Greetings from Cambodia!

When Amie and I were looking for a name for our blog, we could not come up with anything that inspired us so we settled for “From Bangkok to Bali.” A few days later, however, the name “In Search of Sunshine” came to me and I feel that this name describes the blog much better.

Desperate to escape the heat and haze of Bangkok, we moved to the islands in search of sunshine and - believe it or not - after 3 days we still hadn’t found it. We never did that snorkeling tour Amie talked about in her last entry because the sun was not strong enough to penetrate the water and visibility was minimal. I did take a trip to visit a waterfall that was just OK (no Multnomah Falls) but I got to swim in it after the long hike in, which was very refreshing. So was the pub crawl I did on the way back to the bungalows. Don’t get me wrong, it was hot and humid on the island – we just didn’t have any sunshine.

So after 3 days of waiting for sun, we decided to head on to Cambodia. We traveled with a Canadian brother and sister and were able to negotiate a cheap ride to the border. The border was typically bewildering with touts surrounding us wanting to carry our bags and “help” us – for a fee, of course. We were charged 1100 Baht for the visa (about $28) when it should be only $20, but we knew beforehand that everyone is charged that amount at this border so we paid with a smile. We arranged for a taxi to take us to Koh Kong, where we had to wait for a next day ferry to Sihanoukville. But once we got to Koh Kong, the driver tried to double the arranged price because we wouldn’t check out “his” hotel. I placed the original agreed upon amount in his car and just walked away; he was not happy.

The best thing I can say about Koh Kong is that the mosquitoes aren’t the biggest I’ve ever seen. I walked around the town, which has only one paved road and there is not much to see. But the people seem friendly, and I think I was greeted by every child on his way home from school – about 300 altogether, each riding a bike and coming at me like a swarm of locusts, shouting “hello!” The next morning, we got on a flat bottomed boat made for river travel and headed for the open sea. After a 4 hour bumpy ride we stepped off the boat to be greeted by . . . sunshine!

Tips for travelers to this region:

1. The Cambodian border at Cham Yeam is open until 8 pm not 5 pm as mentioned in guidebooks.

2. Make sure you have Thai Baht to pay for your visa since otherwise you’ll have to change money into Baht (yes, in Cambodia) at a horrible rate.

3. In Sihanoukville, you can get the Vietnamese visa in 5 minutes if the official isn’t busy and it costs $30. Double check the entry date once you get it as we had to send ours back for a correction.

Yes, we now have included Vietnam in our plans.

p.s. Russ (from Ko Chang), hope you’re feeling better - I'm sure it wasn't the beer ;) And thanks to Sven and Janette for all your advice and making a long bus ride “comfortable.”