Phil dropped us off to catch our bus this morning :-) MUCH appreciated as it had been raining since yesterday pretty non-stop!
We grabbed a few snacks then hopped on with many Khmer families + babies, plus one other white guy. Took a while to get moving then we stopped after a couple of minutes to sit outside Dragon Air for no percievable reason...for a fairly long while! Then our driver took the 'back way' out of PP which involved much mud (raining again), some weaving and fairly slow driving.
Eventually back on the open road...with a stop for lunch - we had something resmebling a pork bun (without the pork) which was yum. The rain and wind was powering by then! On the road again until we hit Sihanoukville Bus Station around 4pm.
The Sussex whanau had warned us of the exorbitant tuk tuk prices to get to town from the bus...so we walked :-) The rain had stopped by now to - whew! Once we reached Sihanoukville town there were signs for us to follow. We had decided to stay in Otres as after net and map research looked like it would have less 'hordes', was a little out of central town but walk-able (so we thought).
Off we went...following signs and asking directions to confirm along the way. People laughed at us then told us the way. We are used to people laughing as almost no one walks in SE Asia so they all think we are weird.
This time there was more reason for their laughter...as we were to find out...
We got through Sihanoukville town, Ochheuteal Beach, then as dusk was upon us and after 2 hours or so of walking the road became a 'country road' with rough chip seal, no civilisation visible, swamp and frogs all around... By this point we had lost track of how many tuk tuk drivers we turned down and Bray had his 'stubborn face' on - we WOULD walk the whole way, no matter what.
Carrying on into the distance we found the road ended and a muddy track began...checked with man at a food shack close by and yes, apparently that was our direction! Headlamp on by now as we trudged through the mud, past deserted and ancient building sites, avoiding their 8 or so barking dogs intent on nibbling us...
A moto rider came past and asked if we were okay...we told him where we were headed and he gave us the following direction, "Go straight and then right, at the beach follow the road, cross a bridge, up then down a hill, continue on after that...about 4k?"
Following these directions we found ourselves atop a hill next to a resort. Their guards told us it was a 'long way' but directed us nonetheless! Bottom of the hill we hit the beach - yay! Past any number of food shacks then through them to find the road. Actually a muddy track in which we went up to our ankles more than once...finally almost despairing... We saw the sign!! Our guesthouse.
Staggered in and were shown to a bungalow. In our walked-out state we were incredibly grateful. After a minute or so we discovered the uber damp state of the bedding, filthiness in general and HUGE spider next to the bed. Too tired to find anywhere else in the 'wops' Roni killed the spider and we went to find kai.
One redeeming factor - hot chips with our dinner were delicious and a definite 'wasterner' size...
