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Bus to KampotOk so now we have taken a bus to Kampot. Its about a 4-5 hour trip from Phnom Penh and is what I would probably call the Margaret River of Cambodia. It's a lot more laid back and with a helluva lot less traffic. We stayed at the Rikitikitavi Guesthouse and have had the best time so far. This place is perfect. It must be good because every conversation Maureen talks about is of returning here or possible business ventures for the right people and also saying that she could happily live here!.
The guesthouse is right on the river and the rooms are clean and comfortable ($40 per night in the off season). The food is out of this world and the staff are its best asset. The owners are ex pats ( We met Dom but not Denise) both from England I think and are very accomodating. I found out he plays rugby so we hit it off pretty well. Maureen managed to talk him into letting us into the kitchen for a cooking lesson. We met the Chef who's name was Jerry (probably easier to say that than his Khmere name) and he showed us how to
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YEAH! 5 Hours on a bus!!!!!!!! make the Cambodian signature fish dish which we will happily try out on friends when we return. He was great and I think we planted the seed for a business venture for him. Its the perfect addition for this area of Cambodia.
The staff also organised a guide for a day($25) to take us around the countryside to visit the salt farms, the caves and also the famous Kampot pepper farms and finally a trip to the beach at Kep for a meal overlooking the water. This location is famous for its crab and Borri, our guide picked fabulous dishes for us to sample. Borri's english is excellent and he is very well versed on all the places we visited. He spoke of the families that joined together to form a sort of corporation for the salt farms. He spoke about the caves and showed us amazing views of the countryside, the funny animal shapes of the rock formations and bats (kids loved this part) and he also spoke of the plight of the people in the hills regarding what recently stopped in only 1999.
We definitely left here with fond memories.
Today we have hired a car to
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Kampot riverside take us to Sihanoukville and have booked a room for one night before we find better accomdation for the next threee days. We have just organised the visas for the Vietnam leg and met someone who has just travelled through that country so we will pick her brains tomorrow. Until my next entry-see ya!
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