Our next stop from the beach was Kampot. I forgot to mention that we met this great English couple in Sihanoukville who we happened to get on the same bus as, going to Kampot.
We caught up with them a few times over the next couple of days. The trip to Kampot went smoothly and only took about an hour. We took the first guesthouse we could find because many were booked out.
We thought we should get in sightseeing almost straight away and booked a day trip to the Bokor National Park for the next day.
Kampot was a small town and very easy to get around and get familiar with. We really loved it there. In the early evening we caught up with the English two for drinks and then again with them after dinner.
For dinner we went to a place called the Green Man, where we met the owner who was a Irishman called Derrick. Derrick had had the bar for a month and had moved from Southern China, needless to say we got some good tips from him. He advised us also about some places to go in Laos.
We got up reasonably early the next morning to go to Bokor National Park. When our vehicle arrived it was a dual cab ute. We thought, ok so there is only going to be a couple of us. Then more and more people turned up. So 10 of us to one ute, you guessed it we were traveling Cambodia style, piled in the back.
7 in the back and 3 inside. I took the first shift on the back for the trip up there and Matt had inside and we swapped for the rest of the trip. It wasn't so bad in fact a bit of fun.
The main part of the trip was to see an old run down casino, school, hotel,post office and church. The french built them up there as a retreat to get away from the heat. During the Khmer Rouge time and then the Vietnamese warring with them, they were partially ruined.
What makes them so appealing now is that the mountain they are on stayed covered in fog for most of the day, making it feel very eiree and intriguing. The group with us were all very nice and we had some good conversations also.
The rest of the day consisted of lunch, a visit to King Sihanaukville's old palace, a jungle trek and a boat trip back to Kampot.
We moved hotel in Kampot to be closer to the river. We moved to a place called the Little Garden Guesthouse and Bar. It was really nice. For the rest of our time we explored the town, exchanged our books organised our trip back to Phnom Penh and hired a moto.
We went for a drive to a coastal fishing town called Kep. It was a nice drive and we had some seafood meals along the water. After lunch we headed back to Kampot. On the way back we saw an elephant by the roadside. I was so excited i made matt turn around and go back. We hopped off and watched it for a while (it had people on it).
Kampot came to an end all to soon and with the end of Kampot we knew we were spending our last days in Cambodia.
Our trip into Cambodia started with the distrubing sights and ended with one as well. The guesthouse we stayed at had a little puppy, who was so playful and cute. We always gave him a pat and play. Anyway, the morning we left he followed us out onto the street. We were waiting for our bus and he ran across the road and was playing with a lady street sweeping. The next thing you know I looked up to see a 4WD and him under the back wheel. It was a horrific sight. He was yelping and we didnt' know what to do. We ran over and he was looking so sad and didn't get up. I tried to tell the people around where he was from. In the end the street sweeper picked him up and took him to the gate of the guesthouse.
His leg was badly injured. It was suprising he even survived the impact at all, he was so little and the car so big. I cried and kept picturing the scene all day and it made me sad. Hopefully only his leg was injured and he will be ok.
