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January 25, 2006
Chilling in Sihanoukville
My first evening in Sihanoukville on the coast consisted of getting semi-swindled into a $15 double room with air conditioning at the New Christmas Guesthouse back a few hundred meters the beach. I had insisted that my driver take me to Occheuteal Beach My motorbike driver and he had taken me to three other guesthouses that were apparently full. At the bus station an older western man told me it was full down here, gave me the card to his guesthouse in the center of town. My lack of planning was starting to look like a mistake. That evening on a $5 rental scooter I explored town, including Victory Hill and Beach. It is supposed to be more of a low end backpacker scene there but I thought it was just plain nasty. 
So I went cruising the guesthouses back on Occheuteal Beach and quickly found the Occheuteal Bungalows.
At the Occheuteal Bungalows they arranged for a really nice $15/night room with fridge, a single large bed, satellite TV and most importantly a sea view from the balcony with chairs and a little table. I’m splurging again. First thing the next morning I moved to my new digs, settled in and wandered down to the beach and found a charming little restaurant/beach chair place called ‘Le Roseau’. The staff are really nice but typically Thai-like in their concepts of service, but that’s ok. 
That first evening I met Jan from Norway. The second day of laying around in the beach I met a couple from Austria, Victor and Lea. (BTW: Lea is not with an 'h'!) Victor is actually British, but that is beside the point. My third day in town Levi showed up and the group of us spent the day hanging out at the beach.
While on the beach I got a manicure and pedicure for $3 from an older Vietnamese woman named Long, which was great. Also a young woman named Tani sold me some hand made bracelets with my two niece’s names on them, which her sister Dani hand made a few tens of meters away in the shade while Tani and I chatted down by the ocean water.
The beach area is really relaxing. The surf is generally calm, a few people playing about with Frisbees and rafts, people walking up and down the beach just relaxing. I’ve taken a few swims each day and the water in the Gulf of Thailand is just about perfect. Unfortunately there is little local fish life as dynamite fishing was all the rage a few years ago. The sunsets have been spectacular.
On the third night Victor, Lea and I headed up to Victory Hill where there is supposed to be some sort of night life. The reality is that it was pretty dead and lots of strange characters about. We settled in street side at the Paragay Taras Bar for a beer. At one point a young French boy walked up and sat down with us. His mother was across the street getting drunk with some weirdoes. The young Parisian was very polite at first but then he became a little shit faster than Bush can make an excuse to invade another country. At one point he stood up with a rolled up a news paper and smacked me on the forehead with it. Very uncool. I spanked him twice on the ass, pushed him away, and grabbed his chair from him so that he couldn’t sit on it. We then agreed that we should head inside the bar and but soon got bored and left.
One the scooter taxi ride home, my driver veered off and tried to take me to some dodgy girly bar away from any other night life. After some polite ‘no, no, just take me back home’ he finally took me back to my digs at the guesthouse where I crashed.
On the fourth day, after having been in party mode for the past two nights, I just hung out in my room sleeping, watching some television and writing some emails and blogs. 
Just some quality time with Stu to take the edge of such a relaxing few days.
I’m scheduled to leave Friday back for Phnom Penh where I have a flight Saturday but am half temped to blow that off and hang out a few more days…it is very relaxed around here, it is not crowded at all, prices are decent and I’m just liking S’ville a lot more than I expected. Decision day is tomorrow.
Posted by stu at January 25, 2006 04:28 PM
Comments
you could say frack, like on battlestar. wow, then you would be a huge computer programmer sci fi dork. i bet that would get you into the startrek conventions 1/2 off.
Posted by: yo sis at January 28, 2006 09:26 PM
Don't say fuck, say "m'kay". As they say in South Park. :0)
Seriously, though, do whatever you want, bro. And, post more photos. We're dying for them. The audio blog (which is mostly of other stuff, not you), is OK - not as good as the text and photos.
Hope all is well with you. Am off to NZ in a few days . My stops later this Spring and Summer - Saudi Arabia, Grand Canyon (with John Brauer and Josh Feffer - want to come?), Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
In the meantime, I've got another grant proposal to write before the end of the weekend (ugh). But at least it pays for stuff.
Rock on,
Whitey
Posted by: Whitey at January 27, 2006 06:26 AM