Goodbye Sihanoukville

I am about to book my bus to Siem Reap for tomorrow. I have been here for a week or so now. Nothing actually happens here which is why I havn't updated my blog. It is a great place first thing in the morning [which is technically early afternoon] because there are great places for English breakfast and it is nice to sit with delicious Vietnamesse coffe with sweet milk and read a bit of my book while listening to the Hostels chilled out music. I have been staying at Utopia which has a free dorm, free pool, free water and if you go flyering on the beach, free beer. I have still managed to spend about $15-$20 a day because food is quite expensive and I have been buying a book every other day.

After the breakfast reading session it gets a little boring for a few hours because it is rainy season so the beach isn't really an option. It is usually during this time that I look forward to leaving but then in the evening/morning wish I could stay longer. I have stayed here the longest of all places though and I do want to have a good few days in Siem Reap before I fly to HK on the 12th.

While I have been here in Sihanoukville [which I can now finally spell after all this time] I have read 2 books. Wow, I thought it was more, maybe I am forgetting one. Black Hawk Down, which was awesome; The Game, which was stupid but I still read in one sitting, and I am now reading The Killing Zone, which is a first person acount of infantry combat in the Vietnam war by a US soldier.

I have drunk alot of beer and slept in alot. Perfect.

I am looking forward to Siem Reap now, I met someone who arrived yesterday from Siem Reap who said it was a really cool town even for days you are not seeing Angkor Wat. I still dont know if I will do the 1 day or 3 days for Angkor Wat. Everyone my age has said 1 day is more than enough but older people seem to suggest 3 days and 1 nutter said I would definatly want a week. I will probably just do one day to be honest, a Wat is a Wat and a big Wat is still a Wat, which is a Wat. Most likly 1 day will be fine for me.

While I have been here I have also been trying to book flights. WHAT a pain. The translation on the airasia sight means that I had no idea which number goes in which box. I just did trial and error which seemed to work out OK after a few trys. I will be in HK for a week which I am really looking forward to now. I fly from Bangkok on the 12th and leave on the 19th. Then a few short days in Bangkok before flying out at 01:20 on the 21st. Hopefully.

Trying to rebook the date for my flight home has been a nightmare and is still not sorted. When I booked my flights with STA I was told it would cost 35GBP to change the date. Now it is crunch time they are charging me 110GBP to change it and ignoring my messages telling them I was quoted 35. I guess I dont really have a choice, it is just irritating for them to screw me over so badly. I tried to use my STA travelcard to pay for it but they wont acept thier own card so I will have to get mum to do it from home.

I did buy Skype credit [a bit pointless now that I think about it, just 2 weeks before I go home] so I can call home for very small amount of money. I tested it out at my dads office yesterday which was cool, I didn't get through to him though so just had a quick chat with his secretary. I will call mum after updating this to give it another go, it is quite exciting!

I was quite looking forward to going home but now my flights are booked and it is a reality 2 weeks seems like a very short amount of time left...