We got a night bus from Siam Reap down to Kampot arriving at about
7am. We went for a breakfast at a cafe called epic arts cafe which is a not for profit cafe hiring and training only deaf cambodians. I had some banana pancakes which were so good and Amy and Becki had some disappointing eggs on toast, I can't remember what Katie had but I think she enjoyed it. We checked in to our hostel which is another of the Mad Monkey hostels, the same company that we stayed with in Siam Reap. We were staying in a 10 bed dorm and all things considered it was quite nice. It was so hot in Kampot so after wandering around the town for a while we spent the afternoon lounging by the pool with some friends we'd met in Vietnam that happened to be staying at the same hostel. Theres not much to do in Kampot but we all loved it. The town is so nice and relaxed and really pretty as well.
In the evening we went on a sunset cruise along the river to see some fireflies. The sunset was beautiful and the cruise was so lovely, but sadly we didn't see many fireflies, just a handful or so. We went for dinner with the friends from Vietnam as they had joined us for the tour. Amy, Becki and I had a Cambodian curry which was really nice but spicier than the ones we've had previously, Kate had some mexican food which she's been craving for a while so she was happy. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out at the hostel playing pool and then had an early night.
The next morning we had planned to go to a yoga class at a spa which employs and trains women coming from difficult circumstances. Sadly we got the timings wrong so we missed the class but we spent the morning pampering instead, Amy and I had back massages and pedicures and Kate and Becki had manicures and pedicures. The massage was fantastic and less eventful than the past two, I couldn't hear anyone slapping Amy about and she didn't bend me into any weird positions so it was a nice change.
After our pampering session we went to a cafe for lunch and then took a trip to the secret lake.
The secret lake was so lovely to just relax in and the surroundings were beautiful. Amy, Becki and I hired rubber rings and just floated around for a while before heading back to the hostel for dinner and a relaxed night in the hostel.
On the Friday we had a bit of a lie in, getting a bus at 11.30 for Koh Rong Samloem. The bus journey was about an hour or so and it was the most uncomfortable so far. Kate and I were wedged in the boot practically with no room for our legs let along our bags. Its safe to say that by the time we got to Sihanoukville (where we got our ferry from) I was very happy to get out. We walked down to the pier stopping on the way for lunch and got onto the boat at about 3.
The boat over to the island took about 45 minutes and dropped us off in Saracen Bay. From there another (smaller) boat took us the 20 minutes or so to our Hostel which is another Of the Mad Monkey chain and I will tell you all about it in my next post.
