Found It

Right underneath my nose - it's been right here at the Independence Hotel.

Unlike the better portion of my time in Thailand last summer, I'm not feeling the adventure bug quite yet. There's this part of me that craves solace and relaxation. I'd willingly forgo the relaxation for some cultural exploration. However, this town (Sihanoukville) isn't much for cultural exporation - unless you get off on seeing poverty, dirt and hardship mixed with more western societies capitalizing on both Cambodia's tragic past and subsequent lack of understanding of cut-throat business and general western society.

I know that sounds grim, but it is what it is. Just an hour in Sihanoukville wreaks of garbage, deception and exploitation. There's certainly no shortage of bars, bar girls, the million tuk-tuk and motorbike pests or expats who flock to these places. Everything I've read is true. The one exception, lucky for me, is this hotel and its property.

It's literally a beach-front resort where no one wants to go. There are no bar girls, expats or garbage. While that certainly isn't the accurate depiction of Cambodian life, it's just what I've been looking for. I'll save the cultural exploration for Angkor Wat, the temples, nature and very recent horrors of S-21 Prison and other fresh wounds from the Khmer Rouge.

Poverty and corporate greed are not something I came here to study - no matter how blatant it is.

I look forward to sitting right here in this chair or that one over there on the beach w/ the hut over it.