Blog 8

kalming kampot

After a cramped but picturesque 2 hour journey from otres beach we arrived in the majestic little town of Kampot, nestled amongst rainforest covered mountains. we were ushered into a tuktuk and were taken to the hostel to settle in before exploring the town. The clouds rolling over the mountains all seemed a bit 'unreal'.

This little town is famed for its peppercorn production. We bought our obligatory little bag of it after seeing them sorting it with tweezers into categories of quality and colour.

The other thing kampot is now famous for is for serving 'the best ribs in Cambodia' to fat white people! I don't think Bryn had wanted anything more before but after seeing an Aussie guy that was probably double his weight fail the 'challenge' we opted for share the 'half challenge' between us. Delicious but bloody filling!

We opted to take a mini bus tour to the mountains with another couple, the next day where we explored a ghost town up in the hills which was built as a cooler retreat for the town people but was burnt to the ground by the Khmer Rouge, all except the church which the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Polpot lived in. The wind and rain up in the hills of Bohor national park was chilly even with walking boots, and full waterproof get up on. The other couple were wearing trainers and a jacket and were soaked! They were slightly less smiley by the end of the day! After a river cruise that evening to finish off the tour and meeting a lovely gentle young man with down syndrome, who was the happiest i've ever seen anyone to see us we headed 'home'.

We found 2 beautiful little places to eat and drink in town. 1st was a gorgeous little peace which was on the lonely planet as a not to miss place! It helped people with learning difficulties bring out there creativity and bake cakes, make jewellery and draw or paint. Run almost entirely by people until fairly recently had been shunned by the community and included our little friend with down syndrome who helped Bryn chose a little painting to bring home.

We were going to book onto a Cambodian cooking course for the next day but were told the chef was making red beef soup which took all day. So we asked if we could help her! It was a yummy and we joined her on later for dinner! Even as a non-beef eater I enjoyed it.

After 3 weeks on the road, Clothes were all feeling a bit gross so we paid for laundry again in kampot! Smelling sweet!

Next stop Vietnam! Love to you all, Jo x x x