Battambang to Sihanoukville - 22nd July 2009

I had an early morning this morning. I seem to be waking up quite a lot in the night, so if I wake up within 30 minutes of when my alarm is set for I just get up anyway. Today I was due to leave for the bus station at 7.30, so allowed quite a bit of time for getting breakfast, although I'd just settled with a visit to the local bakery, and water to wash it down; at least it was cheap!
The minibus arrived to take me, and an Austrian couple to the bus station, where I had a coffee before boarding. We were able to, very briefly, enjoy the solar eclipse, looking through sunglasses for about a second, before we were blinded by the sun. When we got on to the bus, a local had taken out a mask used to shield the eyes of those using laser type machinary.
The bus was enormous; a double decker, but with the lower deck only accomodating the driver, our luggage, and a rather crampt toilet!
The air conditioned bus is annoying as it stops me sweating profusely, so I am left needing the toilet what seems like copious amounts! Yet again I live up to my nickname Little Miss Small Bladder...
At least I get to enjoy the toilet on the bus! It's a strange room, you have to be a midget to get through the door; even I have to bend down, and on leaving I have bumped my head several times. Whilst sitting (or hovering) on the loo, there is a very clear mirror opposite, so one can admire oneself whilst emptying out! And to add to this pleasure, you can even look at the window with a clear view of all the houses and people you pass! I'm not quite sure if this view outwards is reciprocated so people can see inwards; I hope not!
The journey was pleasant. We stopped once before arriving at Phnom Penh, at a small cafe which had wonderful large wooden carvings.
We arrived in good time at Phnom Penh, where I had time for my second coffee of the day before boarding a 'same same but different' bus to take us to Sihanoukville. I was quite glad that the bus operators dealt with our luggage; carrying it on and off for us, as it saved me attempting to lift my bag, which is quite often a struggle!
At our first stop from this bus, I had another coffee! and got asked by lots of young locals to buy their sweet coconut cakes. The locals here are a lot more pleasant then in Siem Reap, just as the boy did on my tour up a hill on my full-day of tuk tuk-ing, these girls also could speak French, and tried to converse with me in French for a while! The boy from the tuk-tuk day had managed to say Hello, How are you? in about 7 different languages, which impressed me greatly! He even had good pronounciation (for the ones I knew what they should sound like).
In this cafe, there was a really cute scruffy dog lying under a table just sleeping, then on my way to the toilet, I offered my hand to a dog who had looked friendly. My hand was a 35 centemetres away, but the dog obviously took my
offering the wrong way (or had rabies or was psychotic), as he gave me a warning snap very close to my hand so that slobbers made it onto my hand. I then avoided all dogs from this point onwards!
It was raining quite heavily by this point which was annoying, as the place looked pretty dreary.
We arrived on time, yay! at Sihanoukville, where we were greeted by lots of tuk tuks and moto drivers. I had wanted to walk, as on the map my accomodation hadn't looked that far away. I felt really pestered by the drivers, and eventually I gave in, and with my rucksack resting on the front of the motorbike, cuddled by the driver, we set off. I was unsure whether the slightly dodgy looking rider would actually take me to the guesthouse I'd wanted, as he seemed to be trying to make me want to go elsewhere, but I remained firm, and thankfully I arrived safely where I wanted to go.
I checked in to the ant-free room (yay again!) and then went off in search of dinner. The Holy Cow restaurant, named after a holy cow who cured someone of some illness by licking them, was written up very nicely in the Lonely Planet and advertised as having vegan options, which it did.
On the way, I was walking along the not very well lit roads, and was trying to cross the road when two dogs from the house I was standing in front up came up and started growling at me. I was terrified... I obviously must be offending all these dogs in some way! I decided that I'd walk on the other side of the road on the way back!
I enjoyed a cottage pie, a lovely fruit shake, and an amazing chocolate cake with ice cream and sauce! Amazing!!
I passed an English teaching school on the way back, where the kids were just being let out, and a white teacher was leaving, and she hi-fived one of the kids! All the kids were crowding round her saying 'teacher, teacher...''
I made it back to the hotel okay, although I was pretty scared being out in the dark, despite it only being half seven! The guidebook seems to suggest Sihanoukville is one of the worst places to be for crime, or at least has more highly publishised crimes out here.
It was really annoying that the hotel didn't have internet, and I didn't want to be too late back at the hotel so decided to head 'home' instead of searching for an internet cafe. I then lazed about watching TV and reading. I had planned on renting a DVD player and watching some of the DVDs I'd bought on the cheap, but unfortunatly all were rented out! Still it was an early night, although my sleep was plagued with the challenge of escaping from an earthquake (in my dreams), which was a bit surreal and annoying.