Our time at Sihanouk Ville Beach

I  went  with Ryllis to the beach last weekend as we had Friday 18th off (yet another Public Holiday).  We left 8 pm on Thursday evening, Leonie offered to take my last two classes so that we could catch that bus.  10 hours each way on a bus over road that have more holes than solid ground.  No busses in Asia have any suspension, not sure if they by them that way just to save time..  We took the sleeper bus which as I was boarding I was told that it did not have a toilet on board even though the brochure showed a picture of a toilet.  The bus  was packed but fortunately we had two bottom bunks, I think Ryllis and I were the only two who spoke English as a native language, the remaining passengers were from Europe.  The airconditioning didn't work at all and they opened the emergency exit which of course didn't help.  It was hot!  I was reminded of a couple of Jamboree trips which were certainly hotter that last weekend.

Anyway we arrived at the beach at 6am and luckily the hotel let us straight into our room and we dropped our bags and went straight across the road to the beach.  We each took possession of  a padded lounge chair under a tree, 3 paces from the water.  Fantastic.

 

We never left the beach on Friday until 6pm that night.  People walked past carrying trays of crabs, nothing like the muddies but still $4 for about 5, cooked and covered in great marinade.  Small lobster were also on offer and of course tropical fruit.  Gosh it was a hard day!!  Ladies and small children were also constantly offering massages, manicures and bracelets but that is just part of the life here.  There is just so much poverty amongst so much wealth.

 

Sometime during the 12 hours on the beach I managed to get burnt to a crisp, not sure if I have been that burnt for many years.  I was glowing from my forehead down to my ankles.  Thank God for cold tea.  I practically bathed in it for 2 days and although the colour didn't fade the pain did.  My students were absolutely stunned when they saw me on Monday as they never have more than their faced exposed when they go outside and they couldn't understand how it could happen.  They so much want to have light coloured skin like ours and we of course want to be their colour.  Go figger.. 

 

It is interesting watching the Cambodians in the water both young and old.  The young teenagers go into the water fully dressed, jeans and long sleeved shirt, both male and female,  It was great to watch them swimming as they mostly live inland and this is the first time they have seen the sea. 

 

I might also add that it is the first time a lot of them have seen Westerners in the undressed state.  Ryllis and I are certainly well padded and at one stage we were totally surrounded by laughing women who were pointing at our large white (red in my case) legs and chubby bottoms.  It was all in good fun and the whole group collapsed in laughter why one lady about our aged, patted her small breasts and pointed to Ryllis's indicating that she would like to be the same size as Ryllis who in turn indicated that she would like to be the same size as the lady. 

 

The Khmer scarf is a trade mark of most Cambodians, they wear it wrapped around their faces with only their eyes showing when working outside.  They wrap it around their head and balance their trays on them, they wear it around their neck as decoration, around their waist to hold up pants or for decoration when they dance.

 

At the beach I watched then use the scarf as bathers.  The ladies wrapped it around  under their arm, took off their blouses, left their skirts on and went in and then getting a friend to hold the scarf around them as they got dressed.  The men took of their shirts, wrapped the scarf around their waist and dropped their trousers and went into the water.

 

We did a bit of sight seeing, a lot of sunbaking and certainly a lot of eating and drinking and then back on the bus for another 10 hours, arriving in Siem Reap at 6am.   Ryllis teaching at 11am with not lesson plans done and I was OK because I didn't start until 4pm although I had 3 tests to mark..

 

We loved it and are going back in 3 weeks time with Amanda when we have yet another public holiday.

 

I was speaking to one of my students last night who is certainly very different from the rest of the class, he had also just come back from Sihanouk Ville because he said that he had to see the sea as a lot of people had told him about it.  He caught the night bus and spent a few days there, this is so unusual as most Cambodians only travel to their home lands and do where else.  He was telling me that he tasted the water and it was horrible and he opened his eyes and it felt like some one had put tiger balm in his eyes. 

 

As I said he is quite out of the ordinary, last night he wore bright green glasses (without glass) and sat in the class wearing them for the hour.  He spoke to me after lesson and asked if I had been to New Zealand.  I told him how beautiful it was and he said that he is thinking of going there as he read that all the people from New Zealand were going to Australia to work and therefore should be a lot of jobs going in New Zealand.  

 

Our hotel

 

 

It will be sad when Ryllis goes home as there will then be only Lis left from the original group and all the remaining 6 will be new to Cambodia and the school.