Relaxy

For my second and final full day at the 4 Rivers Ecolodge, I just hung out at my tent. I woke up around 8:30 (10:30 is my natural wakeup time, so with the time difference, I stayed right on schedule) and did some reading before breakfast. Breakfast at this place was pretty much the same every day: varying breakfast pork products; eggs in omelette, fried, or scrambled form; toast; coffee and tea; juice; some sort of potato product. Quite good, though.

Then I spent the whole rest of the day on my dock patio, reading, swimming in the river, and listening to my iPod. It was awesome. I had lunch with the South African family and then supper later with them and the Canadian family.

It was strange to compare their children to American children. They're so much more polite and well informed. They asked to be excused at every meal, and at lunch the South African kids, who were 13 and probably 11 or 12, were having a long discussion with their parents about the Bernie Madoff scandal. I was kind of embarrassed at how smart they were. I assume they're probably better off than most kids, anyway, due to being a family of international travelers, but still.

At supper they gave me a preview of my bill. I had been concerned on this issue, since all the meals were uniform for all guests, and there was no menu or price list anywhere. I had no idea what these meals would cost me, and was worried my food bill was going to rival the room rate, what with having to pay for two meals a day (breakfast was included), and really nice meals. But I was pleasantly surprised. Although the food was obviously more expensive than any other place in Cambodia, the most I'd been charged for a meal was $16, and my packed lunch at the waterfall was only $7, and I may have mentioned before that they took one of my dinners off the bill due to having problems with switching tents and whatnot. So my bill for my three days was only something like $65. Suite.

The next day I had to leave pretty early to catch the bus to Sihanoukville. I was able to catch breakfast at 7:00, though, so I was glad of that. The bus only cost like $5, I think. It wasn't very comfortable, and there was no official rest stop, just a bush in a field, as I mentioned in a blog while I was there, but for five bucks, I felt okay about it. I think the ride was like four hours or something like that. I just listened to the ol' iPod. I had to wait forever for the stupid bus, though. The ticket said 8:30, I think, and it also said I had to be there at 8:00, I guess since the schedule isn't exact and they're not willing to wait around to keep it. But I think it was after 9:00 before the bus actually got there. I was pretty worried I'd missed it, since one or two buses drove right by the little store I was waiting at. But anyway, it all worked out fine.

I'll tell you about Sihanoukville next time. There will be pics.