Phnom Penh - Kampot

The 6 hour bus from Phnom Penh took about 8 hours! Thankfully it was air conditioned and made a stop halfway. At the stopping point we were accosted by lots of little kids selling pinneapple and mango. Cambodia is the first country I have been to where there are lots of children on the streets selling things. Cute at first, but then rather sad. They can be very persistant and sometimes get angry and show their frustration when you refuse. I have had kids tell me to 'F**k off' amongst other things. Others are lots of fun and smiles. In Phnom Penh there are lots selling books near the riverfront. They come and hassle you while you are eating. Sometimes it is tempting to buy something, because you feel sorry for them, because they are charming, or because you actually want something they have, but it only encourages the activity and so I choose not to on principal.

Kampot is a quiet riverside town near the south coast. It's streets are dusty and lined with small old French colonial buildings. There are western targeted diners along the riverside and guesthouses set further back. I checked into a 3 bed room in a chilled out guesthouse, set in a wooden house. The room was fairly basic, no a/c just open windows and a fan, and shared bathroom, but for $2 a night perfectly good. Dowstairs was a good bar with good food to match.

Bokor Hill Tour

I booked myself a tour of a local hill with a deserted French colonial hill station on top.

I jumped into the mini-van and we drove around collected people before driving to the foot of the hill. At this point we were chucked out and presented with our next mode of transport, a truck! Ok, not a great big articulated thing, but a little van with an open flat bed back. There were wooden benches around the edge of the trailor and all 17 of us clambered up and squeezed in. Up we motored, winding our way along the new road, which is not yet finished. A Chinese company is building the road with the intention of re-developing the hill top with a couple of multi-storey hotels. We reached a point where tourists are allowed no further. The driver would continue and we would trek through the jungle for 1.5hours and meet him. The guide explained that it is ok for a cambodian person to be killed by the dangerous road works ahead, but that the Chinese company did not want to kill any tourists!

The trek was great. Proper jungle. However, the local animals, frightened by the road works (with regular dynamite explosions) had chosen to re-locate.

Our second truck ride was somewhat more bumpy that the first upon the mud track of the unfinished road. My boney bottom did not enjoy the journey! The village on the top was surreal and spooky. The old buildings have been left to ruin since the Khmer Rouge were evicted by the Vietnamese and they are now in a state of decay. The most significant building is the old casino/hotel with its mouldering ball room and dungeon like cellars. Behind the casino is a cliff, providing a terrific panoramic view, with the jungle falling away at your feet and the ocean opening up in front of you. The view alone was worth the journey.

We returned by the same method to the town. The loss of the cool mountain air as we decended through the forrest was very evident and we found a blisteringly hot day at the bottom. By the time we set out on a sunset tour of the river though, the temperature was fading pleasantly. We chugged along the scenic estuary as the sun fell behind the mountain.

I enjoyed the day so much that instead of booking my bus back to Phnom Penh the next day, I booked a countryside tour instead!