The South Coast

Trip Start Aug 17, 2004

Trip End Aug 16, 2005

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Flag of Cambodia Sihanoukville and Kampot, Cambodia
Saturday, May 14, 2005

Sihanoukville is Cambodia's premiere beach resort. This isn't saying an awful lot. The beaches are very nice and I'm sure it can be charming but in the rainy season it had all the atmosphere of seedy English seaside town in winter (just at 40 degrees). There seemed to be a larger than average number of old men with young Asian women and hippies who had long ago turned on, tuned in, and dropped dead. Not finding anyone with enough energy to take us on a boat trip out to the islands we left soon after arriving. The only way of doing this was by 'shared' taxi. Having read the guidebook we were prepared for what was to come but the two Canadian girls who were already in the back of the cab when it came to pick us up were more surprised. They looked a little unamused as it became apparent we'd both be sharing the back seat with them. It was one of those, 'well you try sitting forward and I'll sit at the back, err, that isn't working, errm, sorry guys grinning and bearing it is the only option.' At least we weren't in the front

1 Michelle

. The passenger seat was already taken but with room for another we picked up one more so that makes two in the passenger seat and four in the back of a small car. There was a worrying moment when it appeared that a large dog would be joining us but no, just another person who would of course be sharing the drivers seat. The driver's seat! At speeds inadvisable at any time, let alone when the car was carrying twice times its usual complement, we arrived in Kampot forty minutes earlier than the standard time all at no extra charge.

We set out the following morning to do what we were in Kampot for: Bokor National Park. This time our mode of transport was the back of a pick up truck which wound its way up into the mountains and through the jungle. We were told by our guide that we wouldn't be walking to the waterfall as the path was under a metre of water and they had seen an ENORMOUS snake days before. None of the guides wanted to go back. It was difficult to understand his English but he seemed to be saying that the snake had attacked the truck's headlights. Worrying. We were more than happy to heed his advice and set off in the new direction, accompanied by four other Brits and two Kiwis. The nearly-English speaking guide waved goodbye and the completely non-English speaking guide took over. We trekked through the jungle and waded across a couple of rivers (Duncan flicking off a leech, grrr, man of iron)

2 Wading in Bokor

.

Bokor was a French hill station resort where royals and the well to do would come to escape Pnohm Penh's heat in the 60's. It has been occupied and abandoned several times by the French, Cambodian Royalists, Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese. A particularly troubled history for an elegant colonial getaway. It is now an eerie ghost town with empty shells of hotels dripping and rotting in the monsoon climate. The most haunting building is the old Casino which could have been the setting for the Shining. Shrouded in mist it hangs on a cliff edge overlooking the sea. It is a strange sensation wandering around the crumbling corridors imagining both the parties and the horrors that have taken place there. This being Cambodia though they'd set up an impromptu cafe at the edge of the building where we had lunch. In a country that has seen so much atrocity there's little time for morbid reminiscence and always time for exploitation of a good business opportunity!

Prior to lunch we'd each walked cautiously past a bees' nest, that is each of us apart from the guide. Eager to supplement his lunch he'd thrust his hands straight into it and we turned to see him running up the hill towards us surrounded by bees. Bees that were now fast approaching us. Suffice to say I got stung on the forehead. Thank you.

We ended the day at the waterfall, the same waterfall that we previously hadn't been going to due to the big snake. We didn't ask. By this point it was clear that Duncan and I were horribly sun burnt which of course set off the bee sting nicely. Nonetheless the waterfall was pretty impressive, we didn't feel the need to leap over it narrowly avoiding certain death though, which our guide and two of our group did. Luckily no fatalities were recorded.

The following day, both glowing, we headed back to Phnom Penh. The day after that I woke up in the morning and glanced in the mirror to see the elephant man looking back! My face continued to swell for the rest of the day until my eyes, nose and cheeks had puffed to monstrous proportions. Duncan made it better by singing the words from The Tall Guy (remember when he's appearing in the comedy musical of the Elephant Man?) Take a deep breath, prepare for the worst, it's the ugliest man in the universe. Once again, thank you.

Sihanoukville hotels Slideshow