Kampot
Trip Start
Apr 09, 2007
1
10
11
Trip End
Jun 15, 2007
Kampot, Cambodia
Monday, May 14, 2007
So i'm actually back in Phnom Penh having been to Kampot but as it's another map pin to put in i'm pretending i'm not!
My first experience of Kampot was that it obviously wasn't a major tourist destination! It wasn't one of the comfy buses - but a little one which looked like it had had lots of school kids pulling it apart for a while and also was leaking from somewhere in the roof so couldn't put anything on the floor you wanted to keep dry! I guess more like everyday Cambodian travel! Headed straight to Kampot GH, checked in to an alright room - i stayed for the whole week! The booked myself onto a tour for the next day to Bokor National Park and then for a sunset river cruise. Handed over my $10 for days adventure and food and realised that then i only had $8 left and Kampot has never heard of an ATM. Also it was a national holiday the next day so banks weren't open till Tuesday. Figured it was ok - guesthouse put food onto my tab to pay at the end so i wouldn't starve so after traipsing round town jsut to check someone hadn't been adventurous and put in an ATM i resigned myself to living off little money!
The trip the next day was good. Started off in a car with three guys who we think were Russian. I was in the front seat, the three of them in the back and Cambodian guy driving. The trail really needed a 4x4 but as 13 people had booked in for the tour they were using both the 4x4 and bog standard car. Was slightly worrying at times!! The three Russians didn't speak to me. Their English was perfectly good and I got in the car gave them a big smile and said hello and was greeted without much on their side. Was a little worried about the options for the rest of the trip! Also I had to pay $5 entrance into the park bringing my funds down to $3!
There was beautiful scenery out from the mountain down to the flat paddy fields and then out to the sea with little islands dotted around. Weather wasn't ideal so also atmospheric clouds floating around below us and around us. Bokor used to be the french colonial get away for those living in Phnom Penh as it was cool. They built casinos, hotels, churches etc up there in the 1920s. Some were revived in teh 60s when the King also built a palace there with special builing for his concubines - but during the Khmer Rouge and war with Vietnam they were used as prisons, stations for shooting on the enemy etc and are now deserted and dilapidated. Nowadays they're there for tourists and also for film crews - City of Ghosts was filmed there (I haven't seen it i was jsut told by others!)
So, wondered aroudn up there a bit and we were also provided with a good vegetable curry for lunch. Got chatting to the people in the 4x4 which was good as the Russians decided to completely abandon te planned tour and went off to do their own thing. That meant i moved to being on the back of the pick-up with the others. A much more adventurous ride! Lots of obstacles in the way on the way back down to duck and avoid while attempting to look at the scenery! Part way down we got out and went for a trek through the rainforest, we thought we were heading for a waterfall - turns out they'd decided the weather wasn't good enough for that so jsut trekked. Was good fun but not very long. This may have been a good thing though as i jsut had my sandal walking shoes on with lots of open access for the nasties of the rainforest - when we got to the other end we had to remove a leech from one of the guys foot. We then carried on in the truck to the sunset river cruise where we got a 'free beer' and headed off down the river watching the world go by. Was very idyllic with the mountains in the background and plam trees along the shore. People in traditional boats acting as ferries, fishing or just pootling along the river. Was nice - although we were a little early for the sunset!
That evening I headed out with the people from the trip. A few of us were having money issues so we headed to a restaurant on the river front with meals for $1.50. I managed to make a phone call, eat dinner and have 3 beers for my $3. Quite an acheivement. Not sure I'll manage it in California! We also came across the one bar in town, it was manned by a Liverpudlian guy who had been there one week and was looking after it while the owner went back to Sweden for the low season. Poor guy. There won't be much going on in Kampot through to September. I think he might go insane!
In the midst of all this I scared an Israeli man. Had met him earlier on the mountain, then he turned up at the guesthouse saying he'd jsut been bitted by a dog. He was very blasé saying he'd go to a doctor in Phnom Penh when he got there the following afternoon. I gently suggested he tried to go now - no go, so then mentioned the fact theres no cure for rabies once you get it etc etc. He fairly quickly went to get it checked out and got the jab after that. I felt a little guilty but I know i would have done that had i been bitten!
Placement started on Tuesday and having got to the bank for money i headed there. Everyone again very welcoming. Went to similar things as in Siem Reap but done a little differently which was interesting. Also good to see different ways of life and how views on things vary throughout the regions. On Thursday and friday I headed further into the province to Angkor Chey where one activity was the peoples contest. This is basically to encourage people to make the effort to learn about their health as otherwise they won't see the point. They start off running through health topics and then there is a quiz with questions picked at random. They can also get extra points if they've been to education sessions, if they have their childs development charts, if they're pregnant and taking iron etc etc. This all builds up to winning a bar of soap, a bottle of iron-enriched fish sauce, a traditional Khmer scarf or a sarong. People flocked for such little things and was very interesting to see how these small things made them want to learn and they knew a lot which surprised me. A very worthwhile cause. Also ate lunch with them which after the last weeks tummy fun i was worried about but t had no ill effects. I ate some kind of seasnaily thing which they thought was very funny. Also some really good meat which i have no idea what it was! But mainly i felt very welcome. Kampot province i lovely and the whole week i got lots of comments on how beautiful i was - having white skin and a western nose goes a long way here!
Yesterday I booked a trip out with random moto driver to see the caves and go to Kep. Cave was good - has a Hindu temple inside which everyone prays at. Long flight of steps up to the cave with amazing views over the Cambodian countryside. We came out the way we came in. There are two other exit but the rains the night before had made them slippery - and there were also bats in small spaces. Not sure i could handle those two together! So no proper rock climbing but i had fun on the little bit i did. Then headed to a pepper plantation and saw how pepper really looks when its growing. Had never throught of that before! Then went down to Kep. I had actually been down here a few days before with the people from RACHA. They had come down to buy prawns for a big lunch the next day - or the women had - the men came down to eat squid and drink beer. I joined the men - i'm not sure my bartering skills in Khmer are up to scratch! This time i had crab with rice and fried veg. Was very nice - especially as there were lots of prawns in there as well. A very nice meal. Then wandered along the beach a bit (was a little overcast to go for a swim) and back to Kampot with a police escort part of the way as he was a friend of the driver! Driver arranged for me to go and have a massage done by blind people. This is basically wat blind people do here as far as i can see and they're very good at it! It is also a good way for tourists to know they aren't about to get the other kind of massage by mistake. These are proper professionals who don't ask if you want extras!
I then did a slightly silly thing. My driver had asked earlier if i wanted to go to a karaoke bar for 20 mins at the end - i thought it would be fun. Turns out was much more of a couply sitting in little huts type place - all very open huts but still a little too secluded for comfort with my driver and he got a little too close for comfort which i made clear wasn't what i wanted. As soon as was reasonable i made i've got to be up early for the bus excuses and insisted on being taken home, which he did, although not before asking for a kiss which he was refused!! Perhaps I should be a little less trusting of Cambodian mens motives in the future!
So now I'm back in Phnom Penh after a boring bus journey, contemplating where to go eat and heading off in the morning for Pursat. As far as i can tell from teh guidebook this is the abck of beyond! I have made sure this time i have plenty of money to last me the 5 days i'll be there. Not even sure there's internet access so i'm hoping the TV's good to pass the evenings! I think the only thing interesting to see there is the floating village which hopefully ill be there in time to do tomorrow afternoon. I should be back in Phnom Penh on Saturday and then I'll jsut be here a few more days before heading up to Bangkok. Not sure if i'll bus that trip or fly it. Bus is cheaper and also an adventure in crossing the border and seeing a little of Thailand (although apparently not very interesting parts) flight is more expensive but only takes an hour. I think i'll see what day i get to leave Phnom Penh based on RACHAs plans for me!
(I added some photos in the week but haven't finished temples yet - might not get them up till next weekend though - sorry for the delay!!)
