And the 'honeymoon' portion of our travels continues. The guys at Wish You Were Here, on Otres Beach, booked us into their mates guesthouse: Bodhi Villa. We have our own little bungalow in their gardens, which you have to cross a little bamboo bridge to get to. It’s really secluded — a good thing considering one wall of the bungalow is effectively open. We could have had the river bungalow but it had already been snapped up by an Aussie. Now that bungalow is really open: it has absolutely no wall at all on the side facing the river (just a thin curtain for privacy). In some ways it would have been amazing, but it was actually a floating bungalow, so I’d likely have gotten sea sick.

The river

The chill-out area hangs right over the Kampot River. Having breakfast looking out over a beautiful stretch of completely still water, reflecting the flowered tree line of the far bank is breathtaking.

From our jetty you can swim in the river — it is a little chilly but very refreshing, especially after a day on a moped getting coated in red dust (look out for our next blog) — or take a night time boat trip to visit the firefly trees. The later being a really simple way to spend an evening: its quite underwhelming in some ways, but really enjoyable if you take it at face value. There are two trees, about 100m apart, each home to hundreds of fireflies, pulsing in time with each other. The boat drivers compare it to fairy lights on a Christmas tree… and are more than happy to get out of the boat for you, to go and shake the tree. The fireflies take flight for a few seconds only to settle back down and flash brighter.

Friday nights @ Bodhi

All I am going to say is live bands, face painting and tequila for costumes. :) I am more than expecting some pictures to turn up on facebook at some point in the future (we didn’t take any ourselves). Fridays are apparently big nights here. It was good to let our hair down after a relatively quite trip so far: most guesthouses are suffering from the subdued effect of the rainy season.

Oh, and the food
 
That is very important when you are travelling with an overly active 6" 7’ man. Two really good feeds:

1. The Rusty Keyhole in town. You can’t miss it, its right on the corner facing the river. Here you will find the best Ribs ever; or at least the ‘best ribs in Cambodia’ according to signs. And really good value too.

2. A local BBQ restaurant near Bodhi Villa (which is on the other side of the river from the town. I have no idea what it was called, but head towards town and turn left straight after you've crossed the railway, then just follow your nose. This family-run establishment simply has a collection of plastic chairs set out in their front yard and you’ll be served BBQ beef or a beef soup, which you add fresh ingredients to as it boils away on your table. A really local, and cheap, feed.