Cambodia!

It's Tuesday, April 26 (our two year anniversary) and I feel like we're settling in to our new home. They moved us out of our Verandah Suites and into our staff cabins on April 19. They're much bigger and nicer than I was expecting but the bathrooms are tiny! Thankfully, Jeremy and I have our own rooms right next door to each other so we have our own bathrooms and storage spaces. We also have flat screen tv's, refrigerators, "queen" beds and daily housekeeping so I really can't complain.  I almost wish we hadn't experienced a suite though, because now we know what we're missing :)

After we moved the morning of April 19th, Kurt, Justin and I took a shuttle from our ship into Sihanoukville, Cambodia.  Since Jeremy had rehearsal, he couldn't come... 

Based on our first sights and smells of Sihanoukville, I was not expecting to enjoy the day. Cambodia, or at least the part we experienced, is the most poverty stricken country I've personally seen. "Downtown" is a fly infested and sewage smelling marketplace with rotten food and pikes of garbage on every corner.  The infrastructure within the city was basically shacks with straw roofs and a few poorly designed concrete buildings. 

As soon as we got off the bus, we were followed by about 10 Tuk Tuk drivers (open air taxi carts).  Only about 3 cruise ships port here every month so the drivers have 3 chances a month to make a living wage. One of them, Lux, stayed with us for about 15 minutes and we rewarded his patience. We hopped in the Tuk Tuk pulled by a motorcycle and enjoyed an amazing private tour of Cambodia! Lux first took us to the largest Sihanoukville temple, Wat Khrom.  We were again swarmed with trinket-selling children and I was suckered into buying 3 bracelets. One of the children, Roger, spoke incredible English and was quite a salesman. I'd cast him as the Artful Dodger in "Oliver" any day!  He charmed us, asked our names and started pulling out his phrases, "open your heart and open your wallet" and "you can lie to me but you can't lie to yourself!". Haha! How could we resist?  I'm sure we overpaid him and the others for their bracelets but I don't mind one bit!

After seeing the temple, Lux took us on a beach tour. There are a few nice resorts along the beach but most of it is very remote.  At one of the beaches, we got off our Tuk Tuk to swim in the ocean.  Again, like Thailand, I am not exaggerating when I say the ocean felt like warm bathwater. It was so warm that it wasn't even refreshing. We were sweltering hot and melting in the humidity and the warm ocean gave little relief.  

Lux's next stop for us was "Lapona," his friends Cambodian restaurant. I have to admit that after seeing the rotting food and garbage throughout the town, I wasn't too anxious to eat. However, we knew it was part of the adventure so we ate and hoped for the best... I'm so glad we did because the food was delicious and I feel great! I had coconut chicken curry and vegetable spring rolls with an ice cold Cambodian beer.  What a wonderful day in Cambodia!