Blogs from Kampot, South, Cambodia, Asia - page 18

We have had a couple enjoyable days in Kampot. Our hotel reservation went wrong and when we arrived on the slow bus (read: should have taken a taxi) from Phnom Penh had to settle for a musty double for Trudy and Jasmine. We "men" got a triple with suspitious looking turds on the bed covers and thin walls, actually opon cracks to the next room. The guest staying there was kind enough later to light up one of Cambodia's finest, "Dad, what's that smell?" Sure enough in the wee hours of the morning was the familiar sound of scurrying rats, memories of Guatemala and time for ear plugs. On our first day after finding a new hotel we went to the local swimming hole to cool off, nice refreshing fun in the water by the jungle. ... read more

Die Hauptattraktion in der Gegend ist der Bokor National Park, genauer gesagt die "Geisterstadt" Bokor Hill Station oben am Rand des Bergs, der den Nationalpark bildet. Sie hat eine bewegte Vergangenheit: in den 20er Jahren von den Franzosen als Erholungsort in angenehm kuehler Hoehe mitsamt Hotel, Casino und Kirche errichtet und von bis zu 1000 Einwohnern bewohnt, spaeter verfallen, in den 50/60ern wiederbelebt, in den 70ern dann in den Haenden der Khmer Rouge. Die haben das Hotel zeitweise als Gefaengnis genutzt, Gefangene gerne mal durch einen Stoss von der Klippe beseitigt, bis es zum Gefecht mit der vietnamesischen Befreiungsarmee kam, die ihre Stellung in der Kirche auf dem Huegel hatte. Heute zeugen noch die Einschussloecher in den ansonsten verfallenden Gebaeuden, die schon mit einer dicken Schicht Flechten bewachsen sind, davon. Und jetzt steigt einmal im Jahr ... read more

Fri 8th: Time to leave Siem Reap for Battembang across Tonle Sap Lake. A short bus ride to the floating fishing village of Chong Kneas to board our boat for the journey....and what a boat!! No more than 2 metres wide with seats running lengthways, to accommodate 12 tourists, 2 locals and all our backpacks. The backpacks were securely (!?*!??) stored up the back behind the driver who, by the way, was steering with a steering wheel and gear stick from a truck!! What an awesome trip though and not one I was expecting. There were mangroves and huge numbers of water hyacinths right across the lake. In fact, the boat had to zig zag its way across depending on where the channels were. Some channels were mapped out with breaks in the fence and white ... read more

We had an easy ride down from Phnom Penh over the past two days. Both rides were less than 90 kms and that allowed us to find accommodations before noon and avoid the worst of the heat. With each riding day, I'm more convinced that Cambodia is one of the best cycling countries in the world. While the roads are not great they are sealed and more importantly the traffic is minimum at best. Combine that with great food, friendly people, fabulous value and you have one great place to cycle. I have been impressed at the presence of Western Union here. They appear to have hooked up with one of the local banks to offer money transfers locations all around Cambodia. They now have incredible depth in this country. Something that can't be said for ... read more

The bus journey to Kampot was without inccedent and fairly short (about 5 hours). When we arrived there where more than 20 touts trying to get us to stay at there guest houses (which was strange as there was only about 10 guest houses), our guest house of choice was fully booked (no really) so we went across the road and got a room there instead ($7 for hot water,tv,and a fan), we booked a couple of motos to take us to the Phnom Chhnork and Phnom Sorsia caves for that afternoon, the day was very hot and as soon as the motos stoppped the heat caught up with us, climbing the stairs up to the caves seemed a huge task at the top of the stairs we where met by a group of children who ... read more