It's a hard knock life in paradise

So I've just had one of the most incredible weekends! We took Thrus. And Fri. Off of school and went to the beach for four days! We left Wed. night, on a night bus; so we left Siem Reap at 8pm and arrived in Sihanoukville at 6:30am. The bus had lounge chair like beds and the provided us with a blanket and a bottle of water. I woke only once, when we arrived in Phnom Penh. An attendant poked us and asked us if we were going to Sihanoukville or if we were getting off in Phnom Penh. We arrived in Sihanoukville to the most wondrous sound: windshield wipers going, which meant it was RAINING!!! When we alighted the bus at the station is really started to torrential downpour! It was amazing. :) We were a little worried that our trip was ruined, as no one wants to be at the beach in the rain. Our fears were soon put to rest when the sun came out an hour later and everything dried out. 

 Highlights of the weekend include:

1 – Discovering that the 700m beach I had just walked along is owned exclusively by the hotel that was set back from the water.

2 – Soon after walking down this beach I wondered into a traditional fishing village. There was trash everywhere and every other kid waved and said 'Hello!'

3 – Dancing till 3am (in the club and outside in the rain) and then watching the others go skinny dipping and making sure they all came out of the water.

4 – A 1.5hr boat ride to a mostly deserted island where we went snorkeling, were fed a scrumptious lunch and then trekked across the island to a fishing village were we were served iced coffee with milk. It was the most delicious thing ever. We had been told the hike would be ~1hr. I think it was more like 2 hours :P

5 – Waking up at 5am to take the boat back to the mainland, only to wait an hour for the boat to arrive and our guide to wake up. :P There was a beautiful sunrise though.

6 – Meeting a bunch of Canadians at the 2^nd beach we stayed at. I was slightly amused that they'd named their bar “Blame Canada.” :P

7 – Arriving back in Siem Reap at 5:30am and getting in an hour of sleep before heading to school!!

8 -  And of course, there was no end to the beautiful sunrises and sunsets!

Sunrise

Sunrise

Sunset

Two side notes:

1 – I'm half way through my time in Siem Reap. I can't believe I've already been here for over 6 weeks! On the other hand, I'm looking forward to going to India next, provided I can get my visa sorted out. :P

2 – I bike all the time, to school, around town, to get dinner and groceries, etc. I'm quite sure that I spend 50% of the time looking at things around me and other sights on the road (like the cow in a trailer being towed by a moto. The cow was still alive), 25% of the time day dreaming or thinking about the lesson I'm going to teach the next day and 25% of the time actually paying attention to the road.