As I write this I’m back in Sihanoukville, land of beaches, beer, and tuk-tuk drivers disguised as vultures (or perhaps it’s the other way around).

As much as it pained me, I had to leave the island today.  I took the 10am boat back to the mainland, and later tonight at 7pm I leave on the night bus to Siem Reap.  In between words I’m swatting away flies, because they are everywhere and on everything.  At present moment there are at least 7 of them around me.  Perhaps it’s the result of the food that’s always laying around or just the garbage in the streets, but a regular afternoon here typically involves swatting these buggers away from your body at an alarming rate.

As for the island itself, I took a picture of nearly every storefront or bar today during the morning, and have uploaded those pictures below.  You’ll notice there are no roads (yet), and that everything is really just ‘on the beach’.  Yesterday I visited a smaller island during a lunch break while snorkeling.  (Amazing by the way.)  The only thing I could really think was that it was amazing such a place could even exist.  Every house was really just a shack – no other way to put it.  Three of us had lunch for $4 and that included a beer and a large bottle of water.