Trip number 4 begins

Sunday 6 December 2015

Wow – interesting tropical rain. You hear it first, wonder what the sound is, and then it appears like a tidal wave, coming along the river in a line between flat calm and ruffled, from 0 to 60 in zero time. It’s tipping it down right now, which is not entirely unwelcome in 32 degrees while we’re sitting under the veranda with nowhere in particular to go.

To go back to Tuesday – we set off from St John’s on the bus to Heathrow, feeling a bit frazzled and anxious but happy to be on our way at last.

It’s a long journey with many a weary wait in dreary anonymous airports. Ten hours to Bangkok, an hour and a half there, then 75 minutes flight on to Phnom Penh. We had booked into a guest house next to the airport there and all would’ve been well if some *plonker* (me) hadn’t merrily stuffed the wrong sim card in my phone, where it got stuck. This meant we had to queue up to ask the nice patient young man at the Smart counter to fix it. We arrived at You Eng guest house at about 9.30pm – so that’s 24 hours travelling.

I'm fascinated by this area, which I guess is the coast of Burma. It's difficult to tell how flat the land is from 30,000 feet.

The next day we got picked up by LPG-powered taxi and drove 4 hours across the Cambodian plains and down to the coast. It took a while to find Mangroves and More, our bungalows, among the dirt tracks that criss-cross the scrubland and woods around Otres Village.

Otres Village itself lies about a kilometre from the shoreline. It’s basically a mangrove-lined river estuary that’s been taken over by backpackers of all nations. Hastily built wooden shacks have appeared in recent years and rice paddies have given way to much more lucrative, often ex-pat owned bungalow resorts, bars and cafes. It’s not pretty but it has its charms.

A nearby Otres village resort

Fortunately, our bungalows at Mangroves and More are great. Four little riverside rooms - ours is called Rosi - run by friendly hosts, Marcus and Maik.

Our first day we felt a bit grim. The weather didn’t help as the clouds rolled in and tropical rain sheeted down, turning the dirt tracks into mud baths. Then there was the drum’n’bass on Thursday night from midnight to 4am! Not good for jetlagged travellers! Fortunately Marcus reassured us that this was a one-off – a neighbouring resort was having an opening party so it wouldn’t happen every night. He was right, so Friday night we managed 12 hours of sleep.

Feeling refreshed, on Saturday we set out to explore. The reason the backpackers flock to Otres is the beach and it is indeed a wondrous stretch of white sand, with luke warm waters dotted with islands off shore. Lovely.

Saturday night is Otres Market night, set in a festival-type open-air venue with stalls and stage, where people of all sorts meet up for food, beer and live music. A bit like Chaplins but warm! An excellent Aussie singer-songwriter (Nigel Willan?) was followed by mediocre Canadian guitarist/bass combo, then the main act – a French nine-piece brass outfit (Pachango-type but not as good).

Funnily enough, the next day while we were walking along the beach we came across these guys again, messing around in the surf with sousaphone, trombones etc., serenading paddleboarders and beachlife.

Playing the Titanic theme ...

Looks like fun

That's all for now folks! Speak later.