this morning I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so I drove around the beaches and into town where I found a phrasebook. Finally I found one and it isn't even a very good one: it's one from 1991 and it has no phonetics but  some kind of English way of pronouncing it which mostly is wrong. I already changed a lot of the pronounciation and now I can say a few sentences in Khmer. Geared up with the book I went to a local non touristy restaurant and it took me only 5 minutes to order a noodle soup with everything on it. I had to specify the type of noodles, the meat, whether or not I wanted soyabeans,... It tasted great so with a happy tummy I went back to the guesthouse. It was only 8 am and everything around here was still closed so I couldn't leave for my trip yet. 

Luckily there is internet and I studied some photoshop basics and tried them out. By 9.30 the bicycle shop finally opened and I returned the bad bicycle, went a bit further to another rental and got a good one. I also got a map of the neighbourhood with it so I was set for a trip to the waterfall. The guy at the rental gave me bad instructions which cost me a detour of 5 km through the hills but with a brilliant view on the port. Half an hour later I was so sweaty that I stopped for a fresh coconut and started a conversation with the locals (now that I have a phrasebook I better use it), they declared me crazy that I was going to the waterfall by bicycle: that is at least 15 km further he said. He even offered to take me there for just 2 dollar but I was determined to stick with the bicycle. After about an hour cruising through the oh so beautiful countryside and protected forest I arrived at the waterfall. It was huge which should be visible on the pictures...

I found a nice shelter with a hammock and view on the waterfall where I relaxed for an hour. When I got up I felt like reborn and jumped around some rocks to get better views on the waterfalls (there are more than one). For anyone who is going to Sihanoukville and can appreciate a nice waterfall you definately have to go there! The entrance fee is just 1 dollar and you should be able to arrange a motorbike with driver for about 7 or 8 dollar. On the way back I stopped for lunch in a local restaurant where I got treated like a king: I asked for some local dish with round rice noodles. The size of the plate was definately ok and then I got a big bowl of soup, some tea and a beer with it. Another interesting conversation with in the end the entire neighbourhood (at least 30 people came to look how I was enjoying my meal and trying to talk to them).

The ride back went a lot faster since I took the shortest route now, It was only 4 o: clock so I did some research about what to do tomorrow. I found a volunteering school and I went to the manager of the school to see if she has some kind of job for me. She wasn't there so I hanged around in town, I got a snack at this restaurant then main course at another one and then dessert at yet another one to kill the time and of course to enjoy the food. I went back to see the manager and we had a nice talk. I have to go to the school tomorrow to fix some pc's and to see what else I would be interested in... Sounds like fun to me.

Right now the guesthouse changed into a giant party but most of the people are stoned so I don't really feel in the mood to join them. Maybe I'll have a drink in a bit.

bye!

today I changed city: I went to Sihanoukville, THE beach of cambodia and that you can see. I entered tourism again; there are so many western people here... I checked in in a guesthouse for 1.5 $ a night with free internet, it's pretty cheap... They also have free internet which is the reason why I could update my blog again. When I arrived here after a comfortable busride the first thing I did was get a bicycle so I could explore the neighbourhood. The beach that is really closeby is not really nice and way too touristy but there is a beach about 4 km away that is quite relaxing so I'll check that one out in a few days. Then I arranged a ranger to guide me around the national park tomorrow and I headed for a late lunch. At the market they serve big dishes for almost no money. After exploring some more and updating the blog I started talking with some people from Ireland which was pretty fun, then I made some phonecalls to Belgium and went for dinner. After dinner I met some local cambodians who kept refilling my glass of beer and treating me delicacies from around here. Some of which were really nice! Now it's about time to go to bed however nothing seems to be open before 9 am so I can sleep long...

good night

yesterday evening I got a phonecall from the tour arranger in town that there were 2 more people interested in a trip and asked if I wanted to join. It concerned a trip to a 'wonderfull' waterfall as he called it. I took a look at the pictures and agreed to join. So in the morning I woke up early to find a local breakfast which I found next to the guesthouse: rice soup with chicken. It wasn't really chicken, it was a mix of chicken skin, chicken fat and chicken intestines. The liver tasted quite good, but the fat, the skin and the feet I left in my plate while enjoying the rice and vegetables. I bought a sandwich for lunch and then I got picked up to go to the boat. The speedboat that he told we would be using was actually a small plastic boat which barely fit 4 persons with an engine attached to it. It went faster than in looked and soon we were jumping over the waves while wishing that he went a bit slower. We passed the same type of boat filled with at least 10 locals and wondered how they could fit. After an hour my ass and belly were happy that we arrived and we walked over the rocks passed the waterfall. There we went for a swim and some floating in the stream. The guide signed that it was about time to go to another waterfall closeby; it was a very beautiful one of at least 30 meter high but there wasn't that much water comming off. When we turned around we saw two more waterfalls of about 5 meter high, 20 and 40 meter wide. One of them had very clear water while the other one had the same sandcolor as the river we came from. When we asked whether we could go to the one with clear water he said he didn't know so we tried. After crowling under, over and between rocks we made it to the one with clear water. The water was very cold and had a lot of force.

We hanged around for about 3 hours before returning to the boat. On the way to the boat we saw a path leading to the mountains so we took it and ended up at a small, but nevertheless beautiful temple with a great view. The way back by boat was even bumpier than the way to get there: I had to hold on to not hop over the edge. Another great trip!!!

In the evening I wanted to call my grandmother to wish her a happy birthday but my luck ran out: the internet of the entire area was out.

today I went kayaking since I couldn't find anyone to go on a trekking with me . There are not that many tourists here besides the sex tourists... I don't want to go on a trekking with them... The concept of the kayaking was pretty easy: cross a river, go through the mangroves to a small river comming from the mountains, leave the kayak and start climbing up towards some rapids for swimming. This all under the all-seeing eye of a cambodian who can't speak nor hear... After crossing the river he let me know that he was tired and wanted a rest, ok the river was pretty wide but still... He knew his way around the mangroves pretty well and soon I lost all sense of direction. Then at once around a corner there was a small river comming down a mountain and after avoiding some rocks he parked the kayak and led the way up the mountain. Now I had a pretty hard time to catch up, he jumped from one slippery rock to the other! great sense of balance but I couldn't do it, I always had to find some place to hold on to. It was sooo beautiful! Finally a place without trash and it was so quiet, that's the advantage of someone who can't speak. I enjoyed a little swim in the rapids. Then we had to go back and again he was so fast on the land so I used a little more speed on the kayak. This time upstream and there were waves now which made it pretty difficult to go and the kayak got a lot of water. In the middle of the river he got out of the kayak and told me to do the same, luckily it was only half a meter deep. We emptied the kayak and continued. It was high tide so we could go trough the maze of creeks to make a final tour. A great trip, but kayaking at 35 °C makes you sweaty...