To the bat cave and dont forget the salt and pepper!

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******* sorry about the lack of photos but I can't upload them off my camera at the moment *******



Phillipa and I had a lazy start to the day and checked out of our room about 10.15am and headed to a restaurant for breakfast and to wraith for the mini bus to come and pick us up. It was a little late but we didn't mind as we were happy watching the world go by.



The minibus arrived and we stowed our stuff and caught up with Paddy, Becky and Chas to see how there evening had been. The ride to Koh Pot only took about 30 minutes. On the bus our guide had given us a choice of accommodation, one a little more sparse and basic and the other more luxurious so we of course took option B. Initially us 4 girls were going to have a bungalow but when we saw it, it was quite small and basically a larger room with 2 doubles and was probably best as a family room. So we moved to twin rooms with AC yay!



We decided to visit the salt farm, bat cave and pepper farm (for some reason lol) and in the evening a boat cruise to see the glow worms/bugs.



Our tour guide arrange a tuk tuk to take to all the relevant places and arrived at 1pm as re arranged. Our first stop,was about 20 minutes away and was the salt flats. Basically they dig canals from the sea and fill large flat beds, similar to those of padi fields, with salt water. After a few days the salt water has evaporated and only the salt is left. This is then harvest it using a large flat edged rakes and then store it in wooden huts. We got this info from out tuk tuk driver who spoke some English bless him.



We then headed to the best cave which was another 20 minutes or so away. On the way we played cow! When you see a cow coming up as you pass you shout cow and if you get any reaction from the cow, eg the look up or run away etc you get a point. The left side vs the right side. It was funny and gave us the giggles for a while. We also discussed the salt fields and had many questions and thoughts, who would ever of thought salt could be so interesting lol.



We arrived at the next place which was a monetary inhabited by Buddhist monks and they started to take us up to the bat cave and the elephant cave. Both so named as they had rock formations which looked a bit like their name sakes, tedious to say the least in my estimation. On the way up an 'official' guide appeared and took over. He showed us into the cave and where the bats were, and we did see some high up in the cave roof, but we could definitely hear them. We also had to leave $1 'for the monks' as there was also a Bhuddist shrine in the cave to.



We then went to see the elephant cave which really was a very tenuous description of the crock formation. The guide did take us further into the cave, his English was very poor, but we think he was saying that the cave led down to the padi fields below and kept saying small, small, small but we didn't know what he meant. However we got to a place where it appeared we had to almost start pot holing to continue so we said no and turned round and came back.



He then took us to the temple and finally it was time to leave, but first we had to pay him which was a surprise to us, we collect some cash together and he was cheeky enough to ask for more! We of course told him politely no more. We then clambered back on to the tuk tuk and headed for the pepper farm.



It was about another 30 minutes or so to the pepper farm. When we arrived we were greeted by a older man, may be late 60s or early 70s with at shirt long shorts and a straw hat, and he had a white beard similar to those worn by Armish men, and he was Dutch. He told us about growing and harvesting the pepper corns and how the 4 different varieties are created:-

Green - taken from the plant when they are green

Black - green corns dried out for a couple of days

Red - ripe corns from the plant

White - are red ones soaked and there'd skins removed



After the tour and a bit more about the organic way in which they are grown and the battle with the pests and some additional info about the protection of the pepper name (kampot pepper) which can only be called that if it's grown in certain areas, we were offered sample of the pepper seeds smell and taste. After that we piled back in the tuk tuk and headed back to town.



When we got back the driver dropped us off at a restaurant and we arranged for him to pick us up at 6pm to take us to the boat which would take us to see the fire flies. I continued embracing the Cambodian food and had burger and chips lol



After tea the tuk tuk driver picked us up and took us to the departure point for our boat trip. It turned out to be the other choice of accommodation our guide had offered us. It was a really cool place with straw style huts with Palm leaves for the roof, very native. It had a big chill out area with a bar over looking the river and cool chilled out music playing. Undersold by the tour guide is an under statement. I have booked in there for my none night stay prior to departure.



We climbed aboard the boat around 6.30pm and we sailed down the river just as the last of the sunset was fading. It took about 30 minutes to get there and we were entertained by Mother Nature as there were two lightening storms going on in the distance which we were fortunate to witness.



When we got to the place where the fireflies were we sat and watched them dancing in the night and their little lights twinkling in and off. They were only in one bush and never really strayed away from it. Our guide managed to capture one and handed it to me and I passed him to Paddy. However he was rather reluctant to leave Paddy and then landed on the lens of my camera so I took a photo - see attached lol. We then capture him again and set him back near the bush where all his mates were flying around. They looked like Xmas tree lights flickering on and off, it was pretty cool.



After the fire flies we headed back up the river in the dark. The lightening show as still going on, and along the banks of the river were dotted houses and hotels etc some lit up with lights some just one light here and there.



The boat dropped up,off in the heart of Kampot town. We headed to the first bar we found which was situated on a corner of the busy main road running parallel to the river. It had lots of seats inside and out, and outside were lights in the trees and bushes and some cool light shades. It was totally empty so we sat out side in some big round can chairs with big cushions. We all ordered drinks and some of us desert - i had a plate of fruit and a cocktail. Sadly the beer arrived warm and was lured over ice so that went down like a led balloon. The wind got up a little and there was a bit of thunder and lightening but luckily the rain didn't arrive.



We left there and walked along the river to an Irish bar. It was small and narrow and had some seats outside. We ordered drinks ands at outside and chatted. In the back ground they played some blues. Alog the walls were photos and pictures of various guitar players and singers and bands - B B King, Led Zep, the Beatles, The Who, Eric Clapton, Frank Sinatra etc. there were currency notes from around the world pinned up behind the bar and foreign coins glued to,the bar for some reason.



After my drink Chas, Becky and I all headed back via tuk tuk to the guest house. We left Paddy and Phillipa to watch the football later on at the spores bar. They rolled in at 4am after wandering around Kampot getting lost and unable to find the guest house and ended up going back to the sports bar to ask for help getting back lol. No tuk tuk when you need one!



Xx

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