The sun'll come out tomorrow

Let's recap since it's been a while...We spent our last day in Cambodia leisurely strolling through town and reading books at the hotel. Our driver came to take us to the airport at 6:45pm for our 8:55 flight back to Bangkok. From there, we were taking a plane first thing in the morning to Trat Airport en route to Koh Chang. Since we arrived so late and cleared customs at 11:30pm, it made no sense to us to get a hotel room for the 7 hours we would be away from the airport since we had to be back and check in at 6:30am. So we bucked up like little campers and claimed our space along a row of chairs in the main terminal and slept. Lisa and Staci were on one set and I was on another along with Chatty Patty, who kept me awake for the better part of the night. Actually he was a very nice, decorated Vietnam War vet who was going back with some of his fellow soldiers to Vietnam. His stories was truly interesting, but I'm sure my eyes were completely glazed over when I was trying to stay awake.

So, after about 2 hours of actual sleep, I was ready to go on about the day. We checked in and then headed to the Bangkok Airways lounge complete with free hi-speed internet and snacks. One of our group didn't fare too well with the lack of sleep and was extremely cranky, but once we landed at Trat, things were cool. From there, we boarded a ferry to Koh Chang and arrived at our home away from home for the next 3 days - Sunset Huts. They are right on the beach, 1000B for an AC bungalow, and very nice. There were torrential downpours earlier in the day, so there were pools of water everywhere. I took advantage of the cloudy afternoon by taking a nap while Lisa and Staci went to lunch and hung out on the deck at the Sunset restaurant.

We gathered around 5:30pm for dinner on the deck. As many of you know, Ali and I just went to Negril, Jamaica in January which is known for its sunsets. All I can say is that this sunset was the most beautiful I've ever seen. We saw the entire ball of sun fall from the sky into the ocean facing due west. It was a completely unobstructed view with nothing surrounding it but the ocean. The only thing that would have made it better was to have Ali here to share it. ;-)

We all crashed pretty early in hopes of getting up at a reasonable hour and taking advantage of a day of sun on the beach.