On Boxing day we hoped on a bus and headed to the southern coast beach town called Sihankville.
Told it was a 2 hour bus trip which actually turned out to be 5 1/2, you quickly work out how the public transport system works here! Seated next to some very loud Cambodian ladies who chated the whole way and seated in Cambodian sized seats in a bus that felt like it had no suspension, made for an uncomfortable ride but a bearable one!
Pulling into the bus station on arrival you are met with moto drivers running next to the bus and they hound you as soon as the doors open wanting you to get a ride with them. With a group of man circling around us Summer actually had to yell "just give us a minute and some space to get our bag!" We choose the most polite driver and his friend to take us. We didn't actually have any accommodation for the first night so with the help of our drivers and a couple stops at guesthouses we found a room in a place called GST guesthouse. The guesthouse was clean enough but we cant say the same for most of the other guests! As well as a beach and party destination it is also an area frequented by sex tourists and it was pretty evident that that alot of the other guests where there for the latter reason! We survived for the night but were glad to move on to our beach bungalow the following day.
While at the guesthouse i choose to get my first massage while away for $5 for an hour and turned out to be an interesting experience and rather funny! I was looked after by a little Cambodia lady who's only english was "ok Madam". She got me to change into what looked like doctors scrubs but when i stepped out i was met with an asian Ohhhhhhhh as she pulled at the tightness of my outfit. She then handed me a very small looking apron that was rather embarrassing as my boobs basically flowed out from the sides and barely covered the never-regions! I lay down and she began to use her elbows and heels in places Ive never been touched with these body parts and it was actually quite painful especially when her elbows where digging into my inner thighs! When i would cry out Cheww ( Khmer for pain) she would smile and raise her finger to her lips to tell me to be quite! Towards the end a man and lady entered for a massage and i embarrassingly tried to cover myself as best i could! I walked in there aching a bit but definitely left in a lot more pain! It did make for a great story to tell Summer when i returned to the room!
While i was away Summer had got talking to a waiter who asked if we were doctors. He explained he had a very sick daughter who was always crying, had a swollen belly, fevers, constant diarrhea etc We became quite concerned and asked about their living conditions and what they ate etc They were quite a poor family who lived on 50 cents a day for food and the waiter worked 14 hours a day, 7 days a week (probably for about $50 a month). He was extremely tired and run down looking and didn't get much sleep when he was home due to the baby. We didn't know what to do and thought that this baby was on the brink of death so we decided to visit his home to see her the next day. We suspected malnutrition but were relived to find the baby in better condition than we imagined. We decided to buy a supply of baby formula and baby food as well as some new bottles and we also made a trip to the pharmacy where we bought some medicine to stop the diarrhea and also some medicine for fevers etc. We felt this was as best we could do to try help this little girl get a decent start at life and we really hope she is doing ok. The health care system here is basically non existent and even if you do manage to find a decent doctor it costs a lot more money than most people here could ever afford!
Its disgusting to see government officials driving around in Lexus's and living in there big flash houses while probably in the millions, people live with little more than the clothes on there back! But we will save that rant for another post!
Sorry there's been a big delay will try catch up with the missing blogs for the past couple weeks over the next couple days!!
Hope you all had a great break and a happy new year to you all!!
Love from us both
