From the Capital to the Coast..we've got it all!

Great Mates, Great Weather...Serendipity Beach.

It seems that my mind and my sun burnt body have different thresholds to the untraviolet rays in our atmosphere. Even though i went for a swim in the most beautiful water i have had the pleasure to go dog-paddling in, even though i applied sunscreen to every part of my body and even though we were only at the beach for about three hours, i still got burnt and i'm shitty about it.

But more on that later.

The day after our depressing visits to the Killing Fields and S-21 prison, Sab and i decided that we would take the day to explore Sean Penn (sorry- that's our codeword for Phenom Penh) which was a futile task because every 10 seconds up comes a guy on a bike offering you his services. The simple pleasure of getting lost in the capital of Cambodia is non-existent due to the locals desire to take you anywhere and everywhere even though all you want is just to walk around at your own pace.

Our day started with a tuk-tuk ride to the National Museum and as lovely as the actuall museum building is, the inside was filled with ancient Khmer artifacts and various other centuries of Bhudda statues and little wooden rectangular boxes. Now i didn't mind this unlike Sab who thought otherwise. I would say the museum was nice to look at but not a must see unless you really like artifacts. The Royal Palace was not due to open until 2.30 in the afternoon so as a result we actually walked a few blocks to visit the Independence Monument (as in Independence from France in 1958) which lasted about 2 minutes as we took the now-stardard photo with Teddy Richards and had a bit of a look at it. As we made our way down to the riverside to find a place to sit and have a nice cold drink we came across another illegal DVD centre.

Sab has been looking for a British TV series called "Coupling." It's quite a funny show as evidence one night back in Tin Shui Wai where i thought i could get an early sunday night sleep but was kept awake by Sab's Betty Rubble-esque giggling at this TV show she stumbled across late that night. I couldn't get to sleep so i joined her and started laughing as well. Anyway with that little backstory you would think that she had found this little gem she had been looking for all over Asia but she hadn't. Sorry to get your hopes up.

The store did have a copy of Jean Claude van Damme's debut movie "Bloodsport" which had to be purchased for a time where i could relax when Sab is out of the house and i can watch some good old fashioned movie violence. It times like that you can really appreciate the depth to Van Dammes acting. Following more walking we ended up at a pretty schmick cafe where we just let the air conditioning work its magic. A couple more DVD stores followed (we can't go past one without having a look) and we pretty much followed our aim of bumming around the capital on foot.

Later in the evening we decided to get some dinner we were harassed (to put it nicely) by another of the kiddie street sellers whose offerings range from books you already have to books that you don't really want. This particular kid was so persistent yet charming in his tween type of way that we invited him for dinner and we gave him a couple peices of pizza. The one thing that i could offer him was my long awaited for MOTOR magazine (that's an Aussie Car Mag that i found in a bookstore in the Sean Penn) whereby he went though every page and then decided to just make himself comfortable at our table.

Cambodian kiddie reading the latest on the new Audi A6.

After our dinner we took a tuk-tuk along the Mekong to another cafe whereby we were going to watch two documentaries about landmines and Pol Pot. Here we were in Phenom Penh, a tow known for wild nihghts, both 27 years old and with our lives ahead of us and you could have misaken us for a couple of old grannies at home with blankets on our knees and a hot cup of tea watching a doco on the ABC. The documentaries were really good, so good in fact we were the only people watching them. It was in this upstairs room at the cafe and when the little mouse ran past the front of the screen adnd down the stairs, it was time to look at the watch and go "will this thing ever end? (but in a good way)."

By the way Sab found "Coupling" at a store across the road from where we ate dinner. She was very happy to say the least. Actually she was f*cking rapt.

The following day saw us bum around our guest house on the lake, confirm our airplane tickes to Taiwan as we found out that we have secured jobs in a southern city called Tainan but more on that later) and pack our bags that seemed to have gained an extra 50kgs in weight, possibly due to the BeerLao stickers we got at the brewrey and my little traditional Cambodia cow bell.

The bus ride to wait ... i have to go Google to check the spelling on this place...Sihanoukville was very pleasant as is the town. We made our way to the Monkey Republic Bungalows at Serendipity Beach where at last i could go swimming and lie in the sun and just relax. Don't get me wrong this holiday has been sensational but what better way to end it then at the beach where its's just you, the water the sand and the sky.

Except when you are in Cambodia.

The following morning (yesterday) Serendipidy Beach was a callin' and it was magnificent to see that crystal blue water as far as the eye could see. The day at the beach was tainted by the appearance of the local kiddies who wouldn't give us a moments peace. They were always coming up to us wanting us to buy books, bracelets, cow bells and fruit. I don't mean to sound like a Scrooge here but it seemed we were the only white people on the beach even though there were many more. We must have "gullible white dickhead" tattooed in invisible ink on our heads that only Cambodian trinket selling kiddies can see.

After getting a petticure from a lady on the beach (hey it was two dollars and i thought what the hell) i was offered bracetes, paintings, books, bookmarks (that had the Transformer like quality of changing into a bracelet) but all i wanted to do was sit there and read my book. Sab got her legs done and purchased enogh fruit to be initiated into the Melbourne Underworld. My saving grace for the day was the water which was the most beautiful i've swam in. So blue, so peaceful, so quiet..until a group of five 10 year old girls swam my way and decided to say hello...which brings me on to another topic.

Cambodian people are so friendly that its pefectly ok for them to squeeze my boobs. The first time it happened was at the firing range where the guy giving me the gun was checking me for a lump. I told Sab this but she didn't beleive me. Later on the grandmother at our guesthouse did it to me and i went off at Sab in our room. I was pissed off but Sab said here i'm sure its not offensive but i didn't care..my boobs were my boobs!

Back to the beach and after my swim and a walk up and down the beach i made my way back to our beach chair whereby i was peckish only to be told that the first two things i wanted from the menu couldn't be cooked as the place we decided to park our bums at was only new and the chef wasn't at work today. More haggling by the kids (including one that was angry at Sab for not purchasing pineapple off her when supposidly Sab promised she would) and a reddish skijn colour from my shoulders dictated that it was full time for our first crack at Serendipidy Beach.

Last night was spent bumming around our Bungalows whilst the what little sunburn i had on my back decided to manfest over night to something representing the colour of the surface of Mars.

So here i am today at the local Mini-Mart staying out of the sun and going to go for a swim (with a shirt on) in the cooler afternoon because even with sunburn, any Ausstralian who doesn't go beach side at any opportunity would be considered un-Australian.