Day 17 19.12.2014 Our last day in Battambang was celebrated by doing a Khmer Cooking course with LyLy, a graduate chef from the Siem Reap Hotel School, in his Coconut Restaurant. With the support of his parents he converted the ground floor of their family home into a restaurant in July 2014 (coming back to Battambang to assist his parents, as his father's blindness has prevented him from earning a living for the family). The business is run as a family business, with LyLy's mother assisting and being a strict quality controller in the cooking classes. LyLy firstly took us to the market to show us all the ingredients being used and also identify the different plants and herbs for us. Some interesting assides were that eating the strong smelling Duran fruit and the drinking Coke - will kill you. It has something to do with combining the fruit with sugar. Interesting to watch how coconut milk is made and dispensed in small plastic bags. LyLy's mother goes to the market in the early morning and haggles over pricing. she manages to buy at much better prices. The traders see LyLy with foreigners and immidiately raise their prices for him. Women go to the market every morning to buy the goods for the day. Much of the fish is either dried or salted, seeing that there is limited refrigeration available. The market is a very tight squeeze - with the sellers sitting on top of the tables ...amongst the meat, with a meat cleaver and cutting and selling meat from there. We could not stop easily inside the market, as that would cause a major people jam and upset traders at losing potential customers. Back at the restaurant we made 3 main dishes and a dessert ...Beef LokLak, Fish Akun, Spring Rolls and LyLy Coconut dessert. For the Fish Amok, which is streamed in a Banana Leaf boat, the folding of the boats led to much laughter. Amazing to see how little fish and meat is used in these dishes, yet how filling they are. I would guess that the small stature of the people in this region is linked to the limited intake of Protein. Armed with our Recipe Books to replicate these tasty dishes at home and promising to write reviews on the restaurant and the cooking lessons on Tripadvisor, we were on our way. We were collected at the hotel at 22h30 for the night-bus to Sihanoukville. The bus was better than expected, although the size of the beds was definitely measured according to locals...seriously short for our long legs ! Also thought, that if you are travelling on your own to share this narrow bed, maybe the width of a single bed with a stranger (especially of the opposite sex !) would make for a very unpleasant 8 hour drive. At this stage we all hoped for the best, as night travel in Cambodia and especially bus travel is not the safest option around. Day 18 20.12.2014 After a toilet break ....wonder of wonders ...in an open field without the slightest bush to shield behind, we arrived in Phnom Phen at around 6am. What should have been a 10 minute change-over, turned into a more than 3 hour wait. Luckily we had changed the ferry tickets from 11h00 to 15h00, although at this stage we were seriously concerned that we would even make the last ferry. It took nearly 2 hours just to get through the traffic in Phnom Phen...and then there was still a 4 hour journey ahead. Rather than a sleeper bus ...as we had been told when we bought the tickets, this was a very normal bus...and it looked as if extra rows of seats had been added at a later stage, as you had to slide into the seat without little room to move. We were given tickets for seat numbers 44 and 45, interstingly enough the seats on the bus only went as far as 43! We all managed to find a seat, but some locals who got on a bit later, sat on stairs and plastic stools in the aisle at the front of the bus. Seems to be a common occurrence !! Eventually we arrived in Sihanoukville, and after some negotiation with the transport touts, took a taxi and 2 moto-taxis to the pier for the ferry. The speedferry was not operating, so we were put onto the slower ferry and given a free pizza at Tree-House as compensation. Not bad ...as the ferry trip proved to be very scenic and pleasant, not to mention interesting, when listening to the conversation of the group of youngsters next to us about alcohol, sex and drugs (rock and roll never entering the conversation !). Arriving at Koh Rong we were happy to see a sign with our name (as Ricki said ....only Mom will have a transport organised on a remote island!). Luckily we did though...as it was getting dark very fast and our accommodation was about an hour's walk away on the beach, through a small river and through a bit of forest, which in the dark and with our heavy luggage would have been less than pleasant - especially after an 19 hour trip with very little sleep. Instead we had the luxury of climbing off the pier onto a large wooden boat (oh yay) into a small rickity bathtub (oi vey) with a very open outboard engine. Placing our luggage and ourselves precariously in the middle, our young skipper headed off across the bay. I was very happy when we reached the beach, without having to swim or lose our valuables to Neptune. After a very friendly welcome by the owner, leaving our luggage in the bungalow, enjoying very tasty green and red curries...we could not get to bed fast enough. Snug under the mosquito net ...I was asleep before hitting the pillow ! And this all by 19h45 ! This really is an island paradise...a wooden bungalow on the beach...comfy chair on a shaded veranda and a view of the sparkling ocean. Flush loo, basin and shower with a trickle of fresh water is the only luxury, as is electricity from 6 - 10pm. What more does one need...especially as the restaurant provides tasty meals and drinks.