed back to the beach. I didn’t fancy getting caught up in Kmer bill paying politics.
Overall, Sihanoukville was nice place to visit. A little quieter than I might have liked on party nights, but a nice level of people on the beach during the day. Having been back in Phnom Penh for only an hour or two, the difference is stark. Sihanoukville’s a relaxed, beach side town with a chilled out, laid back atmosphere. Phnom Penh’s a den of debauchery filled with drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes.
Good preparation for Bangkok I think! We’re transitting through Bangkok tomorrow, hopefully not stopping, heading for Ko Samui for new year. Bring on the next round of beach parties…
My first xmas on the beach, and oh what an xmas it was! We partied pretty hard on xmas eve, to the point where I fell asleep on a lounger on the beach and woke up minus my shoes, shirt and cash, thanksfully still in posession of my passport and cards.
Not letting that hold me back, the shoes were crap, my new ones are great and it was less than 10 dollars, we carried on to xmas night itself. I finally got to bed about 11:30am on boxing day, having been skinny dipping, twice, hacking myself to pieces while trying to climb into a boat covered in barnacles, and various other unmentionable / non-remembered events. It was quite a day…
Due to a power cut on the beach front, internet access was ropey at best, so the obligatory xmas phone call was somewhat broken and fairly short! Or at least that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it…
We finally made it to the beach yesterday, swimming in the sea, sunbathing, even some beach cricket! Looks like we’ll be having the grand beach cricket final on xmas day! Fantastic…
My first xmas on the beach, it’s xmas eve and I had to remind myself of that this morning. Trying to figure out who I need to phone tomorrow, how much that’s going to cost me from an internet cafe, and what time is good, etc, etc. So the long and the short of it is, I ain’t calling nobody!
It’s been nice to finally have a bit of a holiday, we’ve spent a day now on the beach and it finally feels like taking it easy. There are no mosquitos, I’ve got some sun block, beers are 50 cents, what more could a man ask for? Don’t answer that…
If you’re reading this, have a great festive season, I hope it presents some time to reflect, and I’ll attempt to bash out a festive email around new year.
I really didn’t notice for the first few days, but the only women in Cambodian bars and clubs are prostitutes. The first few days we were hanging out with a few groups of backpackers, so I didn’t really notice what else was going on, but then I met a few folk who mentioned it, and I started noticing that every single bar you go into is full of women, and a few western or local guys.
We went to the main club in Phnom Penh called Heart of Darkness and there was literally one wester woman. It’s a crazy town. One guy started talking to me in another club as if the only reason you’d possibly be in Cambodia is to meet prostitutes. He talked about it like it was so obvious it didn’t even bear mentioning.
It’s a weird place. We got out of Phnom Penh today and we’re now in Sihanoukville where we’re planning to spend xmas. However, Fergus is here as well, so we’ll see how it goes, we might head out of Cambodia earlier if this place is no better.
Add to that I just had the very worst meal of my life, well, perhaps not, but definitely the worst meal since I’ve been away. Don’t go to Craig and Mick’s in Sihanoukville, you have been warned!
We’ll see what the beach scene has to offer tonight…
It had to happen sooner or later, I had my phone stolen yesterday. I gave my jacket and shirt to the security booth / cloakroom and got my jacket back minus my phone. Didn’t notice at the time, and the following day, naturally, they spoke very little English and knew nothing about it!
I had rented a motorbike and kept it overnight, I left it outside the guest house. In the morning, somebody had stolen the front panel from it. They had unscrewed it and nicked it. Bloody Cambodians, I tell you! Anyway, cost me $4 to get a new one, grrrr.
Anyway, the phone was dying anyway, it’s good to lose things now and then, and hey, I’ll make sure the motorbikes I rent are kept inside from now on, so it was a cheap lesson really.
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