Day 97 Kuala Lumpur

We started the day with what it seems KL does best, massive shopping malls. Spent a few hours in The Pavilion shopping Centre where we picked up some cheap flippers, then took the air conditioned walkway to the Petronas Towers. We got some happy snaps in front of the towers and bought a under water camera in the shopping centre under the towers for the amazing snorkel spots we will hit.

The heavens opened so we did the Aquarium which was great matched up loads of fish we had seen on Koh Rong and what we expect to see later on. It had a huge tank with a Perspex tunnel and a travelator similar to what I remember in Kelly Tarltons of Auckland. It also had snakes, insects and geckos so we found out that Alfred & Demetri are Tokay Geckos which so I read are worth 25,000RM(€6,000) each at a market. Thats another few months travels....
This evening we walked about Little India, Saturday evening is market time and it was packed. Since most stalls sold the same stuff, silk, an hour was enough to see it all.

Day 96 Flight to Kuala Lumpur

Took our first of many Air Asia flights this morning, the Ryan Air of Asia seemed more efficient. We were on and off much quicker, they had stairs ready on arrival and on time obviously. I hope the rest are just as good.
We are staying in the Chinatown area of KL so we hung around here and hit the central market then the street markets at night. Brought pocket binoculars for wildlife spotting in Borneo, a shirt for me & Rachel trolled through hundreds of fake bags.

Day 95 Phnom Pehn

Took the chance to get some clothes washed, 5kg washed dried & folded for less than €4.
Past the airport(we will see that in the morning) on the outskirts of the city was a military training area where we could try some guns. As we arrived a few guys appeared and showed us to the range of weapons to try starting from small pistols, shot guns, the full AK range, sniper, machine guns, right up to a grenade launcher.
War was never cheap US$50 brought me 30 bullets for the AK47 I selected, the bigger bullet guns were US$150 for 30 bullets. After I shot a few off I intended to share with Rachel but the noise of it put her right off. I had a target and as the picture shows I did ok till I had a crack with automatic mode which blitzed the last of my bullets in a second.
Just in case your concerned this was properly supervised, yep the guy did stand next to me and load it and motion towards the trigger but no other instructions were given and it wasn't mounted, I could have shot anywhere.

Day 94 Koh Rong Island to Phnom Penh

We had our share of thunder storms during the week but last night was quite the send off! After watching a storm in the distance taking photos for a while we went to sleep till we were woken by thunder so loud I nearly jumped out of the bed. We both got up to have a better look outside when lightening struck quickly followed by thunder so loud we must have both thought it was in the room, because we both ducked down!
We got the boat back to Sihanoukville where I remembered my computer was in the safe back on the island. Luckily it was put on the next ferry back and we changed our bus back to the city to late in the evening. The bus was a sleeper and with the company Rachel had read about a record of crashes. We arrived safe but it was a crappy bus and a just as crap driver.

Day 93 Koh Rong Island

Our last day on the island I finished my second book and we snorkelled of a set of rocks which were a bit further out. A new fish to add to the 'seen that list' was the butterfly fish today. Remembered to get some more pics of the lovely water for the blog too

Day 92 Koh Rong Island

Continued reading our books, had a few swims etc. We also walked to the village and checked out the other accommodation options on the island. We definitely have the best view and the best treehouse in our place!

Day 91 Koh Rong Island

Success the rat was caught in the glue trap left for him in the shower area which is a level below the main room.
Just did much of the same again today but I snapped a photo of the local water buffalo heading to work causing a bit of a stir. He walks the beach from the village round past our patch and on each morning and evening. Sometimes he is accompanied by an owner but often alone like today he gave some sunbathers a fright.

Day 90 Koh Rong Island

Gave the Geckos names last night since we now have two, Alfred(the big guy) & Demetri. No sign of the other resident, a glue trap was set up for him but he avoided capture.
A storm went through over night, when you live in a treehouse with no windows a bit of breeze was quick to wake me so I could run out and drop the bamboo blinds down on the glassless openings we have for windows.
We took a two man Kayak today and paddled round the next bay. We stopped for a snorkel out to the point then went out to the tiny island off our bay and back. We saw some big starfish, loads of fish jumping and the water clarity was a bit better away from our bay.

Day 89 Koh Rong Island

More action last night with both our residents, we've got used to the Gecko he is entertaining to watch but the other resident isn't welcome. We chased a rat out in the middle of the night he woke us making noise round our bags. Not a trace of food so not sure what he was thinking he found.
Again just relaxed, swam, snorkelled and sat during the evening watching a fantastic thunder storm over the mainland for hours. 
We took the underwater pics just by putting the compact camera a clear 'dry bag' so quality is lacking a little, but you still get the idea, warm water plenty of fish and a bit of coral. Some of the fish were commonly found in tropical fish tanks.

Day 88 Koh Rong Island

This morning the best phrase I could come up with to sum up the night was a Bart Simpson quote he said when he was left home alone and the family went to Machu Picchu. "Day time is fun, night time is scary!" We had an eventful first night, we discovered a couple of residents we share our treehouse with. Firstly a big Gecko with great colours came in when the light was on(we have 4hours of power each night) and fed on the moths, we didn't notice him till he did a superman from the top rafter to a cross beam. The other unknown resident made noise in the bin at 2am so we made noise & flashed torches eventually scaring what ever it was off on the third attempt. On inspection this morning an empty packet of biscuits had holes chewed in it.
Spent the day relaxing, snorkelling and eating having a great time!

Day 87 To Koh Rong Island

We had a van transfer to the ferry which left from Cambodias very small & I think only shipping port. The ferry wasn't big but an emergency action plan stapled to the cabin was reassuring even if the amount of life jackets wasn't.

The trip was a couple of hours, on approach white sand on the beach and further round from the wharf & village some tree-houses could be seen!

On arrival we checked in to tree-house No.1 relaxed, took photos of our view then ate and snorkelled seeing plenty of fish round the rocks a mere 10 metres from us.   

Day 86 Sihanoukville

Still in bed at 9am the ceiling fan suddenly quit its hum and slowed to a stop, the power was out. After breakfast we got a tuk tuk to the bank and supermarket so we were set for a week on the island. We also bought masks & snorkels.
With the laptop in tow we headed for the beach for a swim hoping one of the hundreds of hastily erected beach front cafe shacks might have a generator running & internet we badly needed to book flights. None had but I still had a swim before continuing our search.
We struggled with a tortuously slow connection at our accommodation while their generator ran for an hour, then tried another place for us only to sit down connected with a drink only to have their internet go down. So it was back to our accommodation to struggle on till the price of the flights went up! We gave up there and did find a internet cafe where we finally booked 4 flights for Indonesia at 8pm shortly after the power finally came back on.
Ended the day with a nice dinner at the Indian restaurant.

Day 85 Bus to Sihounakville

We've both struggled for a while to get our tongues round pronouncing this Sihounakville, today was a little better but I'm still getting blank looks from locals.
Bus here was a van again a bit overloaded but 19today plus a couple of live chickens in bags hanging off the back was much better than the 23 the other day and this was only 2 hours.
it's a nice beach we have 200mts down the road but it's all heavy tourist stuff with loungers lining the entire length. We are both glad we have the week out on the island from all reports it is much nicer. I went for my 1st sea swim of our trip the air temp was 32ish and the water felt pretty much the same. Not so refreshing but still great to have a swim.
Checked a few dive shops for snorkel & mask since we should get plenty of use from it but held off buying since the island is paid in advance for the first time we are struggling with our $200 maximum daily withdrawal.

Day 84 Kampot

Other than a bit of a walk round town and picking up a bit of reading material, today was spent planning our Indonesia travel since the flights between the islands need to be booked so far ahead.
Our guesthouse closed their restaurant/bar for the evening for their own private celebration of some kind so for dinner we hung out next door where we couldn't get a room when we first arrived in Kampot.

Day 83 Kampot

Got up and took a couple of bikes for a cycle down the river to a Muslim fishing village this morning, took some photos and chatted with the locals.
Back in town we were going to head up the river also but the dusty dirt road was much less inviting.
Awesome thunder storm this evening loads of lightning even striking the ground a few streets away accompanied by some serious rain too. It was so humid today it did feel like there would be rain and it was cool to watch from the grass roof bar/restaurant.