Day 81 and 82: Rain and Beach Cabins

Day 81

We're both pretty crispy today so decide against sunbathing today which worked out well as the clouds started to cover as we left the hotel. We wander into town after spending the morning blogging and get some snacks for our movie night tonight. We grab some lunch on the beach and I venture away from plain rice for the first time in a few days and get some pineapple and veg and it's so nice to have something with flavour. More pool, and this table is turning out to be quite lucky for him and he wins 2-1 (35-26). 

Now we aren't going to Koh Rong, we've decide to spend the few extra days in Shanti (the huts on stilts) and then get an overnight bus to Siem Reap and we grab the tickets for this after the pool game, we've paid a little extra for a hotel bus which if it lives up to its hype will mean we have a little double cabin to ourselves and the best way we've travelled.

We're near Blame Canada so we pop in for a drink when we see a huge rain cloud coming and naively think "Ah that won't be a long shower" You can tell we've not experience an Asian rain yet. 5 minutes the heavens open and the bar leaks. We squidgy ourselves up with the 10 other idiots who stayed out and try and wait it out, after 40 minutes we get bored and try and grab a tuk tuk but everyone else has had the same idea and there's none about, so we dive across to another bar where it turns out the bar mans off his head and absolutely crazy, his way of warning someone to not out their feet on the bar is to slam a meat cleaver down next to their toys. That and the rats coming in to also shelter from the rain make me uneasy, sod the rain I think and I drag Ben outside to flag down a tuk tuk who puts his sides down for us, aww.

It doesn't really stop raining all night but we don't mind as its amok for dinner again and it's the first I can properly enjoy. You might think it's so boring we've had the same dish so much but really is so tasty. Then it's movie night, we got for the brilliantly cheesy Knights Tale and devour two bags of skittles, this is the life.

Day 82

We are leaving our Nice Dream today to go off to our 3rd and hopefully final, accommodation, Shanti. Ben's so excited and it does look beautiful but it's the first test of my beach/hut/rat fear and I'm a little apprehensive. The thing about panic attacks is that they don't finish when the initial attack is over, much like breaking your leg or having flu it takes a little while to heal and sometimes you can even feel almost better for a little while before going downhill again. I am determined this one we won't be one of those occasions though.

We dump our bags, put down the mosquito and sink our feet into the sand, bliss. We spend the afternoon blogging and eating their yummy salads and talking through when I feel jittery. The beach has definitely reopened my fear of the night and the toilet (this one has a little concrete but still a shack and a bit away from the room) but Ben's brilliant and listens to my worries, he even offers to forgo this beautiful place if it would make me feel better but deep down I know I can overcome this. He spends the afternoon distracting me with games of cheese and then long walks down a new secluded beach we find till he spots his arch nemesis the sea urchin and we head back to capture the sun set.

As it gets darker my anxiousness from earlier heightens as I know the little critters like the dark. Distractions see to be the key so we go off in search of a pool table and find a tiny one which I find impossible to play on and Ben wins both (37-26) and I download some books. The closeness to the beach and the amount of dark spaces in the restaurant mean I'm too anxious to eat, we are also walking back long the beach which in my head is going to be teaming with rats and I almost bottle the walk back but Ben's brought a torch and grabs my hand. I need to keep pushing myself if I'm going to get past this so I follow him and you know what? It was fine, no animals and no need to be worried. A weight lifts off me again and I know I've first one of my first hurdles.

We get back to our little cabin expecting it to be cool as the beach but it's unbearably hot, and even with all the shutters up we can't get any breeze to come through, looks like we are in for a long night.