Kampot

Trip Start Jul 02, 2010

Trip End Aug 20, 2010

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Where I stayed

Blissful Guesthouse Kampot

(Kampot hotels)

Flag of Cambodia Kampot, Cambodia
Thursday, August 12, 2010

I've been in Kampot for the last few days. On Tuesday I did a tour up to Bokor National Park. At the top is a huge old hotel/casino and loads of other buildings including a church, police station, post office and a secondary hotel further from the cliffs. They built the second hotel when failed gamblers started realising the potential of the proximity of the first one to some very high cliffs. The whole thing has been abandoned twice, most recently in the 70s. The top of the hill was really misty making the buildings really eery. When we got there the guide casually built a fire in one of the corridors because he was feeling a bit cold. On the way back the tour included a "sunset river cruise" which would have been great if an excess of rain/cloud hadn't obscured any chance of seeing the sun go down. There were some lovely other people on the tour and in the evening, after the "sunset" trip we all went out for dinner to one of the resturants by the river.

Today I borrowed a bike from the guesthouse and cycled out into the countryside to Phnom Chhork. There are a lot of caves in a hill here, all connected by tiny passages. As soon as I got there a load of kids turned up to show me around. They pointed out lots of dubious rock shapes (How similar to King Kong/elephants/dragons is it really possible for a bit of limestone to look? I would suggest not very.) and we went through a lot of very narrow holes and gaps between the caves. A white t-shirt was definitely not a practical choice!

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