2012/2013 Indochina Tour - Day 5 and 6

Look at what I found!

Husref...convinced we're gonna end up in jail for this stunt.

Remember I was telling you about the pretty woman that did our conveyance form at the Thai/Cambodia border of Trat/Koh Kong? Well I managed to sneak a pict paparazzi style. So to the left you can see the decoy that I used (wasn't too pleased I might add), so that I can pretend to take a picture of him when we all know the focus is elsewhere.

You know, in real life she's pretty, but in my picture she actually looks like a ghost. You know like one of those photos where there's nobody there and at the edge an image of a person appears. Oh well....anyways just in case you guys don't believe there's a pretty chick working in the immigration booth in the middle of nowhere, there's the proof.

By the way wanted to share this, when the waiter showed us to the hotel the night before and I agreed with his recommendation, I wanted to thank him and say goodbye, which I did. Then as I was unpacking the bike I saw that he was still outside....hmmm that's odd, but since he knows the people there I thought he's just chilling out with them, that is until he came back towards me. Now mind you he's a tiny fella, now I'm short, so if any guy is shorter then trust me, he's short. Fella is barely pushing 5'2", so in no way I felt threatened, but what transpired next had me a teeny weeny worried. Also his name is Ten by the way.

Ten: I go now

Me: OK *hmmm I thought we did this 5 minutes ago

Ten: I go now  *extends his hand to shake so I did the same

Me: OK, thanks again *I let go of his hand but he was still holding on to mine and looking me in the eyes.

Ten: I go now

Now this is the point when my train of thought went into hyperdrive and I'm imagining weird stuff but a guy looking me in the eye, holding my hand, not letting go. I mean come on, you can only think of one thing right? Yes...I was thinking, ohhh shit, fella is gay and he wants to hump me! In my mind Ten wants to shine his tiny flashlight up my bum bum and I kid you not I was ready to judo chop his hand if he didn't let go the next second, which thankfully he did.

Only much much later did I realise, Ten was looking to get a tip for his good deed. Aiyaaa facepalm! Good thing I didn't break his hand though. Now that'll be a tip he'll never forget.

We planned for a couple more nights in Sihanoukville and based on our poor and limited research Otres Beach seems to be the quieter part of Sihanoukville which also has a number of guesthouses. So the plan was head up there, find Wish You Were Here (a guesthouse) have breakfast there and see whether we can secure a place to stay.

Nice Beach Hotel....ok la you don't suck that bad but we want better

Otres is about 10 minutes ride from Occheautal with an inland way and through the beach. It's not really on our GPS so we kinda pawed our wy through before we found Wish You Were Here.

That's Johnny....and yes, he's wearing only a sarung.

The name is really saying "up yours" to Corporate life

I adore my pancakes

See! not lying

You know, there is something infinitely cool when you go to work wearing only a sarung. I mean tell me that's not cool and I know you're lying. I love his story of how he ended up there, more than a year ago he was at the beach with his friend Aaron getting stoned and it that very stoned state he said, wouldn't it be nice to have a place here that we can chill out. So there you go, we've been told not to do drugs coz it fucks up your thought process and granted, yes, drugs do ruin lives, but here we have a couple of stoner hippies in a very stoned state that decided to open a guesthouse/bar/restaurant and actually did it. I mean I've met so many "coherent" and "sober" people who yap about what they're gonna do, yada yada yada and a year down the road, they've done nothing to achieve what they said they would. Of course you'll hear all sorts of excuses for not doing what you said you would. So really, 2013 is a new year. Talk less and do more is what I say.

Hmmm I'm rambling here, anyways Johnny was full but he suggested for us to go to just ride along Otres further in there're new places. 

That's how we found Honey Moon Bungalows. Mike (who was topless as well that I'm beginning to think it IS a uniform after all) says he's got a couple of rooms for us.At USD18/night for a fan room it's not exactly cheap but it's pretty cheap around here.

The wifi password is ExtremlyLarge...i kid you not.

Now, the cool thing about this place is of course the fact that we get to park our bikes rigt in front of our rooms.

It's been a while since I last used a mosquito net

So now that the accommodation is sorted, there's nothing left to do other than to chill out, veg out and do absolutely......nothing. I mean, that's the idea of a holiday right? You already work hard all year, so when you're on a holiday, don't you want some time off, as in really off? No riding, no phones, just wake up late, veg out, go for a massage, swim a little, watch the sunset, eat and that's pretty much it.

I leave you with more pics of Otres. If you have any plans to come here, do it soon. The landscape is changing everyday, with more and more resorts. bungalows and guesthouses coming up. In a few years it may no longer be peaceful and idylic.

Nice clean beach

A nice bungalow type guesthouse, WildBeach

Fortunate to watch a couple of beautiful ones when we were here

A Spanish family. It's awesome that they expose their kids to these sort of experiences

Aaron, Johnny's partner. See what I mean about the uniform?

I really do envy these Mat Salleh's who just picks up and sets themselves up in a foreign country, braving through all sorts of challenges. They're taking a huge risk as they're leasing the land from the owner, in a country that is corrupt that recently 35 businesses closed down because a large corporation bought over the land and had the government do the dirty work of kicking those people out. They were given 2 weeks notice before heavy machinery came through and tore it all down. So it is not without worry that they are there, yet they are and of course the most important thing of all, they're happy. Something we all strive to be.