MAR. 15th -- SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA

We arrive at Sihanoukville, Cambodia at 6:00 AM and have an excursion called "Highlights of Sihanoukville" at 8:00 AM.

FYI -- Temp. today is:  91°F/33°C

Our first stop is at the Buddhist Temple called Wat Krom.  There are a lot of mausoleums  where they put the ashes of their dead...lots of gold statuaries and 2 temples.

Small temple

Inside small temple

New temple under construction

LOL!!

Helloooo...

Barry -- so young at heart!!

Next we go to a fishing village. We step off the bus and are hit in the face, or I should say nose, with the smell of fish.  Not good.  As we head towards the docks and the fishing boats, it gets stronger.
I think I might be off fish for a month!

Cleaning the fish 

The harbour & fishing boats

It really looks worse than this

This pretty much says it all.

Next we head to the Wat Lu Pagoda.  There are 2 temples here and on the roof top of one of the building is a beautiful view of the entire city.  We see a lot of monkeys on the tops of the buildings.

View of the city from the rooftop

The Wat Lu Pagoda

"I think I found something in your tail".

I love monkeys.

We go to a local market and walk through it.  "Same but different".

Pre-made food for "to-go" lunches

Waiting...

Yes...they sell gold at the local market.

We go to one of the great beaches and have about 30-minutes free time.  We saw one guy on the beach strip down to his underwear and dive in the water.  I bet the water was wonderful.

See....beautiful.

On our way back to the boat, we go to the Golden Lions Roundabout and stop for pictures.  Then get back on the bus and drive to the boat.

The Golden Lions Roundabout

Me.

All in all, it was a pretty good tour.

We have an East Indian dinner tonight.  Our butler, Reddy set it up for us....it's at 7:00 PM tonight.
Wonderful dinner.
Barry spoke to the Sommelier and he is setting us up with the wines for dinner.

Our lovely wine...breathing.

Appetizers were... similar to a potato pancake only it was shredded onion and a chicken dish served with a yogurt-mint sauce.
With this we had sparkling Rosé Brut.
The mains were Butter Chicken, Curried Shrimp and Curried Lamb...rice and all the condiments.
With this course we had a red wine...the Sommelier won't tell us what it was.  We found out later it was a California Zinfindel...surprisingly soft and fruity.

Here it is...lamb curry, butter chicken & shrimp curry

Here is Ley, our waitress, serving it up.

Yum Sing (Cheers)!!!!

Appys & Sparkly...

The dessert was a Carrot & Rice Pudding ... it probably has a name but whatever.
With this course we had a glass of Sauterne.
WOW...WOW...WOW.
We rolled ourselves to our cabins.

We are in Leum Chabang (Bangkok) tomorrow.

So, here's the deal with Bangkok.
First of all we have to dock in Leum Chabang which is about 2 1/2 hours from Bangkok.
Second we have found out that March 16 & 17 are Election Days in Bangkok and there are issues with the two parties (one dresses in red and the other dresses in yellow).  If you go in you can't wear either of these colours and you have to make sure you stay with your group.
So, we, the Abelson's & Hirschmann's, have decided to skip the city of Bangkok and to "stay out of harm's way".
Tomorrow we are going to take the free shuttle bus into Pattaya...a city 45-minutes south of the port.