A Rainy Day at the Beach

Well, after a long bus ride we finally made it to the hotel. We had a late dinner at the hotel restaurant, a Mexican place that was really yummy. We actually ate almost every meal there for the trip! The next morning we played in the pool and hung out at the hotel while Stephen went to meet with a witness and attorneys. When he returned, we headed to the beach to try to catch the sunset. We were quite surprised by its beauty! But we had missed the sunset because it happens at like 6pm here, AND I didn’t have a memory card in my camera so we missed the photos. But we sat at a little table just a few meters (yes, my mind has switched to the metric system) from the waves lapping up on the beach. It was absolutely beautiful. We decided to head straight to the beach the next morning.

We had seen a shortcut that supposedly connected the nice beach we were at with the nicer beach just north of it. So, we took it. We ended up calling it a “jungle hike” for the kids because it pretty much was. Just when we got far enough down the nice padded footpath to think we were almost there, we hit a crossroads – take the rocks on the water, or take an unknown little trail up the mountain (ok, really big hill, but whatever) to see where it led. Easy. Two kids move easier on grass than rocks, even if it is moving UP. So we went up. It stopped at a great lookout where we could see really far. Gorgeous. No camera. And don’t be mad at me because I’m mad enough at myself.

Well, while we were standing on the rocks we started noticing bugs – spiders, roaches, ants… and the kids started screaming. I guess the “boys love bugs” stereotype doesn’t apply to my kids. We kept going, down this time, through grass as tall as me. Creepy! Did I mention they have cobras and vipers here in Cambodia? That’s all I was thinking of on our jungle hike. Anyway, long story short, about 40 minutes after starting the “shortcut” we ended up at the beach. And yes, it was beautiful.

We played just a few minutes in the water before it started to rain. It wasn’t like a huge, heavy, monsoon rain, but the clouds were dark enough that we decided being in the water wasn’t a good idea. The rain continued all day long. All. Day. Long.

So what were we to do? Well, we got creative! We found a tuk tuk driver who took us to see wild monkeys! They were hanging around a chain fence outside another hotel and we bought some peanuts and fed them. Here are some photos:

It was really great! I’ve never done anything like that before. Sure, it was wet and windy, but the monkeys didn’t care. They were happy to see us – and our peanuts! Some of them were mean. One even pushed our little boy! But mostly they were just funny and fun to watch. It was awesome.

Then we headed to a place called “Snake House.” It’s this Russian owned (or themed at least) restaurant and bar that has a giant terrarium all around it with all sorts of things herpetologists love – lizards, snakes, turtles, even crocodiles! The craziest thing about the place is that there are venomous snakes in the tables. WHERE PEOPLE EAT! AAAHHH! I mean, they are under glass but that wasn’t enough to convince me to eat there. It wasn’t a meal time anyway. We did have fun seeing all the sights, though. Here are some photos from that:

Oh, and here’s a tuk tuk by the way… for those that keep asking what it is:

And we ended the day watching a movie in our hotel room. The next morning it was still raining, but I got some photos of the beach.

You can see them next time…