Kampot 31st Oct - 7th Nov

Heading to Kampot began as a normal minivan ride but soon turned into another funny travel experience when the driver stopped to pick up way more people than you would think to fit in a minivan. So there is 12 seats in a minivan but most of the time they manage to squeeze in 16 people. But this trip we were going for a new Guinness Record (see snapshot below) - at one stage we managed to fit 24 people in the van, and one guy was perched, half cheeked on the window sill with the window slide open. Half his bum was inside the van, the other was flapping in the wind outside. Adding to all this there was a Styrofoam box full of fish under one woman and many bags of all sorts of smelly things. Luckily we had a window seat, so Ann stuck her nose out the window when it all became to much to handle. You gotta laugh when this happens, there is no point fighting it. So it took forever to get from Sihanoukville to Kampot, the road was terribly bumpy so the van could only go about 40km/p/hr and I don't think it would have gone much faster anyway with the amount of weight it was carrying. 

When we arrived to Kampot - a storm had just finished destroying the city - apparently it came over very fast and it wiped out the electricity taking down the power lines and many trees, some roofs and awnings were also damaged.

People were out inspecting the damage, moving debris and sweeping the water away. It looked amazing, but we were glad we missed it!

After wandering around aimlessly looking for accommodation we jumped in a little Tuk-Tuk and asked the driver to take us to Bohdi Villa - which we read about in the Lonely Planet and it sounded good. It was a few km's out of the town centre on the river bank. When we arrived we instantly fell in love with the place - it was really nice and the staff were awesome!!! We ended up staying there about 6 nights because it was so good - oh and the food was great. Bohdi Villa is run by a nice Australian couple and some really nice Khmer people.

The night we arrived was Halloween and the place down the road was hosting a dress up party. We decided not to go but we got a little festive with the other guests at Bohdi Villa before they went out. One guy, Marc, from Scotland, made a creepy costume out of palm leaves and got Ann to paint his face and body (see below). Another guy, Rich, had his face painted like the Joker and some others made themselves into giant drinks.

Marc --------> a very funny character. He was some sort of bird man for the Halloween party.

Outside the dorm at Bohdi villa - you could sleep under a mosquito net when it was too hot for indoors, a nice touch!!!

Dorm at Bohdi Villa $3 a night!!!

The bar and chill out space at Bohdi Villa was really inviting and a great place to mingle

One of the yummy dishes served at Bohdi Villa

Looking across the river from Bohdi Villa to Kampot town

Our bungalow

Relaxing by the river was a must at Bohdi Villa

Our bungalow at Bohdi Villa - Kampot

Bike trip to Kep with Marc, Kirsty and Frank and Helen was a nice way to fill a day. The roads were a bit of a mess and sometimes the traffic was chaotic but the scenery was great and lunch was definitely a treat for the taste buds. Crab in pepper sauce was the speciality of the place we stopped at and most of us tried a bit - and it was tasty!!

The big Durian - Kampot is famous for tasty durians - but they stink

Crab statue being built at Kep

On the way back from a round trip of Kep, following the loop road around the national park, we spotted this guy on the side of the road. He had just caught this water snake in a little weedy pond, so we stopped to take a look. he implied he was going to eat it for his dinner. Yum Yum!!

Another day - we took a bike up Bokor National Park - the mountain road is awesome, wide a smooth, possibly the best road in Southeast Asia. On top of the mountain they are doing a lot of building work to complete a theme park and a large casino. The view is amazing from up there and they have a small waterfall which was nice to visit as well. Originally the mountain has an old hotel, and a small village with a church and some other things, maybe a quarry - now the old buildings are a bit spooky and burnt out. It was a nice day riding up there, the wind is a bit chilly and the rain can come over really fast but we got pretty lucky and missed most anything that came over.

View from Bokor

Buddha on Bokor

New flashy casino on Bokor

Old abandoned Church at Bokor

Sensational views from Bokor

spooky old Bokor

view towards Kampot from one of the temple caves -

We spotted this scary looking fella in one of the caves just outside of Kampot towards Kep - he may look nasty but apparently doesn't hurt humans - well maybe just their feelings!!

Our guide inside the caves - this little guy could talk and climb

So he made us climb up to the top of the caves, he said it wasn't too hard - but it was. And he was my (John)  anchor man. I told him if I fall I will take all 40kilos of you with me - he was sure he could sort it all out - and he pretty much did. No fall, plenty of sweat and a little bit of fear, drove us to the top for a great view.

one slip here and its fall to you death down into the darkness below, Ann is smiling but we where shaking a bit to.

View from the top of the caves

On another day we took the bike to Coconut island - it is joined by a bridge to kampot and hosts many little villages and farms. Again the roads are terribly muddy and filled with pot holes but it was a fun ride and great views. It was also nice to get away from everything and spend some time on the side of the salt farms listening to the nothingness.

Salt farms

Salt farms

this is the point where we went no further!! see why?

Essential riding gear - if it is not muddy it's dusty!!