Day 83, 84, 85, 86, - Thursday 22 to Tuesday 27

Rain and thunder and beautiful fresh wind Thursday morning.

Black and white swallowtail butterflies are feeding on the dandelions. (What appear to be dandelions, they are probably closer to 'tagetes' - mairgolds. It cleared up a little in late morning but no diving yet.

Swallows on the beach eating low flying insects. Finally had an eyeball to eyeball with the Great Indian Hornbill, just along from BJ's. in Britain the local black and white pair would be a magpie.  The Hornbill is scrawnier in the wild than I hd imagined but has an impressive beak to say the least. He had a long look at me.  I need to ID the trees along the beach. I Can't go on thinking of them all as 'some type of acacia'. 

Found a large giant clam shell of my own. They are used in every bungalow as ashtrays here but this was my first find. 

Said goodbye from the pier to Laure and Kevin. It's very quiet here and I've decided a beach life is not conducive to artful blogging, too much stream-of-consciousness and not enough events, voila:

When I went for my swim a gorgeous runner came along the beach from the Ecosea direction. Backlit by the sun etc, looked like Andy Murray. Very 'Bourne', again. Or Castaway, except I've not seen Castaway, any version!

Friday: Sunnier today. I swam early and walked the beach in the afternoon. No sign of my runner or the hornbill but there were interesting dinosaur tracks in the sand to follow. Waterus Buffalous perhaps?

I also got the most wonderful video of a hermit crab (the very one pictured above) using a small branch to cross a stream on the beach. And Furthermore... video of TWO of them doing this! Further study required?!

Had a nice evening after everyone had cleared out with those remaining: me, Steph, Liz and Uly, Bok and Ali, Emma, Mark and not shown Eveline (who took this pic).

Uly and Liz are possibly the coolest couple I have ever met. They are both Divemasters who I think met in Thailand. They do nothing but read, dive and eat. Uly, for Ulysses, is a 6ft2in Swede with a blond Mohican, a lovely accent and a fantastic dry sense of humour. Liz is an ex-political lobbyist from Washington DC, where she says, there is nothing to do except be incredibly nasty to other nasty people all the time. She now comes from San Francisco, knows Monterey Bay and loves Jane Austen. I have been able to talk to her about the seahorse exhibit at Monterey Aquarium,  San Diego, my leopard shark, GM foods (plumot and grapples are freely available in US supermarkets) and toaster ovens (she 'cooks' pizza in hers). (A plumot is a plum crossed with an apricot and a grapple is a grape crossed with an apple). Obama, apparently, wants GMods to be labelled as such. 

I had pink le-purr on my lap most of the evening while I watched Alberto (the Dive Instructor standing in for Kim, Spanish, gorgeous and completely weird, brother of Alex, likewise), play "Endless Space" on the laptop, similar to Eve Online. 

In a surreal twist, the conversation turned to Monty Python and just as we did all those years ago in Cyprus, a plethora of quotes ensued, leaving us all in stitches.

Saturday: Rain.  My bed and clothes are starting to feel really dirty now.  Seeing a number of Leopard Lacewings at the moment.

Just after dawn.

Raining in Sihanoukville.

Soon to rain here.

Sunday: Sounds of the early morning: the constant sound of the sea in my bunk bed. The cockerel. The birds (not many). The dogs barking at every movement near their territory. The breeze. I had breakfast at BJ's with the ants and Pride and Prejudice. Then I went for my swim on my secluded tropical beach. Saw the hornbill again. He flies in a rhythm of several fast flaps and then a short glide. And there were also more buffalo tracks but no buffalo unfortunately. 

Spotted George in the shower the other evening, with his nose just over the edge of the rain barrel, in 'George woz ere' pose. It was very funny. He looked almost embarrassed. I said goodbye to him this eve. Tonight will be my last night on the island as there is a boat tomorrow after all. 

Made great progress on the tapestry after having wonderful fun chucking most of the stuff I brought with me away. What a relief!

I've discovered the strongest type of Tiger Balm is by far the best, especially for insect bite relief! Had a great final evening playing cards with Liz, Uli, Alberto, Nina and Catherine. 

Monday: blazing clear day, had a wonderful final swim and then finished Pride and Prejudice in the hammock. Saw an ant highway tunnel built across the path and several small grey and yellow finch or wagtail type birds in the trees. They had white flashes on their heads. Also spotted the hornbill again. In the clear water of the bay saw the same little fish I had seen on my first entry to the water here four weeks ago. They are about 5cm long, transparent with yellow and black circular pattern swirling from the dorsal fin downwards. I think they are similar to the crescent wrasse only much smaller. I also saw a school of fish in close formation suddenly scatter, star like, in the shallows.

Just after dawn again. Best time. "On Earth's part, every day starts beautifully".

The small dive boat broke down and had to be rescued by the middle boat so that delayed departure a little but eventually got on the boat. Alberto was travelling too and was taking his two kittens home to his apartment. They were lovely tabbies, totally terrified but well on their way to becoming seasoned travellers I suspect! They were a nice distraction. 

Exhausted, made it to a gin and tonic and burger celebration at The Big Easy. Project three survived and complete!

Bus to Phnom Penh at 12 noon Tuesday.

Tuesday:

Travelled to Phnom Penh on a slow but comfortable pink Sorya bus. Serious road accident along the way (when is there ever not, however this the biggest I've seen), in which a large lorry had run off the road, through a ditch and into the front of someone's house. I sincerely hope no children or animals were hurt as that is where they are usually located during the day. One of the ubiquitous gold Lexus was completely upside down further back down the road. Amazingly, there were actually police doing some measuring and picking up. Large silent crowd. Quite a sad scene.

Arriving in Phnom Penh was a strange mixture of numb exhaustion and curious excitement to be back. It was nice to be met by the Projects Abroad tuk-tuk driver and nice to pull up in front of "home". I'm in Apt. 1 ground floor, have my own a/c room (which I think was designed as a shop front originally) and it is very quiet here with few volunteers and only two of the apartments open! It is pouring rain and I have a great thirst and a surprising craving for TV! One of the volunteers had made tiramisu so I was able to have a bit of that. Not very good, but quite a treat nevertheless!

This concludes my wanderings in IndoChina. For the further adventures please go to:

http://visitingsmaug.blogspot.com/