I can speak Cambodian now!

Well, only been here 3 days and already I have 3 words now in my repertoire.

Sousdey  is hello or good morning.

Leehi   is goodbye

Aucun is thank you.

Spelling them phonetically so you can all pick up the  language!
That is about it as the temperature continues to hover around 37C.

Phnom Penh - by night by TukTuk

"Welcome to Phnom Penh, the Kingdom of Cambodia", said the head stewardess.
"The temperature outside is 36C."
Just take it slow!

Since the hotel Jaguar was in the shop, my transfer was by Lexus! Seriously!
Suddenly the driver stopped at an intersection with a barrier on one side and some basic mom-and-pop type metal shops, bakery, balloons etc. He motioned me to get out. I ascertained that I had to walk the rest of the way ... down the street with the barrier as the hotel is on the street where the President lives so no vehicles are allowed. Luckily, a guy came from the hotel to bring my bag.

Here are some shots taken from my moving tuktuk last night as I went to dinner.

Birthday presents

Birthday week in Bali

Since my 2 friends were here, after we made it to the disappointing Sunday market - consisting of 3 tables of sarongs - we continued on a lovely shopping kind of a day... after all, it is Bali.

Jewelry is always fun to look at and so we went into a few shops.

Fortunately we spotted a couple of lovely things.
Bev bought me the pendant.
Steph bought me the ring.
I bought me the chain.

Lucky me!

Birthday notes

I am wearing black to day as I mourn the end of my 50's.
It is a sad day indeed.

Had a super day yesterday : It started with a birthday cake from the hotel at breakfast!

We hired a driver to take us to a couple of snorkelling places and what they call a "traditional village". Some great photos and then we went out for a yummy dinner at the Glass House when we got back.

Patch gave me this crazy hat for my birthday - a shower cap in the shape of a queen's crown. So fitting - although as you can see it does not quite fit!

Love the day. Good friends Steph and Bev were here to share it - Both of whom I met while travelling - Steph back in 1983 when Janice and I went to Morocco and Bev in 1988 when she was slottted as my roommate in Pakistan.  Nothing like a shared adventure to make fast friends.

Thank you to everyone for sharing my day and my life - whether by card, email, facebook or just being  you.  

King Kong our driver

On Thursday we were looking for a driver to do some day trips for us for the next few days. We came upon this guy who told us his name was King Kong. Sure.

His prices were so good I asked him what price he would charge to pick up Steph at the airport. Much cheaper than the hotel so I asked him to do that. Not really knowing anything whatsoever about his reliability, I thought I would go out to the airport with him. Off we go.

He had pretty good English so we chatted. I asked him about his name. He tells me his real name is Wayan. Now I already know that in Bali the first child is Wayan; the 2nd child is Made; 3rd child is Nyoman; and the 4th child is Kutut.

So he says, "I am the 3rd Wayan."
"What?"
"My mother had 12 children so I am the 3rd Wayan. It is too confusing so I make a nickname."
"But really now I am not so sure," he says, "I may be 3rd Wayan I maybe be 4th Wayan I am not sure. Anyway it is too confusing. So I am King Kong.

So if you see a beige van with 3 white woman and a male driver, it is King Kong and his lovelies!

Bali - offerings

The existence of and the quantity of small offerings we see every day is worth mentioning again.

I forgot to say that when we were on the snorkelling trip we had just left the sheltered bay area when the driver slowed right down. His 2nd mate went to the back of the boat with one of these offerings. He said a few words and then carefully leaned over the stern of the boat and laid the offering in the water.

Not sure what we said but we had a fantastic time as well as a safe journey.

We hired a driver today and he had one in his dashboard. He also had 2 wrapped in a plastic bag for the next 2 days.

It is so much a part of their lives it does not seem to me to be related to "religion" in the form that we as western Christians think about religion. It just is something they do. It is quite compelling in a way.

Manta Ray Bay Bali

Manta Ray Bay is where it is at! OMG we had an amazing time here. We went out on a snorkelling trip with All4Dive.com. There were 2 German divers with a German speaking Danish originating Balinese dive master and the 2 of us wanting to snorkel with a certified Balinese dive instructor age about 30 and 2 crew. Very professional.

First stop Manta Ray Bay off the island of Nusa Penida, about 45 minutes in the speedboat. Kid you not - the mantas’ width span was 12 ft – that is what Julia said not us. We got dropped over the side of the boat in a bay with quite rough water. We were told that the manta like to come here as there are some sloping rocks along the shore and they like to scrape the crud off their bottom side. Sure!   

So we paddled round or were swept along with whichever way the waves preferred and so the mantas came. HUGE – seriously. You know how hard it is to tell the size of things in the water – or how close there are to you. That is why I say Julia told us the measurement. And sure enough they would run their underside along these rock outcroppings and glide away to circle back again and repeat. There must have been a dozen or more. Paying us no attention at all as we flailed and flopped about with the divers doing the same underneath them.

Lucky for us we had left the hotel at 8 am. By the time we had been in the water about 20 or 30 minutes, we happened to look around and saw 6 other boats just arriving and letting their people into the water. Slackers had slept in! Lucky us to be there first and on our own.

Back on the boat and we cruised around to the other side of the island to Crystal Bay. Here are the fish and the coral. It was not the sunniest days so the coral did not light up the way it can when the sun is shining bright. However there were reds and blues and greens, lots of dull beige and brown as well. Lots of fishes. And a beach so they brought us our lunch as we rested ashore.

Our final spot was just off Lembongan and the water was a bit warmer here so we stayed in a bit longer. So many colours and shapes of fish…. 

Snorkelling is such fun.