My Cambodian friends Chiet and Rong wanted to go to the beach, Sihanhoukville in particular. I wasn’t particularly crazy about the idea. I grew up in Florida and had seen more than my share of beaches. Enough sand between my toes to last me a while, and not much desire to bathe myself in more sun and water. I’d never been to Sihanhoukville but from what I’d heard about the town it sounded like a Cambodian version of Pattaya. Not exactly my cup of tea. Neither Chiet nor Rong had over seen the sea, or walked on sand beaches, so I decided my whims didn’t matter much in this case; this would be a special trip for them.

In addition to not being thrilled at the idea of spending time on the beach, my other concern was the time factor. I had only five days to spend in Cambodia, so I couldn’t make the usual Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and back again run, and still have time to go to the beach. I told Rong that if he and Chiet could meet me in Phnom Penh we could travel to Sihanoukville that way, only about a four-hour bus trip.

My reservations about Sihanoukville turned out to be unfounded. Other than a bit of rain each day the trip was very relaxing. It was basically a quiet, very pleasant beach town (at least the stretch of Ochheuteal Beach where we stayed was peaceful) with nothing remotely sleazy about it. Both the beach and several good restaurants were within walking distance from our hotel. And the best part was seeing my friends’ delighted — and puzzled — reactions to salt water and waves. That was worth it all!

I also saw the Tri brothers while I was in Phnom Penn. They didn’t’ go to the beach with us (attending school trumped making a beach trip) but we all spent one day touring sights around Phnom Penh, such as the Royal Palace and the National Museum. I hadn’t realized it at first, but this was their first time Rong and Chiet had been to Phnom Penh so obviously they had never seen these places before. We spent one more day back in Phnom Penh before I returned to Bangkok and Rong and Chiet went back to work in Siem Reap (Rong works at the airport and Chiet is a welder). We met up with the Tri brother again for dinner, and my friend Sochiet also stopped by the hotel to chat with us.

The four Tri brothers, three of whom are still in school, want to move back to Siem Reap (which is where I first met them). One of their older brothers was married last year and is living in Siem Reap, so the plan is to move back and live in the same neighborhood. They worked out the expenses and logistics of such a move and plan to do it next month. Chiet is also trying to find a new place to live in Siem Reap, hopefully somewhere closer to his workplace. One dilemma is his salary. This is his first “real” job and he only earns $35 per month. Yes, that’s US dollars. Not exactly a living wage.

Speaking of Siem Reap, Dave Perkes from Peace of Angkor Photo and Adventure Tours was in Bangkok this week. He’s trying to line up some local tour guides for his groups to use when they are in Thailand, as well as trying to coordinate efforts with other niche tour companies, such as the ones that do cycling tours. After Thailand he is headed off to Laos for another week before returning to Cambodia.

www.peaceofangkor.com

Yet another friend from Siem Reap, So Pengthai, was in also Thailand this past week, although I never got to see him. He spent one night in Bangkok then the rest of the time he travelled around the country with other guides from a tour group he does work for in Cambodia. So Pengthai is a licensed tour guide at Angkor, but rarely gets time off to travel outside the country. He made a trip to Vietnam last year, but this was his first visit to Thailand. During the one day he was in Bangkok I talked to him on the phone and gave him directions to come and visit me at my bookshop. Later that day he sent me a text message saying that Bangkok was “too big” for him and that he got lost trying to find my shop! Oh well, there’s always next time.

Posted by dgilliland Bangkok