Lunch is a lovely affair. We arrive at the parking lot and are whisked away in a golf cart to the restaurants (that’s Howard on the left, Il Son on the right).
We arrive at the outdoor seating area to find the large tour group is already there occupying a bunch of the tables. We’re shown to our own 2-top by the pool and settle in for a 4 course meal starting with a crab and cucumber salad (crab excellent, cucumbers not so much for our stomachs), Fish Amok (the standard Cambodian fare), excellently prepared, steamed in banana leaf, Meat and vegetable soup of some sort (Ed liked it, being the soup boy that he is, I”m already full, so I only take a few bites), and tapioca-like pudding made of mung beans and rice (one bite dish, not a favorite).
It’s all great, if not a little hurky jerky on the service. We’re sort of around the corner and out of the way, so it takes a bit for them to remember we are there. We don’t care, the beer is cold and the food is good, and we are happy to sit in the shade and the breeze and enjoy the ambience.
After lunch we head to the market, passing the Golden Lion statue at the roundabout, where we decline an offer to stop for photos, from the car is fine, thanks.
Our market stop is brief, because, well, we don’t need anything and we’ll be in Chiang Mai for a couple of weeks where we will shop if we want clothes, etc. We meander a bit, but we’re back in the car fairly quickly and heading to the Lower Pagoda with the reclining Buddha. This Pagoda is lovely –as they all are – but the statues are the show stoppers. As we walk around, Il Son relates all the legends and stories about the Buddha and the statues surrounding him. Something about asking for forgiveness and death and spirits…..well, you get the idea.
The Naga carvings and cherubs on the Pagoda are pretty impressive too. Even Sunny enjoys the Naga.
All done touring, the boys take us back to the port with plenty of time to spare. It was a great day, and a great tour with these guys. Even though we think they may have been sort of new to this tour guide and driver gig, they were so sweet and nice and accommodating. They made the day incredibly pleasant, and provided way more information than we could ever hope to remember. We’ve got joint tours coming up the last 2 ports, so we’re really happy we were on our own today in Sihanoukville.
Back aboard, we relax, cool off, get our Happy Hour beer and wine, then retreat to the balcony to sail away. It is a pretty unspectacular sail away – not the most picturesque of ports, nestled in between tanker cranes and the breakwater that has all the fish farm huts built upon it. But the best part was when we started passing all the fishing boats going out to sea in the afternoon.
What a sight! It’s the little things like that – watching boats that we had seen in the morning hours unloading their catch, then heading back out for an overnight or 2 to bring back more fish haul – that makes traveling magical and wonderful for us. It’s not being cocooned on the ship, but actually seeing and understanding local life and cultures that makes the trip so much more worthwhile and meaningful.
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