Back to Terra Firma ( Koh Rong - Sihanoukville)

5:30 am. Koh Rong
Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result is one of the classical definitions of INSANITY. 

BUT .... LOL
Whatever it was that the laptop did while its screen was black, the battery is completely drained now.  

Maybe I'm insane, but I plug it in and 2 minutes later push the ON-button.   
The FUCKER turns on as if NOTHING ever happened.

I don't really trust the darned machine, but it looks like I might be able to save the money for a new one for a while.

I wasn't going to spend $10 for the no longer fabulous French breakfast again, but NOW I am wary that a certain laptop will crash again soon, so I want GOOD WiFi to backup at least the essential files.

WHY do the ONLY decent shorts available in Sihanoukville bear a MOOSE?

Julian wants to accompany me for my wait for the boat at the next pier.   
?? Huh ??
I don't like long good-byes and I tell him so. But I can't argue with his motive:
He get's to have his first beer of the day out of sight of his wife's watchful & critical eyes ;-)

Waves are too high today, so all THREE of us boat passengers are re-directed to the larger more sturdy pier at the other end of the village.

Are those SWELLS yet?

The sky does NOT look happy !

so far, so good 

While we wait one whole hour for the connecting Big Boat, the subject of garbage on the beaches comes up AGAIN, and another tourist (this one from New Zealand) tries his turn at ecological racism "We have to teach THEM. THEY must LEARN".
LOL.  China no longer accepts plastic waste from North America & Europe.  WHAT do you think will happen to YOUR 'recycled' plastic waste from now on?  Canada & Germany are already BURNING their plastic waste, and these people still have the nerve to come here and play neo-colonialists.

But what do you expect from someone who books firm seats on a bus to Phnom Penh on a bus that is scheduled to leave at a time that gives the tourist 25 minutes to get from the ferry's SCHEDULED arrival time at the ferry pier to the bus depot?  Hint: His bus will leave when the ferry is still FAR from land ;-)

I'm too anxious to complete the traveling part of the day to worry about the condition of the passengers debarking the ferry.   Probably a good thing though ;-)

The beginning of the journey features a sound-track like a Roller-coaster thrill ride. Whenever the boat crashes over the top of a particularly high swell into the wet abyss beyond, a chorus of mostly female voices screams to high heaven.

This is quickly replaced by SILENCE, as more and more people wobble towards the back (where the loo is) with unhappy faces.  
More and more people with sweat on their necks and brows in the FREEZING air-conditioned interior. 
Then starts the phase of audible gurgling in the boat.  The family in the row in front of my presses black plastic bags to their mouths.  
Then the SMELL of SICK.  

I have a window seat but the window is SO FLOODED with spray that it is impossible to keep the horizon in sight.    There is only a USED black plastic bag (Ugh !) visible on the seat-back in front of me.  I also have to PEE.  But I know that the second I close the loo door, I would lose sight of the horizon, and 2 seconds later I would join the rest of the barfers.     
At some point I actually consider getting the large plastic bag out of my backpack that I use for dirty laundry.

Fortunately, we pass to the lee-ward side of a smaller island so my stomach can calm down.  But every island has an end.  Oh NO, here we go again.

We've landed at a pier in a completely different part of town (more wind protected?).  There are shuttle buses and Westerners shouting "Let's the FUCK GO". Would they shout like this if the bus driver was NOT of short slender statue and brown skin??? 

Is it any wonder I tend to prefer the areas where the fewest tourists are found?

My room is not ready yet when the shuttle bus drops me off at the original pier.
But then it's easy to kill 3.5 hours at my favourite restaurant...  the wine Helps !

After all those days in my QUIET hut on Koh Rong, using my laptop and the WiFi to play music in my room is simply divine !

Buying a bottle of wine & a carton of cigarettes (smokes are cheaper here in Cambodia than in Vietnam) and finally eating solid food at LaLuna is all I can muster for the rest of the day.  I'm asleep by 20:30