Call it Serendipity

I finished at the farm on friday! My final week was fun, the last day was the best (except for it being the last day)! In the morning we scrubbed the floor of the "al fresco" dining area - not so fun when we first started but great once we'd turned the whole place into a soapy skating rink! Then in the afternoon we played with the new toys we'd bought for the kids. The lego went down really well, as did the foam balls that you soak in water and chuck at people! It was really sad to leave, I'm going to miss my class a lot. I was given a lot of cards and pictures by the girls I taught - the girl I teach in the morning gave me a card that said 'you come back again pless you by me candy' I'm not sure if she was thanking me for buying her sweets or demanding more for next time!

My Wednesday afternoon class

On saturday we caught the bus down to Sihanokville in the southwest, which is Cambodia's main beach town. It was great, we found a nice hotel right next to the most popular beach called Serendipity beach. There are bars and restaurants all along the beach that set out sun loungers by day and tables and comfy chairs by night. Most of them have barbeques, so for each of the three evenings we spent there we ate absolutely delicious barbequed prawns and barracuda. The food and drink were cheap, there was a really relaxed atmosphere, and it was all stunningly beautiful! For one of the days we went east from Serendipity to Otres beach which was a quieter and more scenic strip. The weather was perfect but I got a bit sunburnt - not too badly though. Two of the girls I was with had hired a moped each so on a deserted dirt track road I had a go! They are pretty simple to drive...maybe thinking of going up a few cc's when I get home... That evening I went around town on the back of one, it was brilliant to have the wind in my face! We did lots and lots of sunbathing but the best bit was swimming and scrambling over the rocks to the west of Serendipity - I'm not sure what kind of rock they were but they were lined with something that looked really metallic - it looked like a Mars landscape or something!

BBQ on the beach. Bliss.

I've just got back to Phnom Penh - should have been going to Singapore tomorrow but have decided to move my flight to saturday to give me more time in the cheaper country!! I'm looking forward to moving on to Indonesia on monday. I'm joining an organised tour so no more worrying about booking buses and hostels! But I've really loved Cambodia, especially Siem Reap and Sihanokville. Phnom Penh itself isn't all that great - it's very dirty, pretty ugly and smelly, and if it hadn't been for the orphanage I would have happily spent my time somewhere else. But working at the farm and being with the kids made it all worth while! I think my favorite moments were when my afternoon class got so involved in and excited about the up/down/left/right game - and were able to remember it all the next day!

One of the most heart wrenching moments of my trip - not only did he figure out how to take my camera out of my bag, out of its case, turn it on and take photos - after a few days he also started putting the strap round my wrist before he started playing!

Call it Serendipity

Sihanokville, Cambodia