30/03/2010 Chill out Hang Around Day

30/03/2010 Chill out Hang Around Day

Slept in then spent the day hanging around on the beach, swimming and sunbaking and reading our books. It was very quiet- this is the end of the season for them.

Walked up our beach for a look, stopping off at a little beach bar for a soft drink (spiked with our duty free vodka of course!)



Met a couple from England, Ian & Janelle who were staying at our resort and joined them for a drink. We ended up having tea with them – some great local food prepared by our hotel – and quite a few gin & tonics!

Royal Beach Resort, Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka (3250 SRP w Air and HW)

29/03/2010 Train trip from hell!

29/03/2010 Train trip from hell!

Up at 3am for the 3.30 taxi we caught our plane and dozed all the way to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. From the airport we caught a mini-bus into Columbo Fort Train Station where we purchased tickets to Hikkaduwa. At the train station we met a guy named Kamal who claimed he was a driver and guide who owned a guesthouse north of Hikkaduwa. Despite his glowing referees, we had been warned about the touts at the station so we just took his card and said we would call him once we had settled in. We then took the train ride from hell south to the beach at Hikkaduwa – we had to stand all the way in the most filthy rattly contraption and yes we know that this is how they live every day but the knowledge doesn’t make the journey any easier.

 Grahame seriously thought that his carriage would jump the tracks (we couldn’t both fit into one carriage) and we would never see each other again! Five hours later we took the first tuk-tuk we saw and then settled on the first guest house we looked at! Actually the bathroom was very clean and it was right on the beach.

Ate dinner and drank some Sri Lankan beers in a little café on the beach

Royal Beach Resort, Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka (3250 SRP w Air and HW)

28/03/2010 First leg to Sri Lanka Worst connection ever

28/03/2010 First leg to Sri Lanka Worst connection ever




Up early to get some cheap pharmaceuticals and then back for a quick swim before checkout. Our flight to Malaysia wasn’t until 4.30pm so we sat in the lobby updating our blog until we had to leave for the airport.

We had intended to stay in the amazing sounding airport lounge with beds, wi-fi & shower overnight but on arrival in KL we were told we couldn’t enter as check-in wasn’t till the next day and it was only for transit passengers! (Air Asia only sells single sectors so we couldn’t check our luggage through). This meant finding a motel at 9pm at night and being back at the airport for a 6am flight! After a lot of searching the taxi attendant told us of a supposedly nearby hotel but our driver got lost and spoke no English so it was over an hour before we arrived at the ‘nearby’ hotel. On arrival we hadn’t eaten so we went down to the restaurant to find a snack where we met up with a couple of French guys who were doing our trip in reverse (they had just left Sri Lanka)! We swapped tips and contact details and headed back to our room for a measly four hours sleep.

Nilai Hotel, PT 9999, Jalan BBN 1/3D, Putra Point Phase 2A, Putra Nilai, 71800 Nilai, Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus, Malaysia. Ph: 606-799-8388 E: nilaihotel@yahoo.com

27/03/2010 Sobering Sightseeing

27/03/2010 Sobering Sightseeing

Met up with our tuk-tuk driver for a day’s sightseeing although it was a more sobering experience than our recent adventures. After a couple of hours at the National Museum (where most of the Angkor sculpture resides) and a look at the simulation of life in the time of Angkor we headed off to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Choeung Ek which contains 9000 skulls is a monument to the 17,000 men, women and children who were slaughtered here by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1978.

 It is an incredibly sad place but even more so when you learn that this is one of hundreds of similar such killing fields where two million Cambodians lost their lives to the Khmer Rouge for no reason other than they wore glasses or spoke foreign languages. In the end the Khmer Rouge didn’t even use these paltry excuses and were basically murdering anyone who might expose their atrocities including many of the people who had carried out the executions.

We stopped for a quick lunch on the edges of the Russian Market (Psar Tuol Tom Png) which would have been great to explore if we had more time. Then we went back into town to visit the Tuol Sleng Museum – a gruesome account of the detention and torture of thousands of Cambodians. Tuol Sleng – known as Security Prison 21 (S-21) during the reign of the Khmer Rouge was formerly a school whose detainees were mostly sent to Choeung Ek for execution after their detention. There are also mass graves within the school (museum) grounds as the prison itself claimed over 100 victims per day.



That evening we went for an amazing meal at a local restaurant – five star experience without the price tag – the food was excellent, the service superb and it only cost around $30AUD.

Goldiana Hotel, 10 St 282 Phnom Penh ($42 w pool, wifi, air & crap b’fast)

Ph: 023219558

26/03/2010 Another bus…

26/03/2010 Another bus…

We were up early to catch our bus back to Phnom Penh (but not without our filling breakfast!). Seven hours later (there was a bad accident on the way) we landed in Phnom Penh and caught up with our tuk-tuk driver who took us to the hotel we had booked, to the Post Office and then back to the Indian Embassy to collect our visas. Back at the hotel we had a relaxing swim and decided to indulge in room service as it was so late (bad idea – food was crap but we were tired from the trip).

Goldiana Hotel, 10 St 282 Phnom Penh ($42 w pool, wifi, air & crap b’fast)

Ph: 023219558

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

25/03/2010 Touring the coast on our bike

25/03/2010 Touring the coast on our bike

Hired a motorbike and travelled into town to change our bus ticket to a later time and find a medical centre but we had come back later in the day. Couldn’t send our mail either as the Post Office was closed so we came back to our resort to drop off our packages and then rode north via Sokha, Independence and Hawaii Beaches.

Sokha was basically owned by one major resort and access was meant for resort guests only – the beach looked lovely except at the public end which resembled a tip!

Independence beach was on government owned land and there were a lot of people camped out on this land. It would have made a great development or housing area as the beach was great but it looked like it had been forgotten and there was a lot of garbage around.

Hawaii beach looked like it got a lot of packaged tourist customers as there were dozens of ‘restaurants’ set up along the beach with rows of tables and chairs – but no customers – we were virtually the only tourists on the beach This beach was opposite an island and a giant bridge was being constructed to this island by the Koreans – it resembled a bridge worthy of a major city – not a deserted island!



Then rode further north to check out the coast past the Sihanoukville Port and the Phum Thmei Area where the locals live in and around the deserted train station. It was the town past here where you really get to see where and how the Cambodians really live (see video footage). We also went further to see some great deserted beaches (they needed a bit of cleaning up) but one day they will be packed with resorts.



Went down to the beach for a drink and to let off the fireworks that Grahame had bought – he was very excited that you could buy them from a local mini-mart – along with Jim Beam for $US8.50!

Back at our hotel we met up with Mary and Pat Grant – some Canadians who had been living in Australia with their children Robyn and Willem for the past year. Mary had been doing a teacher exchange in Coffs Harbour and Pat was being the house husband and surfing! Spent a few hours chatting and drinking with them before retiring for our last night in Sihanoukville.

24/03/2010 Casino Winnings

24/03/2010 Casino Winnings

Got up early this morning and headed down to the beach for a run. As it was early there weren’t many tourists up and about – just the locals cleaning up from the night before.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool and utilizing the wi-fi to book flights to Sri Lanka via Malaysia and then on to Chennai, India. Met some fellow travelers doing a similar long trip – a couple from America who were travelling with their daughter for a ‘gap year’, a couple who had been on the road for three years and a British guy who was on a short break by himself.

Went to the local ‘casino’ that night on Nicholas’s advice (free drinks and food apparently) but we weren’t offered any of that so after Grahame doubled our money on the roulette wheel we decided to head back into town for a feed.

This time we found a good spot (recommended by our American friends) where we had a great seafood BBQ for under $10.



Beach Club Resort, 23 Tola St, Sihanoukville ($39USD incl. breakfast & Wi-Fi)