Lee n Tan

Slept in as Lee decided to finish his book last night…..he didn’t turn the lights off till about 4am!!!

We turned the TV on and flicked onto the Australia Network channel and Hawthorn were playing the Lions in Launceston. I found out from mum yesterday that herself, Dad, Paul, Nicky & Ethan were all going to the game! Strange to be in Cambodia watching a game of footy that your family are at in Tassie!! With the aircon on 23 and the sky outside looking very similar to home (raining & gloomy), I could be in the same country! Accept my outside temperature is probably about 30 and Tassie would be…..bloody cold!!

At half time we went across the road to Mick & Craig’s for brunch, I had bread with peanut butter and jam, Lee had French toast. Our tuk-tuk driver that took us to dinner the other night was outside so we have booked him for 7.20am in the morning to take us to the bus station.

The day was very average, we hung out at Beach Rd, Lee was playing on the net and I watched the rest of the game in the room. We went for our last spin around town on the Moto and took some pics of the town. We ended our tiki tour on Serendipity Beach at sunset having a cocktail.

Dinner was huge!!! We found that Mick & Craig’s do a $5 Sunday Roast…..and what a roast it was!! 2 PLATES!!! First filled with Pork, Yorkshire Puddings and crackling. Second baked potato, pumpkin, beetroot, garlic, small onions and mashed spuds, cauliflower cheese, mini baby bok choy and a combo of peas, beans, corn and carrot. Both plates covered with gravy…….what a meal!!!

after we rolled out of Mick & Craig’s we hopped on the net to check out places to stay in HCMC then back to the room to pack up our things.

Didn’t get out and about as early as we had hoped, so we set off around 10.30am after having a bite to eat. We rode to Otres Beach to go sailing but we were disappointed as the only cat with a stay (yachting terms….thanks to Lee) was already on the water. We decided to hang about until he came in so we went for a walk and lolled about in the water. He eventually came in and we set off. We were out there nearly 2 hours and it was great to be back sailing again.

We came back to Beach Rd had a swim then got changed and went over to Monkey Republic for a late lunch. Next we booked the bus to Ho Chi Minh City for Monday – 10 hours back through Phnom Phen. We then went to the local market but found it was closing up, we will have to do that tomorrow.

Feeling a bit lost we came back to Beach Rd and hopped on the net to chat to mum and let her know what we have been up to. Since then we have been chilling out in the aircon reading, watching TV and catching up.

We decided around 9pm that we were still a little hungry so we walked across the road to Mick & Craig’s for Apple Crumble and icecream……..yum!! What a treat!!!

We made the decision last night that we need to get to Vietnam, so our first job this morning is to get a Visa. We hired a motto and set off for the Consulate. Wow….10 minutes after walking in the door we had a 30 day visa ($40US). With such a great start to the day we drove around a bit trying to find some where for breakfast. After 20mins of wandering we found Le Bistro Gourmand, it is a French Bakery. So we had fresh bread, homemade jam and a pineapple shake….all for $4US.

After brekkie we picked up our hard drive from Boom Boom Room and went back to Beach Rd to make sure it all worked. It did, we now have Season 7 of 24 and Season 4 of Prison Break to watch on our travels.

We hopped into our togs and headed for Otres Beach. Lee had found a place that hired out catamarans, we didn’t end up hiring one. Instead deciding to do it tomorrow as it was very windy. Otres Beach was very laid back, the beach was lined with open grass hut restaurant/bars. Also along the beach further were grass hut bungalow to rent. Lee went for a swim then we headed back into town.

Had lunch at Beach Rd, a simple salad for me which was so nice! The sun was starting to set so we decided to go to the Airport Bar for a drink. This place has a full sized plane inside and open hanger and is situated right on the beach. We had a couple of drinks and checked out the cockpit of the plane.

Then dinner was Indian down by Ochheuteal Beach at K2. Very good, different to any Indian we have ever had.  The entertainment could have been better – in the restaurant next door a Russian and a half Indian/Pakistani were yelling and wrestling with each other….drunk as lords. Our Indian host, Ali said they do it all the time. They start drinking local wine early in the morning and continue throughout the day. Ali also gave us a insight into the corruption in Cambodia.

Chilled out in the room till about 12. Walked across the road to Monkey Republic for brekkie. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. We went to ‘Boom Boom Room’ where you can buy downloads for your iPod of music, movies & TV series. I checked out a couple of shops, we had a swim in the pool and read our books.

For dinner we lashed out and went to Luna d’Autunno and Italian restaurant with a wood fire pizza oven – the meal was delicious. We had Bruschetta, breads with olive oil and balsamic (yum!!!!), crab filled ravioli with a cream sauce and a salami and chilli pizza.

We hired a tuk-tuk to take us to dinner and when he dropped us off he said he would wait for us to take us home. When we finished dinner he was nowhere to be found. We decided to wait and have another drink as we had not paid him at all. We didn’t wait long and he turned up. He was so thankful that we had waited and said we were supporting him and his family. The reason he had disappeared was he got another job while waiting for us but they did not pay him very well!

Had breakfast at a little place called Le Wok, very simple French bread, butter and jam. Then we headed to the Royal palace before we get picked up at 12.

The palace was built in 1866 and was originally wood but has now been reconstructed in concrete. The main building was beautiful (we were not allowed to take photos). It had about 6 huge chandeliers and where the king sat everything was gold so it had a beautiful glow. We walked around the grounds a little while but it was so damn hot we didn’t stay long. We hopped in a tuk-tuk and headed back to Royal, had a shower and packed our bags.

A tuk-tuk picked us up around 12 and took us to the bus stop. The trip took about 4 hours so it wasn’t too strenuous. As we neared the Sihanoukville area we came across more and more mountains, very different to the rest of the country we had seen. The outside temperature had also dropped when we stopped at the half way point for a rest.

Lee had organised with one of the boys at the bus stop for his brother to pick us up when we hit Sihanoukville. Once again when we hopped off there he was holding a sign with our name on it. We got him to take us to Beach Road (recommendation from our friends Anthony & Sarah – thank you). Great little place excellent room, pool and all for only $15US!!

We settled in, then went for a walk down to Serendipity Beach. It sort of made us think of Koh Tao but picturing Koh Tao before it was all commercialised. All along the beach were simple open bungalow restaurant/bars with seats all out the front on the beach.

We walked back to Beach Road, surfed the net, had a couple of drinks, dinner and then chilled out in the room.