Howdy folks and greetings from the south coast of Cambodia...

Sihanoukville to be precise and I'm having an absolute blast here! I've been hanging round here for about a week now which was totally unintentional. I got here last Sunday and got shafted on a room on the beach and was particularly grumpy and decided bugger this I'm leaving. My first few hours here were not happy ones... but then in the evening I was in one of the local bars (no surprises there then!) and got chatting to Arran (Canadian guy working there really funny!) and he mentioned boat trips etc and then I met a guy later called Fred who owns a dive company and he asked me if I wanted to go on a boat trip next day...well yeah why not?

So anyway we got talking and he's a dive master instructor and so I kinda agreed to do my PADI Open Water dive cert with him... bonus is he has given me a room for free at his place so I've not had to fork out for that for over a week now and all I gotta do is walk his dog!!! So it's just like being at home with you Joy? Nibbles is the dog and she's kinda like a German Shep and totally gorgeous and so I've been doing a spot of doggy training with her but I haven't quite managed to teach her to eat anyone yet...

Anyway Fred's a bit of a character, American and a retired radio announcer or summat used to live in Hawaii but now here, I've no idea how old he is but must be in his forties and he's been teaching me the finer points of open water diving all week and I've been the only one doing it so it's been great.. have to say at first I was crapping myself but I may even go as far as to say that I seem to have turned in to a bit of a water baby over the last few days....Anyway as a result of the germ infestation of my birthday I was having problems equalising my ears so I had to take a couple of days off the diving but I managed to finish it yesteray.. we went out on one of Fred's boats with his boat captain Hamish (from New Guinea but Aussie?!@! Very fit too!!) Ruet and Viet Fred's Cambodian staff, Fred and another American guy called Donahue who is a hypnotist in LA and was talking about curing my smoking habit!!

Mmmmm? Anyway yesterday the weather was perfect and we did the diving thing and swimming around along with a couple of hilarious French dudes Pat and Mika.. the islands around here are really beautiful but the diving ain't that great but ok... but mooring up by the islands and relaxing in and out of the water has just been really great fun...After a hard day on the water I took the final exam last night and got 46/50 so I'm now certifiable!!! Woooo hoooo! Bring it on Thailand as I can't wait to go diving there now....

I was supposed to be going out again today but the boat has ended up a tad on the full side and as I don't pay for the trips I am stuck on dry land.. bit of a shame but never mind as I know a really cool deck chair with my name on it about 2 metres from the sea down at my fave beach Serendipity Beach and I'm heading there in a wee while....

Other than that I've not been up to much.. Hamish's Dad, Richard, owns a bar called the Marlin here in Sihanoukville so I've been hanging there most evenings as it's always amusing... and on my couple of days off over the weekend I did in fact manage to spend rather an awful lot of time in there....got there around 8.00 p.m. and ended up getting spectacularly plastered with Hamish and other regulars and got home when the sun came up...mmmm.. I walked into the house and Fred said to me "What time did you get home?" ..."well actually about 30 seconds ago!" .....Needless to say Sunday was spent for the most part unconscious in my deck chair on the beach!!! An additional bonus was that on that fateful Saturday I was in the Marlin and Marc the Dutch guy Fil and I were travelling with for a while in Laos walked in so we had a gas (Fil - you might not want to hear this but he got over the border from Laos to Cambodia no probs!!!!) So I chilled on the beach on Sunday with him and that's about it really..

I was way too knackered to do any major celebrating last night so maybe tonight....As there's no time for Ko Chang now I'm gonna chill here for a couple more days and hang out and then head back to Bangkok on Friday as Elaina is arriving on Sunday...Wooooo hooooo!! Maybe we'll get to Ko Chang together... So there you have it, living the life of a bum!!!!

Time to go now, doggy walking to do, brekkie, (Hamish has got Heinz baked beans and real toast in the bar!!!! What a guy!) and then crash on the beach.. so adios for now folks, hope October isn't too cold for ya!!!

A couple of messages while I think about it:

Stuey and Michelle, Rachel and Alti - can I have your addresses please? Elaina - Marmite flavour crisps - yes please!!! And to my family cheers very much for the diving course...totally appreciated....Mummy and Daddy happy journey and safe flight over to Florida...

Anyway bye for now you's lot....

Loadsa love

Lisa / Lillie

xxx