Nige vs Mighty Man

Today was spent in Ream National Park, just outside of Sihanoukville. After breakfast and a short bus ride, we srapped on our hiking boots expecting a day of wandering around the park. Our blessedly small group (only 7 of us) arrived at a dock of the estuary and boarded a small boat. Ream National Park is made of a large estuary, mangrove swamps, forests, and untouched beaches (except for the trash that washes up at high tide). We cruised for about an hour towards the sea and saw some sea eagles, egrets, storks, and herons as well as locals fishing, clamming, crabbing and eeling (yes, they do let people live inside the National Park). On the boat was a local guy catching a lift to his home in the park. We started chatting to him (he had limited English) and relized he was drunk...it was only 9:30 a.m. He offered us some of his alcohol of choice, a scary looking bottle full of dark black liquid and labelled 'Mighty Man.' On the label is a cartoon drawing of a huge white guy in speedos, flexing all of his muscles. We did try it when offered, and it wasn't too bad, although a few minutes later Nige looked at me and said "Has your throat gone numb?" to which I laughed and said "Oh good, I thought it was just me..." We arrived at a secluded beach, accessible only by boat. To get to shore, we had to get out of the boat in waist-deep water and wade in. Too bad we didn't know this beforehand, or we would have worn our bathers. But the water was incredibly warm (just like at the Sihanoukville beaches), clear, and with soft sand underfoot. We were told we'd be at this beach for about 3 hours...again, wishing we had our bathing suits. We walked along the beach, checking out the beautiful shells and trying to catch some speedy crabs. Lunch was deliciously fresh barracuda barbequed right on the beach by our guide and boat captain, as well as salad and cold soda in a bottle. We wandered down the beach the other way, then we all packed up and entered the jungle to hike across the peninsula. The jungle is very green and lush, and we enjoyed hearing all of the different bird sounds, even if we didn't see them. On the way we passed the Jesus School, a new bamboo building used as a school for all of the local children. We peeked inside (there are no doors) and saw all of the children at their desks, quietly copying some text from the board and mumbling to themselves. The children were a variety of ages, Little House on the Prarie style. Unfortunately, we completely disrupted their lessons as they were so cute that we had to take photos, which they loved. But their teacher was nice and didn't mind our curiosity. Given the name of the school, and the fact that it was recently 'donated' it was probably built by some missionaries or something. We arrived at a 'village' of about 4 bamboo houses. Much to our pleasure, one of these homes belongs to our friend, Mr. Mighty Man. He was pleased to see us and said to Nigel "Hello my friend. Welcome to my home." Then he got out his machete and chopped open a fresh coconut for us all to share. Seeing the empty bottle of Mighty Man on the ground nearby, we stood WAY back from the swinging machete. After a bit of coconut juice, he brought out a nice cold Angkor beer for Nige and I to share. He wouldn't take any money for it, as it was important for him to offer it as a gift...and it was damn good.

We then had to wade back out to our boat among shallow water covered in millions of tiny sea snail shells. Kel stepped on something big and hard, and looked down to see a large rock. Not thinking anything of it, she got back into the boat, only to realize she had sliced open the bottom of her foot, right down the centre. Ouch. We cruised back to the dock, ending our day of 'hiking' in Ream National Park. We arrived back in Sihanoukville just in time for another beer and another sunset. While we were eating dinner, a group of 3 girls of about 10 years old approached us and asked if we'd like them to make us some bracelets. We said no thank you, to which we received a chorus of "You buy my fruit then? It very good for you. Why you buy her fruit and not mine? Be fair mister. You got a brother? You got a sister? You buy bracelet for them!" These girls were so cute that we had to buy a bracelet, and of course we had to buy one from each of them. They sat down in the sand and started to weave the bracelets with the colours of our choice. Since it took them over an hour, we chatted to them and found that they are quite smart and very funny. They cracked us up the entire time. One of their mums came by and waited for them, so it was good to know that they had someone looking out for them. I kept asking when they go home to bed (it was quite late by this time) and they don't go to bed until about 11:00, only to get up for school, which goes from 7am to 11am. After school they take a motorbike straight to the beach, where they spend the rest of the day selling bracelets, fruit and manicures to all of the beachgoers. We tried to get them to go home to bed, but they wouldn't leave us. It was the perfect entertainment for the evening.