Quiet Day and Local Dinner (Dec. 20, 2014)

Hi,

Today was a nice day. When I got up this morning, I had two emails from Laure-Elie, who is staying at a guesthouse down the street from me. She said that she had been throwing up and diarrhoea all night and couldn’t go on the boat trip. I felt badly that she was sick, but wasn’t sad about the boat, because when I got up, I didn’t want to go either. It seemed like a good idea last night, but as I got up today, and thought about it, I pictured being on this boat with a whole whack of young, drunk people and that wasn’t very appealing.

Stella too, wasn’t feeling that great, as she is on antibiotics for an infected bug bite, and they are making her feel a bit off, after she takes them in the morning. Between the two of them, and me feeling uncomfortable about going, it was easy to decide to go to the place and ask for the money back. This went well and the guy gave me back the money without issue. I’m really glad we didn’t go. You kind of get swept up with the partying here, and after two nights of it, I am sick of it, and didn’t want to party, or watch others party, at all today. I needed a day of being quiet and spending some time walking around, and looking at the water. It was perfect.

I went to see L-E this morning and brought her two big bottles of water and a couple of packs of electrolytes. She seemed ok, though tired and a bit sore in the tummy. Otherwise, she looked good, no fever and no chills or anything, so it was probably just some food or water that didn’t agree with her. Poor thing, it is awful to have that when you’re travelling and alone. She was really grateful to receive the water and electrolytes. 

After visiting her, I walked down to the beach and sat on a chaise lounge for a while, looking at the water. It was really hot today, so I stayed in the shade on my chair. It was really nice just looking at the people and water for a while, and thinking my own thoughts. Then I walked around again, and went to the hostel for a little rest, and to get my bathing suit and sun shirt on. By then, it was getting to be a bit later in the afternoon, which is a better time for me to go swimming. I fry if I go too early and even with the sunscreen and sun protector top, it’s still too hot for me.

By the time I got to the beach, it was just perfect and I went in for a swim. There were so many Cambodian people at the beach today. I guess being Saturday, many people were out with their families, enjoying the beach. It was fun to watch the kids and adults playing, dancing and having fun. I had a mango while sitting at the beach, peeled and delivered by a nice young girl who carried the huge plate of fruit, on her head. I don’t think the photo turned out well, but she was so cute and did up the mango so well, without touching it once with her hands.

Her carrying it, but it's dark

Plate of fruit she carried on her head

After my swim, I met up with Stella and we walked back towards the hostel, and stopped off at a Cambodian hot soup vendor, on the way. I had been talking to two men that live in Sihanoukville now, in their 70’s, who told me where to go for some real food. I am a bit sick of Western restaurants here, as it’s very touristy, and not much local food to choose from. I was really excited to try this place, and it was great. The man who owned the restaurant spoke very good English and was able to communicate with us and tell us how to do the soup. There is a single burner hotplate at every table, and they bring you all kinds of vegetables, noodles, beef and an egg, to put into the soup. When they bring it, there is already beef balls, tongue, and tofu in the soup. The nice part is, that you can watch the soup boil, right in front of you and then add the items you want to. I let it boil for a while, just to make sure that any bacteria was boiled out. That was really great, as was the soup. The broth was amazing and so tasty. A real hit for $2.50 each......we couldn't even finish it!

Hot plate and Stella at restaurant

View up the street from our table

Goodies to put into the soup

Boiling soup, almost ready

Finally, we came back to the hostel, showered, and I washed out some laundry to hang for the night. It is great to do a few things each night, and then it never gets out of hand, and I always have something clean to wear. 

Oh, on one of my walks, I ran into Santa, Livi, so I took a picture with him, for you. He said you’ve actually been pretty good this year. Way to go! Also, a little birdie told me that you wanted to see my room at this hostel. Well, here it is. Not bad, eh? It was so nice to talk to you this morning. I always have a great day after we chat. You rock, sister.

Me and Santa

Lockers with great heavy locks on the door

My bunk, on the bottom

View of the room from the door

Tomorrow, I think I will take my drawing stuff and go to Independence Beach again. I think we’ll go earlier tomorrow to make a whole day of it, and just chill out there for the whole time. That should be great.