Back out into the provinces

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Geo: 10.61, 104.18

I was originally intending this to be a lazy day in Phnom Penh and to be quite honest we could both do with a rest but with our love of buses we are on the move again. Today we are heading to Kampot and I have booked a hotel pick up with GiantIbis buses for an express - fast and dangerous by all accounts ! - 2 1/2 hour drive south. Kampot supposedly has the finest collection of French colonial architecture remaining in Cambodia although most of it has seen better days. We will see.
We are due to be picked up at our hotel any time after 07:00 so we are up early at 05:30 for a cuppa to start the day off. Breakfast doesn't officially start till 07:00 but we check-out at 06:30 and wait for the doors to open so we can grab something quickly and then fill our bags with food to take with us. Its worked so far.
Bus arrives at 07:30 and is the bus that is taking us all the way rather than a transfer to a bus station that I was expecting. We make a couple more hotel pick ups then go to the GiantIbis office to collect the remaining passengers before leaving Phnom Penh heading south.
The countryside is pretty much the same as it was when we drove to Kratie although there is very little building work going on down here and none of the houses have their year of construction included on the roof. The journey was scheduled to take 2 ½ hours and I figured with it being a Sunday and maybe quieter roads this would be possible but I was wrong. Just about every small town we pass through are having a market today with stalls spilling over onto the main road and a snarl up of traffic because of this.
Less than 3 hours after leaving Phnom Penh, however, we pull into sleepy riverside Kampot. As I am not sure where our hotel is we take a remork for about 200 yards to the riverfront where, not surprisingly, the Riverside Hotel is located. We have to wait about 30mins for our room to be readied so cross the road and sit by the river for a while drinking a fresh coconut from a passing chap.
We check-in to quite a pleasant room on the second floor. Seems to have everything we will need but Jai is disappointed to see a stamp sized TV fixed to the wall about 100 yards from the bed. The hotel now only takes payment in cash and wont accept my credit card. Not sure I have enough dollars to meet the bill but we will address that problem later.
Had planned to hire some bicycles for a look around as there isnt much traffic here but Kai is definitely not comfortable with this so we decide to just walk. Head off south along the river cum estuary past the French governor's mansion that has recently been renovated and opened as a museum. Turning away from the river we pass the town's old pond which has also recently been transformed into a pleasant and picturesque lake. On the far side is the old French police station and next door to that what remains of the old prison which I understand only recently closed. We continue back towards town passing old French era shophouses till we reach the appropriately name Durian roundabout. This area is full of durian farms and at times you can even get a whiff of them as you pass. I spot a currency exchange office which stays open till 21:00 which will solve my hotel bill issue. Walk back to the riverside passing an old cinema which has definitely seen better days and back to the hotel to cool off. Luckily it has been cloudy for most of the time we have been out but no sign of the rain that fell very briefly on our way here this morning so still sticky hot.
We head back out later for some food and a beer, not necessarily in that order. After walking around for a bit we find a place that we both like the look of and which is selling draught Cambodia beer at 50 cents a glass. Jai is even persuaded to have a glass of wine. Jai has been wanting to have some decent noodles but everywhere we see them on sale they are just packet noodles which aren't too bad but nothing special. Walking along the riverfront I spot a chap standing just inside a restaurant and actually making his own noodles and they even have duck on the menu tonight. Very nice it was too.
Stroll back to the hotel along the riverfront and sit on the wall for a while watching the sun set. There is even about 2m of 'beach' at the river's edge and I can't resist a paddle. Jai goes back to the room and I sit at the hotel bar streetside and have another beer before joining her.

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