The next day I took a bus to Sihanoukville. It's a beach town in the South, about 4 - 5 hours from Phnom Penh. I took the Capitol Tour bus, for $4.25, which was a good price. It was also very convenient, just around the corner form my Capitol Guest House. I would recommend both - for price and convenience. I stayed at the Capitol for $3 a night. I had a private room with a fan. Bathroom shared, but then again, how much time do you spend in a bathroom? If I was traveling with a girlfriend, bathroom would be nice, but for a solo traveler on a budget it is absolutely not necessary.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → It's 8:51 in the morning and I have been already traveling for two hours. The sun is waking up and the landscape is nice. I've been trying to do my best with my D300 without autofocus. 'Thank you' Nikon for stealing many good photos from me!

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → The landscape on the way to Sihanoukville.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → Further into Cambodia on the way to Sihanoukville.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → Arrived at 11:45. This is the main road in Sihanoukville, to the right from the Capitol Tour office where the bus stops.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → And here to the left. The area with guest houses and the beach is in this direction. I was going to just walk there, to save a dollar, but the wheel on my Canadian made Roots bag fell off. It's been actually pretty good since it lasted 6 months. The previous, Catterpillar, wheels lasted only one week. Congratulations Roots! Your producks fall apart after 6 months. And that's besides the absolutely idiotic placement of the top handle. Since it's not attached to anything solid, porters loading buses ripped a hole in the bag already months ago. Finally I cut it off so it wouldn't get any worse. I suppose it's good - makes me exercise carrying the bag in my head. Next time I will go for a backpack again, or buy a local 20 dollars suitcase, which the locals seem to use and abuse and it never falls apart.

So I took a tuk tuk and went to Utopia - according to the Lonely Planet guide the cheapest place in Sihanoukville. Indeed, they had a very cheap dorm, for $2. Not good though... It's a constant party place, and I had to change beds three times - always bitten by bed bugs. The last two nights I slept on a bench outside. The place is very popular with backpackers though. The bar is right there and if you want to drink or smoke dope till early morning - that's where you want to be. I don't smoke and didn't drink there, and stayed there only because of the bed price. Plus, I am not really interested in talking to white rastaman and the hoards of players. And anyway, what's with all this 'rasta' type hair on white people recently? It's hot and it's humid. It's tropics! I bet these are the people who bring the bed bugs in their dreadlocks. I never liked it and never will. (both the bugs and dreadlocks)

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → The expat/tourist life in Sihanoukville revolves along the beach in the countless small bars and restaurants there. It is nice, but it's also a trap with their omnipresent 50 cent Angkor draft beer specials. The beer is bigger than a glass, and while it seems almost free at this price, it adds up. Beach places like Sihanoukville are 'dangerous'. I don't mean that you have to fear for your life, but definitely you should fear for the content of your wallet. It's like having a very small hole in an air mattress. You don't see it or even hear it, but surely enough, in the morning the mattress is flat and you wake up on the hard floor. But an escape from reality is needed sometimes, especially on very long travels. The bars are on the left, but you can take your Angkor and sit right on the beach.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → The beach and the basking people. There are not many people swimming, but there are many laying around and drinking.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → Here they are, up close. The fat dominates the scene, and I have been surprised to see actually more white old man with young local women here than in Thailand. Just incredible. I think the average white man in Cambodia is 60+ and the women 25-35. I guess it's good for both, and I have nothing against it. One of these days I might be there too ;) Good for them.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → The mantis shrimp lady.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → The mantis shrimp is really cheap in comparison to other parts of the world, and the shrimp lady is always ready to jump into action and clean a few for you anytime.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → This is the full package. 10 huge mantis shrimp for $5 and one Angkor beer for $0.50. Actually, I think she gave me a bonus couple extra.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → The last shot of them, just because I felt like it was my discovery of the century. They call them 'lobster' here, but of course they are not lobsters but a mantis shrimp. Mantis shrimp, by the way, is a fierce preditor in the wild. With their front arms they can 'punch' an opponent or potential food with incredible speeds of over 100 miles an hour.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → The sun is going down, but people will still hang around. Other places will open soon and the parties will start. The routine is always the same in any beach town.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → The beach.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → Soon the day crowd will be gone, and people will move to the night venues.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → Tourists taking photos of the sunset. The 'sunset' or 'sunrise' theme is always present in tourist industry. Go to a temple for a sunset, go to a mountain for a sunset, see it from a mountain, see it from the beach. The locals know how to sell their business.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → And here it is, at 17:47. It's still early, but it becomes dark quite soon.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → Now people are ready to move.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → Finally, for me, all is gone and quiet.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → It's time for me to leave this town. Everyone who has been here will certainly remember the gracious lion couple (in the middle) which resides at the center of the main road intersection.

Photo:  Sihanoukville, Cambodia → Here they are, a bit closer. I could have taken a better portrait of them, but at times I am just feeling like throwing my Nikon D300 in a garbage or right in the ocean. I have to control myself. Good bye Sihanoukville, a place which I must say I am leaving with mixed memories.

Back to Phnom Penh. I should have taken the Capitol bus but I followed the advise of a local woman who wrote a note for a tuk-tuk driver to take me to a bus station. She was taking a bus to Phnom Penh for $3, so I went there. Early in the morning, I had no power to fight the ticket lady who told me this is a special bus and cost $5. Later, sitting on the bus, I asked locals how much they paid, and they paid $4. This is very common, unfortunately, in Cambodia. Nice people, but deceptive. They will try to charge a tourist more than a local. Once, a woman asked me a $1 for noodles that cost $0.25! That's a bit too much. I suppose tourists who come here on a short vacation don't care, throwing money left and right because five or ten dollars on their amateurish sightseeing trips makes no difference. But they are screwing up lives of people like me, on a budget, trying to make our lives while traveling. I see them nothing more than spoiled, and I don't blame the locals for trying to take advantage of them. Too bad, these selfish people (the tourists) don't see more than their own self gratification and indulgence. They forget that there are also homeless and struggling in their own country. But of course, it is easier to throw some dollars around in a poor country than take care of your fellow citizen, or friends, in your own.