On sleeping and a rough ride to Siem Reap

Sleep, or lack of, is very important to me, particularly when travelling. I always want to have the energy to do everything on the itinerary but I'm not 20 anymore so I can't go days without sleep. So some notes.....

Never, ever take a sleeping pill to grab 40 winks. You may find out you wake 4 and a half hours later and have missed something great. This happened to me in Phnom Penh, but more on that later. There are lots of corollary's to this however....
Don't ever take a sleeping pill or herbal sleeping aid before a night out, as you will likely be a little dazed and confused throughout the night and alcohol will not help.
Sleeping pills ARE actually super for napping on buses, trains, boats etc...just ensure your baggage is safe.
I also found them good for when you really do need to get some sleep (i.e physically demanding trek next day)
Valerian root is a good herbal alternative. Two of these and you'll be gonzo after about twenty mins... for at least 4 hours, even if you're a dreadful sleeper like me.

A well-travelled friend once told me how herself and friends used to lie perpendicular with their legs against a wall, the blood rushes to the head making it great for a quick nap. Whenever I think about her I can never get this image out of my head (4 girls in a hostel in India, asleep with their legs in the air).

When we left Koh-Rong we wanted to get to Siem Reap in the easiest manner possible. After our usual hour or two sleep, we got up and out of our hut (7am!), had breakfast a little further along the beach and then boarded our boat back to Sihanoukville, a little sorry to be leaving the paradise of the island. From there it was a minibus to town and we thought we might catch a bus to Siem Reap directly. We were wrong, even though it was only noon, it had already left. So hot, bothered and tired we decided to get a taxi. I may have mentioned this before but SERIOUSLY - Agree taxi fares in advance, say you will pay half first and half WHEN YOU REACH YOUR DESTINATION. April and I got nicely ripped off whilst on our way from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap. We said we would pay for a taxi the whole way {thinking it would save time and be more comfortable...ah the naivety of the little travelled}. We paid USD 130. This IS a rip-off. When your tired and realise you have probably about 7 hours of travel ahead, it seems a small price to pay. Our first taxi driver was on the phone constantly, he also didn't speak a single word of English. The A/C didn't work, as such I had guzzled 2 litres of water an hour into the trip and we were both soaked with sweat. Opening the window was infinitely worse as most Cambodian roads are dusty, and it was pretty humid outside too. We were unceremoniously dumped on the side of the road in Phnom Penh where another gent picked us up. He was very friendly but he was an absolutely chaotic driver and when it got dark we genuinely weren't sure if we would make it out of that car alive. There are no street lights on these roads, no railings and many places were flooded due to recent rains. We had two seriously near misses where he actually screamed, we landed (Yes, we had been slightly air-bound momentarily!) on the road and he laughed maniacally, telling us that had been close. April and I were actually holding hands at this stage. He also claimed many times that he hadn't been paid but I point blank refused to pay another cent. We had already paid 130USD for one taxi which had turned into two!! Also, rather than just get to Siem Reap we had to stop at a roadside restaurant for he and his friend to eat (oh yes, he also picked up a random friend on the way! Two girls with two men in a taxi in a foreign country at night, we were imagining the headlines). I just wanted to get there. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep due to the wild driving and also I badly needed the toilet. In Siem Reap he wanted to bring us to another hostel, a usual ploy of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers, but again I stood fast on the place we had booked. I am sure the man thought I was an awful bitch but I hadn't slept properly for 3 nights, hadn't had a proper shower in the same amount of time and we had been travelling from 8am that morning (We reached Siem Reap around 11.15pm). I cannot express our manic delight when we checked into Siem Reap Rooms.
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Siem-Reap-Rooms/Siem-Reap/31747
 It was gorgeous. Set down a quiet street, it was pristinely clean, there were sandwiches available even though we had checked in late and the gruff owner Phil was so helpful to us.
I will never forget how April and I were nearly delirious with glee to discover that hot water came out of the fully functioning shower in our lovely, clean, spacious room. We were actually giggling as we washed our feet together and then clambered into huge comfy single beds for hours of interrupted sleep.

Last night in Split

Most of the boys grabbed a quick kip on the bus back to Split whilst Ryan, Lisa and I chatted boobs and bodies. Back onboard Sarah showed me her wares from shopping (including a pretty little friendship bracelet for me) as I lolled on the bed, needing a nap but knowing I had no time. A shower pepped me up and we had a quick vodka before leaving - already late for the restaurant.

We headed to a pretty courtyard in Split where Louise had booked us in for dinner. Even though we were late - once again they hadn't the table ready (did they just not believe 18 of us would turn up?). We all got seated, ordered wine and beer and set about perusing the menu. Lisa and I were both looking for a bit of seafood and after tasting Lucie's delicious octopus salad starter we knew we had made a good decision. As one can probably imagine, being so coastal - seafood everywhere in Croatia is pretty much delicious. They do like to make it in pies and quiches though which isn't really my style. I prefer it on the grill with a bit of garlic and salt - and straight to my plate. More food and wine arrived, laughs were being had around the table. We tried to get Allan and Lisa to wear their new ti-shirts - Allan's was "Nude Lifeguard"! No one was thinking about the fact that it was our last night. We discussed future group activities - a ski/snowboard trip to Lebanon, the boys doing a triathlon, my solo trips to various places next year. The restaurant rustled up a kind of birthday cake (there seemed to be alot of cream or ice cream and not alot of cake) for Allan and it was time to make our way to the end of cruise party at a nearby bar.

Chloe and I after dinner.

I had to bid a sweet goodbye to Lisa as she was ill and flying very early and then Chloe and I went on our own little tour to find the bar, and perhaps a tattoo parlour on the way. We had decided on our first night to get tattoo's together but we couldn't decide on designs etc. There had been some joking at dinner that I would get the line from "Braveheart" - "This is my island" inked somewhere on my body but I thought that might be a future regret! I was contemplating some musical notes, a melody or riff - somewhere inconspicuous but there was no tattoo parlour in sight so we settled on some shots in a side street bar before finally reaching Cocktail Bar Paradiso for the Sail Croatia farewell party. There we hooked up with our super rep Janice and had a few drinks with her before the Jager train to top them all. In our usual tradition, it had to be bigger, better and longer than anyone else's. You'd know we lived in Dubai! I don't know how the number came about - I believe it was something to do with beating other boat's tallies but 62 was decided on. It took an hour and a half to set up (mainly because some muppet stood on the bench where it was being set up and knocked half the red bulls down).

Even in the photo we can spot some of our new friends!

After we'd all had a few and mingled with the strangers, it was time to embarrass Allan (It was difficult to know whether he was embarrassed or not as he was so sunburned! You can see him at the top of the picture there - darker than anyone else). Lauren (my friend in Dubai, dating Allan) had sent gifts from Dubai for Allan to open on the night and Gareth felt it only right to give the birthday boy a snog. I've never seen Allan snog a man before and to be honest I'm not sure it will happen again! I fitted in some time to kiss Sarah (She begged) and have a little dance around. I don't even remember the music. There may not have been music!

We walked back to the boat through picturesque rain-washed streets and decided to get our party on back onboard. Drink was acquired from various places, music was set-up on the top deck and deck-chairs were dragged around. Perfect for more dancing. Our fun didn't last long, the Captain came up and asked us to not to party. A little deflated but aware that he was being perfectly fair (He did have to get up every day and cook for us) Doug mentioned a beach nearby so we decided to bring the party there. Gary even let us borrow his speakers. The beach was a bit of a walk away so many got lost along the way and there was a weird crowd there (outsiders!) when we arrived. After a vodka I decided I would head back to the boat. I was a little disorientated and seemed to have lost alot of people so I thought it would be better to go back and find them.

I met Chloe as I got on deck and we sat down with Katie and Elliot just inside the hallway on a little sofa where they'd perched many nights of the trip. There were people running around the boat and from room to room as dawn broke and all I could think of was how I had to leave so many amazing people in a few hours - including my old (and new friends) from Dubai. I was exhausted, 7 nights of drinking was taking it's toll and I was all too aware that I had to be up in about 3 hours. It wasn't the best feeling.
Suffice to say, it only got worse before I left. I managed to only get about an hours sleep, and ended up packing in the most uncoordinated, horrible mindset I've ever been in. I wasn't quite hungover but I was definitely dehydrated, I wasn't quite sober but not happy drunk. It was dreadful. Meanwhile Sarah was singing around the cabin, still drunk and completely oblivious to the fact that we had to get up and out.
As I sat on a bench beside the boat (and found my pashmina tied around it?!) in the blazing morning sunlight watching Katie spew into the port I was hit by bags of rubbish as some of the crew removed them from the boat. That was pretty much how it felt - from top deck luxury to the gutter - all in a few hours.

It was a strange last night but an amazing trip that I'm sure none of us will ever forget...
Hvala na sjećanjima Hrvatskoj.