A Little Wiggle Room

So, thanks to Vichetr, my arrival in Sihanoukville was smooth.   After a pretty good night’s rest, I awoke to find I’d tipped over my makeshift contact holders during my in-the-dark fan battle.   (Should have brought two cases or back-ups.)   I put the old ones in and left the dried up lenses to soak hoping they’d regain their life.   Especially if the old pair didn’t survive the snorkelling trip!

I got my beachware  on, had breakfast, got to see my first alms-giving to a monk (I’ve tried not to be  the voyuer  that so many tourists are regarding  this tradition), and got picked up by a tuk-tuk and two French men.   We did the standard hurry up and wait as we watched storm clouds gather on the southern horizon.   It was clear to the north, though.   Which direction is Bamboo Island, anyway?” I asked our guide.   That’s when we found out the our ”English speaking guide” didn’t really speak or understand all that much English.

Sure enough, we launched off in the direction of  the storm!   Two awesome Australian women – Pip and Beck, a young Dutch couple, the Frenchmen, two older women from Denmark and a mysterious and quiet older couple.   It wasn’t long before I could see the whitecaps flashing in the water ahead.   Pretty soon the islands ahead became obscured by the gloom and the seas turned to an emerald grey.   They rolled the rain cover over the braces to make an awning for us, and we dove head long into the storm.   The rain came down in sheets soaking everything around the edges as we sat huddled in our bikini’s and towel-wrapped shoulders.   After an somewhat unnerving hour or so of wind, rain, whitecaps, rocking, rolling, and constant engine cut-outs, we sighted Bamboo Island and ran up on the shore.
We all just sat there as the rain came down in sheets.   The Frenchman donned their raincoats  and took the plunge.   Next the Denmark women were off, then the Australians went for it.   I decided that I love to swim, rain or no rain, and dived in as well.   Soon the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.   In between bouts of swimming in the clear blue water, I lounged in a hammock and read my book.
The waters off Bamboo Island
The greatest lazy day in hammocks. Makes me feel like I’m on the Amazon again!

It was great to do so much relaxing!   For lunch, it was Barracuda baked in tin foil, rolls, and fruit!     I love the tropics!   We went for a hike across the island and found another beach.   We all went for a swim and I soon learned about teeny schools of stinging fish that don’t really hurt any more than a mosquito bite.   Those with more extensive ocean experience assured me that they were normal, but I cut my swim short anyway as I tired of the little zaps.

Finally it was time to boat past some snorkeling spots on the way home.   I love snorkeling, and was the first to dive in!   I had some trouble with google fog (I don’t care how many times you spit, it doesn’t always work), but the coral was beautiful!

Fuzzy coral
My the most prominent underwater species – looks like little suction cups and sways in the water. I like it!
Squiggle coral (I’m making up these names)
And I’ve never seen such big sea urchins!   The coolest part was the electric blue rings on the surface of the urchins.   Really cool.   And the reef we were at was really close to the surface so I could see everything.   The downside – as I was treading water and defogging  my goggles, I accidentally kicked a sea urchin.   OUCH!   They’re poisonous.   Not kill-you-posionous, but definitely make-your-foot-numb-for-a-few-hours-posionous.   After that, I took one more trip around the coral, swam out to the deeper sea, and then took my turn at flopping myself back onto the boat (this was one of the funniest parts of the trip!).
My nemesis! Beautiful but dangerous.

The Australians were nurses and advised me to keep my puncture covered so I don’t pick up any of the rampant diseases (ring worm, etc.) in my open wound.   Point taken!   So, I hobbled back up to my hostel, took a shower, dressed my throbbing and numb foot, and took it upon myself to veg out as completely as possible.   I interneted, read, had a fantastic gourmet baked eggplant dinner, had a few beers, a crepe  suzette, and then watched two disks of Grey’s Anatomy (which I have never seen before).   I didn’t get some of the macro stuff, this being season 3 and all, but lots of mini dramas to entertain my brain.   It was great!   It’s been… probably two years since I’ve spent more than an hour or two doing “nothing.”   Heaven!   Thank you, Sea Urchin!

Today I slept in, had a breakfast so huge that at 8pm my normally ravenous appetited  is still abated, caught up on my blog some more, walked down to the beach (carefully) and took a moto  to the bakery where proceeds go to a local project for street children.   Then I went to Seeing Hands Massage – an employment opportunity for the blind.   I spent an hour and a half with Rotha  (rote-ah) which was the highlight of my day.   The massage  was, as usual, different than  what I’m used to at home.   Lots more pressing than rubbing.   The great part was chatting with Rotha.   He spoke great English!   He’s 23, and became blind from having the measles when he was three (as did most of his co-workers).   He hopes to be the director of a place employing blind people.   He asked me if I would mind telling him the difference between search and explore, between correct and edit, and if I could find out how much a Braille Note cost for him.   He was great!

Seeing Hands Massage in another city. Unlike other places I’ve been to in SE Asia, they have you change into scrubs and each person gets their own massage table. It was great!

I walked back home and took the wrong spoke off the traffic circle.   After a little backtracking, I made it ‘home!’   So, now I am here, researching the Braille Note (I thought maybe he was confused  about the name).   I’m sad to report back to him that this computer for the blind is about $3,000 – $6,000 new (maybe – no companies list their prices – I had to go through hearsay), and there is only one on Ebay right now that is $100.   I hope he can get one!   I wonder if I could write a company on his behalf?

Tomorrow morning I am off to Siam Reap, the base city for SE Asia’s most famous temple – Angkor Wat.   I might try to pay a visit to the Killing Fields as I pass through Phnom  Penh.   We’ll see how my foot is.   I can’t believe I’m flying home in only six more days!   Yikes!

Make A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.