Taking it Easy at the Beach

Brellowgirl
Feb 28, 2016
10 min read

When the guys left I checked out of the guesthouse we were at and took a walk down the street to check into my next hostel. Guess whatttt??!? One Stop Hostel has a location here in Sihanoukville! I had no idea they had multiple locations but it seems that they have three! They had a bed for me in a 6 bed women’s dorm-so sweet! The set up of this One Stop was a bit different than the one in Siem Reap. It was a lot smaller, one level and had a pool right in the middle of the hostel with the rooms around. I dropped my stuff off and spent the rest of the day exploring the beaches from Sihanoukville towards Otres (the nicer beaches about 3 miles away). I walked up and down the beach and then laid out, of course falling asleep within minutes. About an hour later I was rudely awoken by a wet dog sitting on me. It was playing with another dog on the beach and wanted me to play too so she literally sat on me to get my attention and wouldn’t leave me alone. She dug holes near my towel and covered me in sand. Everyone sitting around me thought it was hilarious. She was really cute but still a puppy and really nippy. She eventually thought I was boring and moved on.

I spent two nights at One Stop Hostel and then found work on another beach called Otres. It’s not too far away from Sihanoukville but the beaches are nicer, less crowded and the area in general is quieter, attracting older travelers rather than backpackers. Before I headed to Otres I stopped by my favorite eatery, Delicious, to have a meal. The last time I went to Delicious I was by myself for dinner and the owner’s five year old daughter came up to me to say hi. I invited her to sit with me and she ended up showing me her school book and we practiced her ABC’s and spelling. Her name was Raksmey and she was adorable. Not shy, her mom brought over her dinner and we ate together while I quizzed her. Her English was impressive for a five year old. Better than most adult Cambodians.

Unfortunately when I went over to eat before heading to Otres, Raksmey was not into having any visitors and stayed with her mom and baby brother while I had my meal.

Otres is definitely a nicer beach than Serendipity in Sihanoukville. I found a lady who needed help with her property but when I got there she said it wasn’t her that needed help but a friend of hers down the street at another property. So I got shuffled around and ended up getting a receptionist job at a place called White Moon Bungalows. The owner’s name is Chantrea, a Cambodian guy. He offered me a simple accommodation with meals in exchange for 6 hours of work per day. I get one day off and all my duties include are sitting at reception while he goes to work on the beach (he’s a chef at another guesthouse during the day). He has 3 staff members and his wife and two children are also here during the day but no one speaks any English at all so he needs someone here to help people check in and answer questions about room prices when people inquire during the day. I agreed to stay one week and a bit more if I could which was good for him.

He offered me a ride on his motor bike so I wouldn’t have to walk but I had my big backpack so I said that it might be a bit difficult to take me. He said not to worry and so I put on my pack and hopped on the back. THAT was an experience. Every time we made a turn I though my whole backpack was going to pull me off with it’s weight.

When we got to White Moon, Chantrea introduced me to two English guys around my age that were staying there. I made friends and we hung out when I wasn’t on shift.

That evening Chantrea cooked at the bungalows. Quite a few people that were staying here joined us for dinner and I was pleasantly surprised with the presentation of his dishes. He made us amok, a traditional Cambodian curry that has coconut milk in it. His version was very good and was served with rice. He also made us a dessert with a giant Cambodian melon. It was like the dessert we made at the Thai cooking school, cold sweet coconut milk, shaved ice and pieces of melon. The melon was very interesting. It was green like our melon but was soft and has a powdery aftertaste. Very interesting. Some people didn’t like the texture. I didn’t think it was bad but it was definitely interesting.

2.22.16

I only had to start work at 3:30 today so I laid out on the beach all day and soaked up some sun. The beaches here are really quiet and pretty empty, it’s glorious. First day at work though, super easy stuff. There are 12 bungalows here and only 4 or 5 of them are occupied. Sitting at reception all day means I have time to read, write, catch up on blogging and plan out future travel stuff. It’s outdoors so I get fresh air all day and can still sit in the sun if I want. The highlight of the day was when I heard footsteps behind me and turned around to see a huge but emaciated white cow staring at me a few feet away on the street. Before I could figure out where it had come from, Sun, one of the Khmer staff here ran over to it and clapped his hands to get it away. Sun takes care of the garden here and he wasn’t very happy when the cow started nibbling on his grass. Sun is 22 or 23 and has two daughters. He is a staff member along with his wife and his sister. He lives in a house about 20 minutes away in the mountains but there’s no running water nor electricity in his house. He lives here with his wife and sister and goes home to his kids once or twice per week to bring them rice and other food (they live with his parents). Chantrea told me that he pays them $400 total per month for the three of them which is more than they would make anywhere else in this area.

In the evening I found out that my Canadian friends Kellen and Dane (friends I met and hung out with in Thailand on the island and then bumped into in the north in Chiang Mai) were staying on this beach too so me, the English guys and my Canadian friends all met up and hung out for a while.

2.27.16

The past few days have been easy going working at White Moon. People have checked in and out and for the most part it’s been quiet. Ricky and Mike, my English friends checked out the other day and it’s been infinitely more quiet here. We had fun spending time on the beach and we went to what was supposedly “Cambodia’s biggest party” but I really don’t think it was. It was a jungle party called Kerfuffle. We got there entirely too early (10:45pm) when the party was supposed to go on until 10am. It eventually filled up but not before it started to rain and we called it quits.

The other day I ran out of contact solution and after going to three different markets I still couldn’t find anyone on the beach who sold it or even knew what I was talking about. Chantrea had to go to Sihanoukville to pick up some things so he offered to take me. On the way I saw some crazy things. There were people standing in the middle of what looked like a river but there wasn’t any water. There was a lot of mud however. Adults and children all hanging out in the mud in full clothes. Most had two pails in their hands. One they were using to scoop the mud and then throw it into another pail that had holes in it. I thought maybe they were looking for things that ended up in the river that they could sell or something like that but Chantrea said that they were catching fish haha in the mud! I’ve never seen that before. I guess there was a little bit of water that I couldn’t see. He said that although small, the fish were tasty. I think I’d pass on that one.

Chantrea’s daughter, Panga, came with us. She jumped on the motor bike with no hesitation and sat in front of her dad. It’s totally not uncommon to see entire families riding on a single motor bike. It’s indeed crazy but not uncommon. Mom’s driving while holding babies, Dad driving with two kids, mom and grandma on the back, etc lol. It was the same in Thailand, when I go to India one day I’m sure it’ll be the same there too.

One thing I noticed in Cambodia is that most motorists wear helmets. In Thailand nobody did even though it was the law. Here mostly everybody does.

Today Chantrea went to a wedding and told me that it was a small event with only 500 people… I told him that was ridiculous and that would be considered quite the wedding back in the states. He said that he was embarrassed to say that he couldn’t afford a big wedding when he got married and that there were only about 250 at his. I was afraid to ask what a normal wedding attendance was… Chantrea said about 5,000 normally are invited to weddings. WHAT. Now THOSE are the kinds of weddings I’d like to plan! He said some go on for a week. I wonder if other Asian countries other than India do this also? Is it a norm? He said there’s always a ridiculous surplus of food, 15-20 types of Khmer dishes. There was a wedding right in the village here last night too, it would have been really interesting to go and experience something like that.

2.28.16

My day offff! I’m sunburnt from a few days ago but it’s not so bad. I couldn’t sleep well last night, it was really hot so I rolled out of bed around 5:45 and got ready and took a walk along the beach hoping to catch the sunrise. It was cloudy out so I didn’t see much but the beach was empty and it made for a relaxing walk. I didn’t bring much with me or else I would have loved to sit at one of the restaurant guesthouses on the beach and have breakfast on the way back but I didn’t even have my wallet. The way the beach is though, I could have had breakfast if I wanted and returned later in the day to pay. People are really nice here and laid back.

I found a Nicholas Sparks novel at the bungalows that someone had left so I spent my day lazily on one of the hammocks at the bungalows reading. I had lunch at the bungalows and then went out to the beach to finish my book. I’ve been having lunch and dinner at the bungalows pretty much every day. The girls usually cook Khmer food and serve me. They don’t speak any English at all so it’s super difficult to communicate with them. I’ve never realized just how hard it could be to talk to someone your age if you don’t speak the same language. Khmer is completely different than English and I only know “thank-you”. It’s really hard to tell them that I’m kind of vegetarian so I’ve been sucking it up and just eating whatever they give me. Most of it is good. I mean, all of it is good but some of it is interesting lol. Tonight Chantrea said that he didn’t think I could eat the Khmer food because It was “really Khmer” I usually have a high food tolerance though so I stuck around. I got scared at the last minute and stood up to go shower when one of the girls called out to me. She can only say “hello” in English so she says hello to greet me, to say thank you and the rest. She laughs at me a lot, the three probably talk about me all the time, or so I think. Caught, I turned around and thanked her and checked out dinner. She had made a fish soup with Khmer vegetables. There were two kinds of greens, one like a spinach and one like a squash although it had been boiled so it was kind of pureed at this point. I saw her de-scaling the fish earlier, it looked sad. Sigh. I ate the soup with some rice, it was good. A bit salty but good. Chantrea underestimated me.

Panga, Chantrea’s daughter has been warming up to me and likes to sit in my lap and watch me while I facetime Kirk or write my blogs. She saw me going through pictures and yelled out dog when she saw a picture I had taken. I was SHOCKED. She has not spoken a single word of English in 6 days and I had no idea she knew anything. The other day Kirk told me not to underestimate her cause she probably understands more than I think but I didn’t think so until that moment. She sat on my lap and I pulled up an English to Khmer translator and more pictures of simple things, dog, cat, monkey, elephant, eggs, she knew them all and spoke their English names out loud. I was dumbfounded. She even wished me goodnight before she went to bed. Finally someone who speaks English! Even going a few days without speaking to anyone can drive someone a bit crazy. I’ve found myself ft-ing Kirk or my mom or brothers and enjoying hearing English so much lately.

Last thought of the day. My mind is all over the place today, I don’t know why. The sunsets here are so incredibly beautiful. I think I’ve mentioned it before but they are truly amazing. I make a point of running out to the beach around 5:50 so I can watch it set every day. It’s not just me who thinks so too, there is always a gathering of people all along the beach, not all foreigners either, a lot of people who come are locals. I think it’s really nice, a lot of local families come out and spend the evenings on the beach together. Today during the sunset I saw an older English couple who had swam out and made friends with a group of 8 or 9 Cambodian kids. The kids were having a blast as the guy lifted them up and they did backflips into the water. Over and over and over the kids took turns while the guy threw them into the water. They clapped for each other after every jump it was adorable, all with the backdrop of a melting Cambodian sunset. When I got back to the bungalows I had to take a shower. Today is day 3 of not showering simply because I can and also I hate taking a shower here lol. It’s an outdoor Khmer bathroom with a spout that has a rubber hose attached to it. It’s such a pain in the butt to wash my hair. I swear I’m going to chop it all off it’s so incredibly annoying. Anyways, I feel really nice and clean now =]] it’s early but I’m already feeling the sleepies since I was up early today. I’m really craving something sweet though so I might go for a walk and see if I can find some pancakes or something.

Much love, Cas