I am starting to write this part of the blog as we are travelling on the seven hour plus bus ride from Phnom Penh to Cambodia. Wednesday, 13th July - Sunday, 19th July Otres 2, Sihanoukville After another early morning departure from the Sarai Resort at Siem Reap, we were in the air just after 11a.m. and touched down less than an hour later at Sihanoukville airport. If we had tried to do this by bus, it would have taken us maybe 15 hours via Phnom Penh, if we were lucky. So, the relatively inexpensive flight on a tenth-full aeroplane was a good idea. Newish plane too. It was also a good idea to organise a taxi to pick us up beforehand as we were whisked away quite quickly in a smart car by a man holding a poster bearing the words Mr. Phillipe. I have a new name. In fact, I have been called Mr Philip by several attentive workers during my time in South East Asia. That is to be new moniker. We were in this flat coastal region for five nights and fortunately our hotel, Tamu at Otres 2 was a classy joint. After spending hectic days, filling them with chasing adventures and new experiences, the idea was to chill out at a nice resort without pressurising ourselves to be busy and active. Caitlin was more than willing to do little more than reading a few books, socialising with some interesting guests and learning Cambodian phrases from the wonderful staff who worked at the hotel. We did consider some trips out, maybe to Sihanoukville or even Kep and Kampot but following conversations with other guests we were told that Sihanoukville itself was seedy and not worth the visit compared with Otres 2 and that from their experience Kampot and its pepper farms were not worthy of a long trek away from the comfort of our sun loungers. So we didn't do much more than chill and have an occasional dip in the warm sea as regards daytime activities. We tried a few restaurants in the evenings though, taking an evening tuktuk out of the hotel. We went with a brilliant Australian family to Sandan...I think that's the name! It's a restaurant which trains and employs street people and serves high quality food. I must say that the standard of food we've eaten and the service of the workers in both Vietnam and Cambodia have been universally exceptional in the tripadvisor recommended restaurants. I can sing the praises of the Sandan and our hotel, Tamu without fear of contradiction. I have become an ardent fan of the vegetable amok and the seafood amok....and will look for recipes when I get home. Would I recommend a visit to Otres 2? Not my favourite place. But if you like a good hotel, a pleasant beach, hot weather and the opportunity to lie down under the sun with few distractions, this is the place for you. Me? I could have passed on the place. This was also where I had a disaster day! A string of misfortunes. I'm too fond, without doubt, of taking photos and I have brought a few gadgets capable of snapping photos and video clips. First disaster was when Caitlin took my cheaper version of a gopro camera into the waves and having submerged the case in a case designed for the purpose if being waterproof, she returned to me with a waterlogged, non-functioning camera. Oh well! I still have the camera in a sealed plastic bag, full of rice, in the forlorn hope that this treatment will somehow rescue the sickly thing from ending up in the bin when we return home to North Wales. Within a few hours, disaster 2 had occured after my Lumix camera had been tipped accidentally, by myself, into the sand. Despite my every effort to rid each granule from the lens, the camera now refuses to function. Alyson has mentioned that we should make a claim on our travel insurance. She's the sensible one, as she not infrequently informs me without a scintilla of uncertainty in her pronouncements! Disaster three later that day happened when my ipod decided, without due warning, that I had to sign in to use the ipod again and had to recall the email address and password I inputted when I bought the thing three or fiur years back. As if! I tried everything that I could think of...but failed! And now despite going through the apple rescue pages and following the advice there, I can't get the darned thing up and running. Hopefully, I'll sort it out at home. My expectations of success are not that enormous though! And lastly, since Caitlin has brought her camera with her, my solution to the camera problem was to ask her to lend me her camera for the rest of the time here. She tends to use her iphone instead of her camera and was willing to pass it on to me. However, and a very big however, she has lost it somewhere. Where? Ho Chi Minh City? Mekong Delta? Siem Reap? Sihanoukville? She has no idea! I've had to email a number of restaurants and hotels but I've received no positive replies. A catalogue of minor disasters! So, I must rely on my video camera and ipad for photos...of poorish quality...to record pictoral evidence of our travels and travails in Otres and onwards. Such is life! I'll download some more onto this site when I'm back home.