Kampot, Sihanoukville & Battambang, Cambodia

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Leaving PP, I jumped on a bus to Kampot - a small town supposedly only 3 hrs away. Six hours of bumping along unpaved roads in a public bus that surprisingly made it in one piece and I finally arrived. I had stopped in Kampot because I was eager to go hiking in Bokor National Park. Unfortunately, when I arrived, I was told that the Bokor mountain was closed to tourists and everyone else because some foreign investor had somehow bought the mountain (!??!) and was building a 400 room hotel and a casino. UGH. I wasn't happy about that. Instead, I spent the afternoon and the next morning just wandering about town. There weren't any other tourists really and the town was really interesting. It was built beside a river and had remnants of French colonial buildings but everything had the same theme - "abandoned and unkept". Even the prison, town hall, post office and provincial administrative offices were either closed and overgrown or just half-functional. Weird.

The next day, I bused it to Sihanoukville. I would've stayed longer but the elections were on the day that I intended to travel and all buses were canceled. Sihanoukville is a coastal town - built for tourists and local holiday-makers. I barely took any pictures b/c it rained the whole time so the apparently gorgeous beaches and clear waters didn't make an appearance, while there was a serious lack of authenticity or interesting architecture. The highlights of the two days that I spent there were sitting by the beach, reading as it poured rain and drinking 'happy shakes' with Tory & an Australian named Nick at a beach-side restaurant while watching the stars and the phosphorescence light show in the sea.

The elections went by w/out drama or upheaval. It was interesting to be in Cambodia to see how they went since this country has a pretty recent and fairly unstable relationship w/ 'democracy'. Tory & I said goodbye to our last tropical sunbathing opportunity and headed inland, back to PP and then north to Cambodia's second largest city, Battambang.

Battambang was... interesting...! When we arrived, there weren't any street signs or names and even the tuk tuk drivers (our ever reliable guides in any SEA country) didn't know where anything was! With me cursing my many new purchases, we wandered w/ our packs until we found a decent place to stay near the center market. I still can't believe that this place is the 2nd largest city - it is poverty-stricken and dusty. You don't get very far without seeing begging children, women, amputees, etc. I find it extremely hard not giving money to beggars but it only breeds dependency and reinforces to parents that children begging makes them money so they won't send them to school. That being said, it still breaks my heart, especially when you see a woman w/ only one leg, sitting in the dirt w/ a newborn, no older than 4 weeks as you scarf down your meal.

Anyhoo, we spent only one full day in BB which we spent mostly on the backs of motorbikes. With a motorbike driver as our guide, we headed out to the countryside to visit BB's infamous bamboo train! The bamboo train is literally flat carts made out of bamboo that are propelled by ancient, loud motors that speed along France's early 1900's train tracks on wheels fashioned from army tank parts. It's a legitimate mode of transport for locals where the roads are complete crap, but for us, it was like going to Canada's Wonderland! It was so fun. You actually went fast! The view was great too - we spend by villages and rice paddy fields. Part of the fun was the potential danger of running into another cart coming the opposite way, but it was quiet on the tracks and the only thing we crashed into was a cow.

After our ride, Tory headed back to town, while I carried on to Phnom Sampeuo - a Wat (temple) and a memorial to Khmer Rouge victims who had been killed in the area. The ride out to the temple was beautiful. I really got a sense of what rural Cambodia was like (very poor) and saw ppl working in the rice fields and carrying on w/ daily life as I 'flew by' (sarcasm- my moto driver's bike was a thing of the eighties and we crawled along, trying to avoid massive pot-holes) on the back of the bike.

The temple was perched up top of a beautiful limestone cliff which meant getting to the top was quite the climb (a serious lack of exercise for three months along w/ a minimum of 3 Mango shakes a day have left me in very bad physical shape!). I panted my way to the top and was rewarded w/ a stunning view of the surrounding area as well as a tour of the Wat and Stupa at the top.

On my way back down, I stopped at a memorial for the many bodies that had been found in this area from genocide. Two caves had been converted into places of prayer and rest for the bones of some couple hundred people. I was completely alone - not another tourist to be had which made the experience very eerie. Prayer flags flapped in the wind and I prayed earnestly that the world would get a grip and stop the killing of innocent people in wars and acts of senseless violence and hate. Humans can be so caring but also so incredibly horrible to each other.

Back in BB, the nightlife is none-existent and so after a delicious meal of traditional Khmer food and multiple fruit shakes for about $3, we crashed back at our hotel. Tomorrow, we head to Siem Reap - Cambodia's tourism cash cow, homeland to the world's largest religious building, Angkor Wat. Then it's back to Thailand and then HOME (with a two day stop in Hong Kong first!!!!).

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