Seaside and sunshine to yogis and gongs

Breakfasts in the pavilion at Seagarden

The birds are tweeting and the yogis are chanting; I'm on my third day of a detox retreat at 'Hariharilaya', located 12km North of Siem Reap. The days typically start at 5.30am, the resonating sound of the gong entering into our rooms as our soothing wake-up call (a nice change from your typical iphone or blackberry alarm!) Everyone makes their way to the yoga hut for the morning set, stretching into your body glove with eyes half open and finishing fully energized. The yoga varies in type every morning, some days it's rigorous Hatha while others it's slow and steady vinyasa/flow. A half an hour chanting session follows, to focus everyone's mind as we read the sanskrit words in front of us, before the 20 minute meditation, the last item on the agenda before breakfast is spread.  The rest of the day consists of various talks (on spirituality, Dharma, enneagrams etc), more meditation and optional workshops, acupuncture, blind massages, reiki, opportunities to cycle around the village, explore nearby temples, sun-tan naked in an enclosed bamboo hut, paint, draw, exercise,  read from the library of books and so much more. Everyone's typically off to bed by 10ish, worn out from the full-on day of activities. The man responsible for all this is 'J', a 33 year old yogi, who from the age of  6 joined the philharmonic orchestra in the US, touring the world until he decided to go to university and study linguistics for 6 years. Continuing on his spiritual path he has since created a yoga centre for people to share their passion and knowledge.

Woop woop!

It's amazing giving your body a break from any sort of toxins. The food is vegan here, and so creatively thought out. Incredible superfoods are available every day, one example is the amazing Kombucha tea: 'a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast' that's fermented using a fungus (manchurian mushroom) for months - it sounds odd, but tastes delicious after the natural flavourings are added to it  like lemon, mint, passion fruit etc. it's quality is to detoxify the body and energize the mind, basically, it's amazing, and is gulped down minutes after being released. Bee pollen's available in sachets to sprinkle over breakfast and if you need a bit of sweetness, 'bliss balls' with dates, coconut, palm sugar and oats are available for a dollar! ;)

I've been cycling around the village at 5.30am every morning since I've been here - A nice way for your eyes to slowly open into the day. It was funny coming out of my dream world and seeing the locals totally awake as they hacked away at pig heads and trotters in the local market and stopped the cat- fish from wriggling around in the big metal bowls. Further on down the dusty lane a little 6 year old boy rode a bicycle, carrying his friend behind him. Another little boy, who looked about 10, was leading a herd of cows along the road. He stopped, I wished him good morning in Khmer as he returned it with a shy smile, and continued walking the skinny cows through the lush paddy fields. A naked little girl held her arms out, balancing as she put one foot in front of the other on the high wall that surrounds 'Bakong Temple' - part of the ancient ruins known as Angkor Wat. My direction sense is hopeless, so of course I made the one wrong turn you could make and ended up lost and surrounded by empty food stalls, stressing out about what time it was, with no watch or phone to assist me. A sweet Khmer lady offered me a coconut and lead me to the right path and luckily, I arrived back in time for the gong to reverberate through the room, signalling the beginning of morning yoga.

I've come here for a bit of self-reflection, while J works for a few more days in Otress. I can't quite believe my stint there's already over. Every day merged into the next, probably due to a few too many flower fumes and the lackadaisical attitude of the place. Each day started with a morning swim while the sea was metallic and still, followed by a meditation and an Ice coffee (that we've now mastered, as well as the odd cocktail recipes that we want to remember). There were down days in paradise, when M's puppy died unexpectedly and the mood fell low as we all felt his sadness. But having to work at a bar and socialize always forces a smile that's eventually taken on as something real. The chefs (that hated what they did, and took it out on us constantly) had a nice streak one day, and prepared a group meal of fresh fish, lettuce, rice noodles and a delicious sauce to top it off - a great way to unify everyone for a few minutes before business took over again. I managed to finally cut my own king coconut, nearly chopping my leg off as I swung the machete in the wrong direction. But with time, lots of whining and too much sweat, I finally managed to do it without J's help, or A telling me that I needed 'more power!!' That night we had 9 of our mates sitting around the bar, dealing cards from our side, we managed a massive game of 'Yaneev', an Israeli card game that every traveller must know. It was a struggle playing, dealing the cards and making drinks at the same time, but it kept the night moving. That evening the liquor was flowing, so I decided to go craazy and have 2 shots! It was the end of the night, and my job was to wash the glasses. I gripped onto the bar stools trying to straighten my vision as I grabbed a chair, dragged it behind the bar, and proceeded to wash the blurry objects in front of me, sitting down with soap and water pouring everywhere - I was a mess. Soo since then alci's been off the wish list.

The Bizarre aeroplane club

 The next day before work J and I went to explore a few of the local beaches, coming across a bizarre Russian-owned club. The theme of the place was 'aeroplanes' and they took their theme seriously. They'd installed a massive aeroplane in the centre of the club, that you could climb into and mess around in. The DJ booth was the front of a truck and the sides of cars were hung up on the walls. It lead onto the beach, right next to a busy harbour. We jumped around, played pool and sped off to the next beach as the seconds ticked on before work was to begin. The other beaches were all beautiful and completely empty, similar to the expensive resorts, that were 5-star but lacked the main component - guests. One huge island that we could see from the beach, had recently had a huge, ugly, concrete bridge constructed from the mainland, allowing you to drive across. Only it wasn't for you to drive across, it was for the Rich Russian owner of the island, that built it because he wanted the pleasure of driving to and from his island in his expensive car. What some people do with their money just makes me laugh..

A fraction of the Sunshine Family

Topcat's been one of the best forms of entertainment, and although it's only $2 an hour, somehow every time a group of us went, each of us always ended up having to pay a bill of $20+.. We've since watched: 'Death at a funeral', 'One flew over the cuckoos nest', 'Senna', 'Lawless', 'The matrix', 'Exit through the Gift shop  and various others that don't spring to mind. After watching 'Exit through the Gift shop , a documentary made by a family friend that shows you the true grit that street artists experience, you really feel a sense of respect for them (the good ones). It's funny how a piece of art can be illegal one minute and then valued at $14,000 over night. Just another example of the impermanent nature of humans and our interests..

Otress sunsets

Our nights after Topcat or whatever excursion we'd been on, usually ended with a huge group of us sitting together on the big, comfy circle chairs on the beach, passing around doobs, playing shithead or yaneev and laughing about silly things. J's hungover mornings always made me laugh, especially when he had to dig out the drain for the dishwasher. Looking at his delirious, sweaty and unhappy face made me giggle - a glass of ice water was all I could offer. Every day went pretty well at work, we were usually on top form and had great chats and relationships with all the customers that came and went. However on one rare occasion, it didn't go so well. After only half a cookie that D&S had with us (if you're in Otress, $6 cookies at mushroom point ++!), things began slowing down and getting funnier. The orders were all confused, calculations for bills weren't happening and conversation started getting really difficult. We had 'a talking to' the next day, and it never happened again..


After a very slow night, I woke up with itchy feet again, so J and I rented a kayak for half the day, and journeyed off to a mystery island. We were the only ones there apart from the few fishing boats that were anchored in the surrounding sea. We climbed over big rocks, looked into stagnant rock-pools of mosquito larvae and dead crabs (that looked like 'the pit of death' in 'The Life of Pi'), caught crabs, meditated in the shade and skinny dipped in the clear blue water, with no one around to tell us not to. We'd taken a plastic bag with us for the few things that we'd decided to bring, and noticing the condensation in our bag of flowers, J spread them out on a rock in the sun, family Robinson style. 5 minutes later, it crumbled to dust in our hands - it was that hot; and no matter how much sun cream I lathered on, my skin still managed to turn a light shade of red. Despite the burn, it was probably one of the most exciting experiences, discovering a new island, that yes, had probably been seen by a quite a few others, but it was so nice being able to enjoy a place for it's beauty without being hassled or charged. After a few hours on the island that we'd claimed our own, we kayaked back, tension rising as we battled against the current, the frustration causing us to argue over meaningless things, with no way of escaping each other. We'd stop now and then to re-direct our kayak that seemed to have a mind of it's own and finally, we arrived back, everything resolved and nothing to complain about. It's funny how even if you're in paradise, you can catch yourself whining or complaining about nothing to just fill the time and find some imperfection. Try and see if you can have a day of not complaining about anything, just catch yourself before you do, and see how you feel afterwards - it's one of my goals.

Our adventure day on our mystery island

A new group of mates washed in and out with the tide, lovely E returned home to the Isle of White after a few blissful days. One of my favourite moments was on that perfectly moonlit night, a group of us all went swimming in the still shallows of that perfect Otress ocean, mouths hanging and eyes glistening as we watched the lightening storm miles away, flashes of light filling the sky every 5 - 10 seconds as I rocked with J's arms wrapped tightly around me. The girls were supposed to leave a day after E, but like everyone caught in the Otress spell (and a few financial mishaps), they thankfully prolonged their trip. W'W, a friend we'd made a few weeks before, surprisingly returned also, and now has a job on one of the nearby beautiful islands 'Koh Ta Kiev'; his excitement manifested itself in trying to convince all of us to move there and enjoy the benefits of his job with him 'free kayaking, return trips to the island, snorkelling, fishing, food and weed' we could recite the list a hundred times over, a few more days of hearing about it, and his ability to speak would've been severely impaired by one of us.

DC's BBQ

We visited Koh Ta Kiev on 'DC Tours', run by a mate in Otress who takes you island hopping to laze around on beaches, munch down on a BBQ of fresh seafood and giant clams, followed by spear fishing, cliff jumping (off a natural rock that looks unbelievably identical to an elephant - hence the name elephant rock) and lots of snorkelling. The Seagarden crew was on-board and we shared many laughs, fumes and games of frisbee before jumping off the boat and beginning our evening shift. The next day the weather changed and the clouds blew over, whenever a storm blows in, it's always an interesting time. The animals react, the attitude changes and the restaurant gets emptier. We were sitting on the big comfy chairs talking about going into town before the thunder began to rumble; we jumped up, got onto our bike and zoomed off down the road to get there before the storm could catch us. We were running from the rain, along with the other bikes on the road, I looked up to see swallows struggling against the wind, 50 shades of grey were visible in the clouds above it. We made it inside just as it began to pour and pour and pour - cleansing the town of its stagnant humidity.

My tummy's rumbling and my brain's rewinding back to the few days that the tummy bugs took over. At our restaurant we had guests running to and from the bathroom, people in the guest house opposite us, to our left and down the road, were all suffering similar illnesses. One man was rushed off to the hospital with severe gastritis and another bused back to Phnom Pen with a similar illness. As everyone was in such close proximity, eating the same foods and sharing the same J's, we all got each others lurgies. The thing about being sick in the tropics, is half the time you don't know what it is or how you got it. It could've been the water, the puppies, the food, the air - you've just gotta let it ride and hope it's nothing serious.. being sick all the time gets tiring though and the Otress chapter was coming to a close.

W'W rescuing the J from between the floorboards

We'd made a date to leave and J was going to head to Siem Reap for a week, but plans changed and Otress seemed a better option, the heat's always easier to deal with on the beach. We'd left our jobs at Seagarden and the deal had changed from 'free food & accom' to just 'free food' - not really worth it for a 7 hour shift. So sunshine became both our home and J's work - causing tension between both places as they were situated right next to each other. A sad way to end such a great streak, but hugs were shared all round on the last day, so at least the last note was somewhat sweet. The puppies ran to me as I said goodbye, they were so hard to leave, in just a few weeks they'd grown so big and developed such personalities - but every good thing comes to an end. Our last time at Topcat was lavish, chocolate, happy herb pizzas and lots of movies. We all sweat buckets sitting at 'We One Cafe', drinking ice coffees and zoning out as we attempted to put our attention into a card game. The girls had an amazing fresh pizza at Papa Pippos, our neighbouring restaurant, followed by a refreshing passion fruit sorbet. I Inhaled my last dinner -- a stodgy burger and chips, and W'W lifted the mood by performing the heroic act of the night, rescuing the J from between the floorboards with chopsticks - making the Chinese prouder than ever. I'd ticked everything off my bucket list, I could now drive the bike alone! My last drive back from town was a bit scary, helmetless and a bit lost I somehow made it home, J. breathing in a sigh of relief when I returned intact. We'd had our last 'Toga' party and I'd done my last walk down to Otress 2 to shell hunt with lovely L from mushroom point. On my last day the clouds were grey and I prayed that a storm would come, and so it did. It was so exciting sitting in the unusually rough ocean, feeling the force of the wind knocking you back while the waves pushed you forward, the big bang that needed to happen.  I'd bought a $7 phone to call J when I got off the sleeper bus, of course an hour in, it ran out of battery. I lay there looking down at my beautiful crystal necklace, designed by a mate who replaced us at S.G, she was constantly weaving and sewing her beautiful pieces of shell, bone, wood and crystal depending on what the customers ordered. But my eyes began to droop as the val kicked in and luckily no one sat next to be so the double bed was used to its fullest as i stretched out and fell asleep for the entire 12 hour bus ride.

Coconut man

Before I started travelling I envisioned myself getting through libraries of book (ok that's a slight exaggeration, but a fair few), yet unless you make your time available for it, it just gets eaten up by a million other things. I have managed to finish 'Freakonomics', a fantastic read that I never thought I'd enjoy, given that I don't find economics a particularly fascinating subject; yet the way Steven D. Levitt writes, is so applicable to what's going on today (the chapter on 'why most drug dealers still live with their mums' is definitely the most interesting!) I've just started the 933pg autobiography 'Shantaram' by Gregory Roberts. A man who was a criminal and a junkie, yet he escaped from one of the top security prisons in Aus by 'jumping over the wall', flew to Mumbai, joined the mafia, and took part in lots of other mind boggling escapades - it's a long but fascinating read.

The end of a beautiful day

So I've said goodbye to the crystal waters of Otress; the same waters that's current pulled the 3 girls out to sea when they attempted to swim to the island a few nights ago, arriving back hours later on a fishing boat, to a worried crowd. But more beautiful and mysterious seas are to come in Thailand. And for now, I'm embracing this break in the middle of the madness. The next post will be full of the teachings that will take place over the next few days, with our resident magician/ hypnotist, a chiropractor, a psychologist, a yogi, an actor, a director and so many others that are here to share what they know. The flower girl's tuning into her flower girl self and is soo excited!


Recipe of the day: Vegan pumpkin soup 
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/soupsstewsandchili/r/pumpcoconutsoup.htm

And the waves rise and fall

Another beautiful day in paradise; turquoise glints off the ocean surface, the marriage between the sunshine and the water , the yin and yang. I'm smiling as i look out at the island 2km from here, we managed to swim there and back 2 days ago, an accomplishment we're proud of. We woke up that morning, work started at 3pm that day and I had itchy feet.. living on the beach is lovely and the vibe is always relaxed, but there are those sparks of wanting to do things, explore, continue to grow and be excited. It was one of those mornings "We're swimming to Koh Otress this morning!" I pounced on J. and got a few sleepy grunts in response and a tight squeeze. Persistance won, so we grabbed a good breakfast, an ice coffee and a cig, listening to everyone's advice about what to bring/ do etc. The advice on the currents was one we took into account, so we biked up to 'Otress 2', the next beach to our left about 20 minutes away. Smothered in sun cream, the sky was cloudless and the air thick. We wondered through 'Golden Sunset guesthouse' where mum and I stayed on all of our previous trips. A little hug and a chat later, our bike keys were in safe hands and we'd set off. J dragging half a bottle of water tied to his drawstring, for when we arrived. We lost each other a few minutes in, carried by the tides and different speeds - my goggles started leaking about 5 minutes in but sight wasn't really necessary as long as you kept track of the landmark every now and then. We spent an hour swimming, jellyfishing and meditating through the sea to the coral on the shores of the island. After 45 minutes, your mind just stops thinking and focuses on your strokes, breathing, the heat, like any exercise. There were occasional moments of fear and vulnerability, halfway between the 2 islands, seeing nothing beneath you but dark blue and slowly spinning around to face the terrifyingly HUGE cloud of ... seaweed, phew. Before we reached the island the details on the trees came into view, the fish amongst the coral, the spiky sea urchins that we avoided narrowly by lifting our bellies and squidding over them. The rubbish was sadly a sign aswell, plastic bags resembling huge jellyfish and coca cola cans, talk about a monopoly, they just have advertisements everywhere..We didn't choose the best time to go, it was 11am and the sun was roasting. Hours after we arrived back, one look at my tomato-red face said it all. It's dropped a few shades on the colour scale thus far, thanks to the fresh Aloe Vera leaves that the ladies around here sell. The peeling's just kicked in, grreat... 
On the Island we met the one person that lived there, a seemingly simple Khmer man in a basic hut, surrounded by mounds of rubbish and half constructed foundations. It was a shame the Russians that owned it hadn't done more to look after it when the potential was crazy. I sat and meditated, facing the islands around us and the expanse of sea. The swim back was more tiring, requiring more songs to be sung and thoughts to be thought. It felt like high school swim practise all over again, with no ropes either side of you to flop out over.
It hasn't all been fun and games here though, 'for every action, there is an equal and  opposite reaction' and that definately rings true.. straight after my last post, we had a big night out in 'Serendipity'. It looked even worse this time, it wasn't as packed so people weren't hiding the grimy bars and dodgy dealings. The night however was young and fun, energy picked up in a seconds and we were steaming around with our mates, watching the show of the teenage girls wrestling in bikini's lathered in soap, to the dancefloor to go crazy, a smoking break to catch our breath and a swim to cool off. Everyone was going skinny dipping, and despite our states, the warning 'don't leave your stuff unnatended on the beach' rang in our ears, so we asked a man to watch our clothes for a few dollars. Swimming with the phosphorescents we looked over at the shore to see the sillhouettes of a group of guys rummaging through our stuff. The one we'd paid sat there looking oblivious to everything: 'I don't know, I don't know'. Every pocket had been rifled through and everyone's money, Iphones, bank cards were gone. I spotted my  rolled up money that had been dropped on the sand as they ran away. I thought back to the blessing I'd been given that morning by the monk, and let out a grateful sigh. That night was dramatic, racing around finding the police, boys getting rowdy, everyone getting pissed off, police found, guy beaten up, nothing solved.
 

A few nights later at the big 'Cambodian New Year Party' we had a wild night. Flames soaring up bathroom walls, craters in the sand, millions of shooting stars, hours of laughing and swirly hands - but through it all we were aware not to bring anything valuable. The next night, hoping to snap some good pics with our girls from Laos and our lovely couple M and H, a blues rocker from Aus and a sweet, quirky Canadian - we bought my camera out. J and I were playing a game of pool with 2 other guys we'd just met, not wanting to hold onto my bag I left it a metre away from me, against the wall, in direct view. A few pool shots later, I turn around and it's gone. Photos from Cambodia, camera, $60, important documents and 'The.green.bag'. Later we're warned about 'how much gets stolen at Ritchies' - great.
Oohh the difficulty of the language barrier when buying things.. I remember trying to ask for where 'tampons' were and had the shop assistant 'subtly' shout it out across the floor repeatedly, soon the shop was like a group of seagulls from Finding Nemo 'tampons? tampons? tampons?' I blushed and hung my head laughing as they figured it out and quietened down; despite the difficulty we've since replaced my moleskin diary with a shit one, bought another camera, and a little peacock bag from Otress market. When I bought the camera, I turned it on to look a the picture quality and discovered that it, like mine, was a stolen camera and memory card. Another blonde, similar aged backpackers photo's were in my hands - and so the loop continues. Realizing the corruption surrounding the place is really sad. Sihanoukville is an amazing place, but like everywhere, it's dark side exists as well: Everywhere on this beach is illegally leased, ready to be destroyed and over-taken by the government any day. The police collect bribes monthly to allow for no taxes, and weed to be openly smoked. Half the monks check out girls more than the any other guy around and the guys that sell you your motorbikes, steal them too. Our motorbike was stolen and a few days later, our owner's happened to inherit a brand new bike - curious. Luckily, our replacement bike stopped working and his was the only other option, so at least we've landed ourselves with a functioning one, temporarily. But the thing is, despite knowing you're in the right, there's nothing you can do about it, because the power doesn't belong to you. Our boss is being accused of selling dope by the chief of police - whether it was a nearby competitor that lied, or the tuk tuk driver around the corner, their word is always stronger than yours. The other day I was talking to a mate that served in the British army, my mouth hung as I listened to how ships were used to transport drugs across the border. Who do you trust when those that serve to protect, are hypocrites?

The weather describes the events that occur here pretty well. Stunning days to cloudy skies to flash lightening storms that we just sit and watch in the shallows of the sea. The sunsets reflect every colour, the cartoon clouds changing shape every minute. The rain comes, the mood shifts, the 'still' returns and then it's sunny again. And all throughout the wind and rain, there's one tree above our bedroom that inhabits every bird in Sihanoukville, and they tweet away all night and all day. Other guesthouses nearby choose to use synthetic background noise, the speakers outside their doors blare 'rainforest sounds' to passers by. The novelty wears off after a few minutes, staying there for longer than that? No thanks.

We've got  a different crew here, The German girls, The Estonian girls, T, S, M, K&T, The Asian stoner from Luxemburg and a new face M. It's lovely having familiar faces from along the way pass by in waves, now we're on to our Frenchy S, and E and his girls from The Isle of White. Most of the long-timers live with us in the 'Sunshine House' accompanied by 4 naughty little kittens. Next door where we work 2 little puppies Ronnie and Reggie (The Cray twins) have joined the gang. We're bringing up the next generation of Otress animals - chasing after them as they run next door for a shit or get their heads stuck in motorbike wheels, naughty buggers.
One photo I lost that I can't get out of my head is those kids running through the smoke as the fire rose around a square of land near Serendipity. Driving through the smoke was hot . I closed my eyes and held my breath, imagining what it would be like to be caught in a fire like that and shaking off the thought. We drove 45 minutes away to the waterfalls we clambered up the rocks, watched the monks bathing in the clear water with their bright orange robes. We sat in the hammock briefly before resorting to the floor after being charged $4, pshh..  
We escaped the sun with a trip to TopCat, so far we've fit in 'Argo', 'The Shawshank redemption', 'American Psycho', 'American Beauty', 'Sin City', 'Mars Attacks' and a few more I'm sure we can't remember. All of them, were great if you're looking for one to watch. From where I'm sitting I can see a dog curled up in a circle chair, the look on it's face is 100% relaxed and comfortable - the goal. A phone's ringing and I don't respond to it like I used to before, it's nice not having a phone or something to constantly check. The disconnection with technology apart from the occasional Facebook update makes you feel so much more connected to what's going on around you. When you're engaged on the phone it's as though nothing around you really exists, having one almost takes away a part of your presence.
I wonder if humans will ever get to a point where we'll be conditioned to prefer technology over nature, I'm glad it doesn't satisfy every need just yet.
Good tunes are coming from our place, it's so nice now that our other bosses R & K don't have an influence over the music.. Taylor Swift and Nicky Minaj were getting old..


I smile as I remember what the space cookies had turned the night into. Kicking in faster than expected the last few hours of work went in slow motion as I sat useless at the bar, G. had passed out on a chair in the middle of the courtyard, eyes were red and spirits high. My boss S wonders behind the bar with red eyes and I whisk him up a munchie- shake -overload of 'fake oreos', milk, bananas, chocolate sauce and whipped cream - he was happy. The cinnamon from the cookie resonating in our mouths. 4.20 was celebrated in an appropriate fashion. J got a blind taste test with the tropical fruit he claims to hate. We had a few winners :) At the wee hours we ordered $3 wraps from the wrap man that will deliver amazing chicken wraps to you at any hour of the night - our hero. A conversation about vaporizers took off and I came to the conclusion that if the government legalized weed and vaporizers were encouraged, they could decrease health risks and make money, wouldn't that work?
Work.. that's starting in an hour or so. I'm glad I've finally bonded with 'Tida', the 18 year old chef who's taught me to make Lok Lak, Spicy Khmer chicken salad and coconut curry, easy and delicious! She doesn't speak much English but can play connect 4, snap and now backgammon :) - it was funny trying to teach someone a game without words, if everyone learnt sign language our troubles would be over. I washed my hands and little brown specs came out in the water - gross. The other day a mate told me that when it rains and the tanks overflow the sewage mixes into the water tanks.. hmm.. we're not dead yet i guess?

The puppies are tumbling around the place like 19 year old boys and the kittens are in their box. Yesterday J and I went to check out all the other beaches in the area. Rife with tacky, expensive Russian resorts and empty beaches we swam and played. On the way we explored an empty club that had a huge airplane in the middle of it and the DJ booth had been modeled out of the front of a truck - bizarre. We drove on and stopped to watch the baby monkeys jump around clumsily hanging off the netting attached to a nearby tree. The dogs are barking again - I can't tell you the amount of dog politics around here - the beach dogs control the turf. The other night we were driving back, after my usual 10 minutes of paranoia as I looked around for the policeman that would stop us, the guy that would mug us and the bump that would make us crash again. A mad-eyed dog started chasing the bike and we zoomed down the bumpy dust road to Sunshine, eventually losing it. We returned to meet a man that like was on the run for a longer stretch of time, from the Thai and Cambodian governments.. I shiver to think what I'd do in that situation..

Swimming this morning was beautiful, diving below the surface to swim alongside a camouflaged crab as it scuttled over a piece of white coral and dissapeared into the surrounding blur. It's almost Saturday but the Otress market isn't on anymore. I remember at the last one, during one of the performances, as though in a dream everyone's eyes became transfixed on the petite, enchanting blonde with the hula hoop infront of the stage, she spun it and danced with it, curling her body to every beat played on stage it was amazing. After the act we went over to the stalls, buying a backgammon board made out of scraps of hammocks from all over India to assist us on our travels. I fancy a game now before getting on our feet again - tough life.

Recipe of the day: Lok-Lak

http://www.food.com/recipe/beef-lok-lak-cambodian-recipe-496461

Stuck in Snooky

Mm

Typing feels strange after not having sat at a computer for two weeks or so.. it’s funny how things like writing or typing start to feel strange when the habit’s taken away. Since my last post a lot has happened. We’ve found a place to live for a while, managed to land ourselves jobs at a beach-side bar/ guesthouse, discovered a lovely new community of people, aand have had our motorbike stolen, after 3 days. But before Snookyville takes off, we began Cambodia in Pnom Penh, the capital city.

Witnessing the dramatic fire in Pnom Penh..

We’d left Laos in a rush, a groggy head from a funny night out (the poem describes it sufficiently), a long bus ride and a valium later we arrived, 4 hours late, in Pnom Penh. It was funny going through immigration and walked across ‘no mans land’, a huge strip of land between Cambodia and Laos, that no one owns, walking across it was liberating. On the last couple of hours of our bus journey the people on our bus were split in half, those going to Siem Reap were told they’d have to wait another few hours before their bus was due to arrive – getting anywhere in the dark isn’t fun, the hassle of tuk tuk drivers, finding a hostel, settling down. We sighed in relief that we were leaving first.

Bodhi Villa, Kampot

Having a good shower in a cement-room with a big bed was such a luxury. Not having to worry about cockroaches scuttling over your toes or popping up under the sheets. We had dinner with our new mates, newly wed psytrance DJ’s from Burmingham A and T. We all inhaled the slowness of P.P and crashed out after a long day of travelling. The next day the others went off to the Killing Fields and S21 but I’d felt once was enough, so went to run a few errands, getting lost in the gridded map of the city to hunt down the Cambodian Red Cross, effort. That night we all needed a bit of lightening up, so we checked out the night life; from a yummy dinner, to a good drink to a fancy club (Pontoon, recommended by lonely planet ;) ) we came out of it giggling but slightly disturbed. The amount of prostitutes everywhere is shocking, most of them are so young and pretty you wouldn’t think it, until she crawls slowly up an old white man’s knee and proceeds to chat him up. After a conversation that neither understand he pays the bill, takes her hand and drives away casually, with her on the back of his motorbike. The ‘madame’ of them all walked around, giving sunflower seeds to the girls that then gave them to the child beggars running around. It was twisted how she looked after the scene yet it was the wrong one to be in. She strolled over, massaged J’s head for $1, offered him a prostitute and after a polite refusal, walked away with a smile. We wondered over to Pontoon, bodyguards lined the corridor, checking for drugs, weapons and ‘pregnant women’, hm. The drinks were expensive, old men and young girls swarmed, and the visuals on the wall kept swirling. The vibe was strange and yawns contagious so we headed home.
The next morning an odd series of events took place, on arrival at a nearby temple, J and I’s heads floated and our eyes gazed at the carvings in the rock. We were lead by an old Cambodian man into a little shrine room containing various Buddha’s and paintings on the wall. Some still had their plastic wrappers on which confused me a little. He began passing us incense, spraying water on our hands and muttering silent prayers, as though a ritual had begun. The heat rose in the little shrine and the smell of the incense made us light headed. It all ended and then the twist came, he motioned over to the Buddha’s hands for money. I smirked and put a note into the charity box. Hoping it wasn’t a lie to live up to the rare nickname ‘Scambodia’, we wandered away, dazed by what had just happened. We walked along the river, ate noodles and corn, drank ice coffee in plastic bags and watched the most bizarre ‘live aerobics’ right next to the road. We managed to find a riverside bar and play a game on the fancy pool table with the shiny balls, our Canadian couple met us for a Mexican dinner and it all ended sprawled on a sofa, after attempting to explain (with diagrams), what 1 scoop of chocolate and 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream meant. It was finally ‘understood’ and of course dessert was served, 2 scoops vanilla, haha we tried.

Sihanoukville

The next day we journeyed through busy, hot markets and attempted to find the yoga centre that was closed. Tarantula’s and crickets were being sold by the bag, with a pinch of salt and a dash of lime. Fruits were abundant and women lounged next to their stalls in hammocks strung around wooden beams. We had to get back to the guesthouse to move rooms, it felt like constantly moving house. We laughed at the prospect of being together for a few months, yet already moving houses in different countries within that time. We walked passed the big ‘$2 English Breakfast! Free Coffee/ Tea’ sign, what a good find. We decided we didn’t want to get stuck in one place for too long, it’s so easy to do when travelling, the need for stability. So we bought a bus ticket to Kampot to hit up ‘Bokor National Park’ and stay at an old time favorite ‘Bodhi Villa’, we were splitting a gorgeous double room adorned with fairy lights, for $2.50 each p/n. We spent the day lounging in the pool before catching our bus. Within that time we witnessed a distressing scene between a drunk Frenchman and the manager of the guesthouse. All you could really see was him shouting and swearing as they calmly told him what he’d done wrong. It was embarrassing to see that as another foreigner, it only takes a few cases to affect the image of the masses. The bus ride was cramped and long, the hot air blowing in through the windows was cooler and more efficient than the AC’s. Luckily Angry Birds was the one thing that worked on our new (broken) tablet. We arrived 4 or more hours late as expected, and settled in to the relaxed vibes. We entered into a conversation at one point in the night, with a ‘local dealer’ from East London. He told us stories of his 10 years in jail, his new start and ironically, his flower business back home that funds his travels. He began speaking to us as a ‘Connoisseur of Marijuana’, describing treatments, life-spans, effects, ladidadida. I zoned out and wandered off until realizing it was time for bed.

Kampot’s a beautiful little French Colonial Town, with a newly built, pristine highroad that leads directly to Bokor National Park. We’d decided to rent a bike for the day, the prospect of having a smooth road beneath us seemed inviting and the 2 hour ride was worth every minute. J was ill before the ride, the wake-up alarm ‘Say My Name’ was stuck in my head and it was hot. But the moment we got going everything was better. Pink, pungent  Bouganvillier lined the perfect road and the bends in the road were fun to ride. We thought we were heading off to trek past tigers and jungle, but our experience was rather surprising. We stopped off at huge water towers, a few old buildings that had been destroyed with graffiti and an ‘old casino’ over looking an expansive view of dense forest, sea and sky.  We meditated on specific spots and created visuals in the trees. A brand new Casino had just been built a few hundred metres away, so we thought we’d check out our luck on a few arcade games, for 10 minutes or so? That 10 minutes turned into hours, as the rain began pouring down and we realized we couldn’t ride our soaking bikes, so would just have to stay. After losing $5 to 3 games and not understanding why, I walked away from gambling and we ordered some of their extortionately priced food. We looked around and laughed. It was such a tacky place, purple velvet, a million patterns on every surface, over-dressed women and men, fancy dining room but not fancy food, the two best adjectives to destroy it would be fancy but fake. We entertained ourselves by running through the dark corridors of this huge casino, being watched at every turn by one of the many staff in the vicinity. A funny Italian man with no shoes ran up to us, obviously stuck in the same situation, jabbering on before running off again to have a 5 minute massage for $1. The rain finally eased and we shivered back down the slippery road to check out the local zoo, the sun was setting so we chose to skip it, raising our eyebrows as our bike slowed down halfway back from the zoo. We rolled ourselves over to a little wooden house, filled up our fuel tank and kept going, off to ‘The Rusty Keyhole’ for the ‘Best Ribs in Cambodia Award 2 years running’. We drove back along the bridge, with the river flowing away from us, and the multicolored collection of clouds spanning the sky. A few games of checkers and pool (with a blunt pool cue) later we were battling the mosquito’s out of our net and falling asleep.

Jack being massaged in P.P by the madame

The next morning a routine was established, breakfast, a swim in the lake, a meditation, a spliff. We sat over the river on a few planks of floating wood that had a table and a rubber ring on it to sit and eat breakfast. We booked our ticket to Sihanoukville and got in another hot, sweaty bus with no air flow, to finally arrive in stunning Snooky. It was full moon party soon so we thought about jumping aboard a boat to Koh Rong where it was all going down.. but the $20 put us off and the sea beckoned.We jumped in, gasping at how warm the water was (33 degrees!), it was more refreshing to stand on the beach. Exploring up and down the coast we bumped into our Canadians again, laughing and settling on drinks that evening.

Another sticky bus ride

The next day was supposed to be ‘Job Hunt day’ but being offered a puff of a strangers spliff (this 64 year old organic farmer from Tennessee that’s cycling around South East Asia alone – what a story!) and making new friends just prioritized itself and the mission got pushed back another day. The following morning productivity kicked in and we booked a boat cruise for $10 with our new mates, and got jobs (with game faces on). The full moon party was that evening so we hopped between a live house DJ on our beach to the crazy, greasy, grime of Serendipity – the party beach. We had $2 fish n chips with another couple outside the notoriously cheap hostel ‘Utopia’, and then we bumped into just about everyone who’d come this route – Luang Prabang, Vang vieng and the 4000 island crew. We raved all night on the beach and then jumped on a bike to get home. Halfway through our journey the driver freaks out and the tuk-tuk in front of us stops. Around us are hundreds of little shiny metal thumbtacks thrown across the road to burst tires (usually a ploy for mugging people) so I stuffed my money and camera down my shorts and walked over to the tuk-tuk with J that was taking us back instead – we arrived safe and sound.. :p We’d danced with prostitutes, played pool with lady boys and joked with drug dealers, it was all happening in Serendipity.

The ridiculous New Casino

The boat cruise was a good idea to just do something, it was fun seeing cheetah fish and mermaiding around the ropes, it was nice to have a few girls on the scene for a change. The best thing about travelling is meeting up with friends and doing things doesn’t require planning or stress. It either happens or it doesn’t – and it usually does. The Boat rocked over little waves in the turquoise ocean, the colors here couldn’t be any more beautiful. Emerald wooden boats over blue waters, green palm trees and fresh coconuts. It’s like Google images topped off with the odd HD sunset, the colour scheme going from dark purple to light orange/ pink across the sky. Various difficulties do exist in paradise, lighting anything on the beach (the wind is not your friend), the (sometimes) angry dogs, the sand flies, rubbish (that comes in the form of nasty fishing hooks, the odd syringe and needle and plastic bags – mostly due to the fisherman chucking out their waste) and power cuts (when the air’s still and the fan isn’t working in bed, eek!) but besides that we’re in our element here. You barely need any clothes or technology, the people we live and work with are lovely, our room’s great, the sand squeeks, our job’s social and the rest of our day is appreciated instead of wasted. The only dramas that have happened here so far is the other huge hostel on Serendipity 'Monkey Republic' being burnt down (burning the 3 adjacent shops in the process) and our motorbike being stolen, so that’ll be $650 dollars to replace..

There’s a Saturday night market here, where live music (didgeridoo’s, latin singers, tribal drummers etc) play, food, jewels and clothes are sold from little stalls and the bar’s in the corner. Everyone sat on straw mats, watched the live music and inhaled the whisps of night air. A& T had just been in a head on Tuk-Tuk collision so were a bit shaken up, on our ride back we had 7 of us squashed in, and their expressions weren’t exactly at ease. The next night at the psytrance rave they let loose a little and sat on the beach watching the lightening storm move across the sky with an open mind and crazy visuals, while I crashed out in our little room with a sore tummy. 

TopCat!

Night swimming here is incredible here, as the  bio luminescent plankton are out. They glow because of a chemical reaction 'chemiluminescents' that is caused because of an oxidation reaction with the 'luciferins' that create the glow - it's magical. We waded through the water with glowing bubbles appearing as we moved. You could make dragon balls, swords and swirly shapes, swimming underwater was like being in space watching a million stars run past you.. the vaist starry sky above us reflecting the vision. The light only travelled a short distance but other people were experiencing the wander too, so all that could be seen was a dark head floating eerily above the water. The paranoia of unknown sea creatures popping up around us kicked in, so we jumped out of our transfixed gaze and onto land. A & T were cozy for their last night in a mushroom  (bungalow’s shaped like shrooms) at ‘mushroom point’ and we headed back to our place. Work was interesting the next day, meeting a man that works with wormwood, a restricted product as of 2000, to brew his own absinthe and go around selling it to bars/ people in the area. He told us about it’s psychoactive and tummy healing properties. He was a character, tall and lanky with tattoo’s, dark clothes and long black hair, but he knew how to market his product! Our bar happily bought a bottle. We later ran into our old French family member S and our Vang Vieng boys D & T, catching up on the last few weeks of everyone’s adventures. Showing him the ropes and our favorite hang out spots, dodging cockroaches on the sofa and passing out in a hammock... we had a good evening.

A viewpoint in Kampot

On our day off we rented a bike and headed into town, panicking as the debit card was refused in all machines and realizing I was trying to use one that I’d cancelled already. Duh. So we drove back and forth, got money out eventually, explored the market, had a coconut sticky rice cake, drank a cold ice coffee, did a bit of shopping and went to ‘TopCat Cinema’s’. An incredible creation in which you pay $4 to have a private room with a flat screen TV and a huge bed, the biggest selection of movies, series, documentaries or play station games. Order your own pizza, crisps or drinks and settle down for hours. We bought a bottle of wine, smoked a J and watched ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ and ‘The Truman Show’ happily until our time was up. We enjoyed the AC, the cushions and the wine, appreciating the clean environment. We’ve got in with our bosses, made some good new connections,explored the town and are completely in love. I don’t know how we’ll ever leave, we're in Stuckville, but no one's complaining..

Recipe of the day: Chicken Amok

http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/250266/chicken-amok