Koh Chang cont..

Spent the majority of the day on the scooter going around the island. I managed to get a 200 baht fine for not wearing a helmet (I wasn't given one.). The stupid thing is that they allowed me to continue riding and never asked for a license . Gotta love the Thai police.

Stopped at Khlong Phlu waterfall and then continued to place called The Treehouse for a late lunch/ early dinner but they didn't serve between 4-6. We got there at 4:08. Typical.

Last night it was pizza and an early night. Looks like the sun is actually out today so it will likely be the beach for awhile and then some 'buckets' later to help bring in the New Year.

Koh Chang

What I thought was going to be a 5.5 to 6 hour trip turned into a 12 plus hour journey. We left Sihanoukville at 7:30 a.m., and drove to the Cambodian/ Thai border (after several stops to pick up others). We had a 40 minute stop for lunch at a restaurant in Koh Kong, which wasn't that great.

Once at the border (about 4.5 hrs later), our bags were loaded onto a cart which a Thai dude took across the border for us. Little did we know, once we cleared customs, we were asked by our baggage handler that we needed to tip him. He would not leave you alone until you gave him something. I opened up the wallet and basically gave him the smallest notes I had left which were 3 X 300 Riel. I believe that is about 8 cents. He wasn't all that pleased, but I told him if he didn't want it he could give it back...

We had about an hour wait until we got into a van. At one point 7 of us were sitting there in this van, with a couple of seats empty. The driver came in and said something but we couldn't figure out exactly what it was he was trying to say. It was either "We need 2 of you to change vehicles." or "We are waiting for 2 more people to join.". We all kind of figure it was the former of the two, because after he stood there for a few minutes, he then closed the door and turn the a/c off. We sat in the sweatbox for about 30 minutes. We figured it was a way to sweat a couple of us out. It was brutal but none of us succumbed to the torture. Finally, 2 others joined us and we were relieved of the heat. Away we went. Had yet another van transfer, a ferry ride, then two tuk tuk rides but finally got the main area of Koh Chang around 7 p.m. and the hotel about 8 p.m..

Staying at a rather expensive place but due to the fact that we (hanging with a Swedish couple) got here late, in the dark, and were tired, we didn't feel like scoping out anything else. The plan today is to try to find something else a bit cheaper.

Sihanoukville--Day 3. Outta here tomorrow.

Spent the day at my local watering hole--Banana Rest Bar-- and then a nap back at the hotel. The evening I wandered down the beach and ended up at the same place as last night for a bite to eat and some $0.50 draft. Back here now at the the Banana Rest Bar for some free internet. It is run by some Israeli's; the 'owner' has rented it for this season. Pretty chilled place and actually wouldn't mind staying a bit longer, but time to move on.

Went to take a picture of the restaurant I was sitting at this evening and these two older German guys were hiding their faces as i took the picture and we rather upset about it. Stupid asses. I guess, like MANY older European dudes, they are here for a little fun with the local prostitutes and are paranoid about getting caught. I took them out of the picture; they would have been just to the left of the BBQ sign.

Spot the rat pancake....

Sihanoukville

Day 2 in Sihanoukville. Moved hotels this morning to a place closer to the beach but not as nice as the last hotel. The beach is lined with restaurants and bars but by the looks of it, there might not be beach here much longer. It seems to be getting eroded, unless the restaurants have always been this close to the water.

A few afternoon beers at the beach. Not bad.

Sihanoukville

Nothing too exciting. Caught a bus at 7:45 for 4.5 hours of fun to Sihanoukville in the south. Actually wasn't that bad as I had two seats to myself. When I got here, as usual, the leeches grabbed hold to take me somewhere in their tuk tuks or scooters. 'Mr. Kim' gave me a ride on the back of his scooter to the hotel.

The pictures here are of the hotel, Orchidee. Has been a very lazy day of sitting by the pool and relaxing. I need to move tomorrow though because they don't have a room for me. Mr. Kim is coming back tomorrow at 9 to 'help' me find a new place. He has some recommendations. Oh goody.

Various stuff / Phnom Penh

On the way back to the hotel after dinner I took a wrong turn and went a tad too far but came across this HUGE park. In the park there were thousands of people and music playing everywhere. In groups of maybe a hundred they were dancing , same moves, same expressions, etc.. There were likely about 5 groups dancing; kids, adults etc. dancing and bunch of others watching. I had a good laugh when this little girl, maybe 2 years old, came in front of my camera but when I tried to take a picture, she would run and hide. It was a really neat experience; better than the museums, temples etc.

The other pics are of a market (flies like meat and fish). And women like to walk around in pajamas.

Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (prison) and The Killing Fields

Walked over to the Toul Sleng Museum (to

ok a long-cut of course). It was an old school building that got turned into a prison. In the first building, in each room was a bed where the prisoner was shackled and tortured. The metal container, once used for bullets was given to the prisoner to be used as a toilet and often also as a place they received their food.

In the other building, it was set up with each classroom housing a number of individual cells for prisoners. They were shackled in these tiny cells until they were either taken to be tortured or executed. The way these people suffered....

After some a/c at the hotel I hired the world's slowest tuk tuk to take me to the Killing Fields. Another depressing place. By the truckloads, people were brought in, blind folded, often immediately executed and then dumped into mass graves. 300 a day at times were killed. When it was too busy for the fuckers to keep up with the killings, the prisoners were held in rooms with no windows until it was their 'turn'. No windows prevented them from seeing what was going on. Why did it matter at that point?

All in all not a very happy day of siteseeing.

Enroute to Phnom Penh/ Phnom Penh

8$, "VIP" bus, 6 hours and I arrived in Phnom Penh. Was pretty uneventful, but not very comfortable. The VIP does not really mean much. However, aside from the cramped seating, extreme nose picker beside me, the hacking/spitting lady across the aisle and the puking baby, it wasn't that bad. Decent scenery, and an ipod makes things go by a bit faster.

Checked into my hotel around 3:00; this time living large. Paying over 40$ a night for a single room but there is a nice pool. I figured why the hell not? It definitely isn't worth 40$ here in Cambodia but I won't be doing this every night (just three nights). Figured the last place was only 7$ so what the hell?

Floating Village- Chong Khneas- Siem Reap

Was an hour tour of the floating village. Approximately 6000 people live there (1000 Vietnamese and the rest Cambodians). Was an interesting thing to see although I am not sure how people can live like that. Kids swimming in the water was wrong; poop and pee also swimming in there.

My driver allowed me to steer the boat and I knew it would come with a price. He later asked for a tip. I asked him how much and he said 3 dollars for him and his buddy. They ended up getting a dollar to share. Cheap whiteman.