thurs day 139

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Kampot is a charming little town consisting of a central area running by the side of Teuk Chhou River. It has terraces of old, French colonial shophouses and a back drop of the Bokor mountains. There is opportunity to go up into the mountains for half a day to see basically what sounded like a half built holiday resort! A casino along with a temple - oh and a nice view! Half built thanks partly to the Khmer rouge and trying to find a rich developer to come along and ruin the area! So actually probably nicer to see now than in 10yrs time - oh well, I decided to stick with the town which was the nicer option. However, I did book a boat ride for the evening to see the sunset and some fireflies. Before this I found a lovely cafe called the Epic Arts Cafe ( if you have time google it) run by deaf people - or people with a disability - with their way of thinking being that everyone is equal. The menu has simple mackaton sign language for you to try out - or they offer pen and paper! The food is lovely and they have a crafts section for you to purchase stuff that they've made. Speaking with the temporary manager - who isn't deaf and happens to be from Canterbury! They are hoping to set up cafes in the UK as well as many other countries - what a brilliant idea. From here I headed out for a walk around the town with a little basic map. I found the prison - with the gates wide open! I guess someone was aware!?! Past a lotus pond around a few streets and out to the river again. Stopping off to have a read of my book I then headed to another recommended cafe for a drink. Chatting with the owner - a Cambodian woman in her 30's, was brought up by her grandmother ( has never known her parents) has one child and has adopted 3 more. The lady and her husband run the local orphanage - as well as this cafe - where do they find the time. Leaving a donation and saying goodbye I headed on down to the river to meet up with the boat for the trip. Joining me were a couple from Finland - travelling for 2 months. As we were chatting away about our travels we watched the sunset behind the Bokor Mountains and then saw some fireflies - which unfortunately was a bit of an anti-climax as it consisted of about 10 of them sitting in the trees! I wasn't completely sure what I expected them to do - or what exactly I was gonna be seeing but it just felt a little disappointing. As we made our way back to Kampot I was invited out for dinner! So after having a lovely dinner and meeting a really nice couple - arranging to meet up tomorrow - we parted company and I walked the much shorter distance back to my hotel. Keeping with the tennis theme tonight I watched Serena Williams in the semi finals - she won!

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