We sadly left Otres (goodbye Bunna, dogs, ladies who cooked delicious food) and our new Mum, Panith (our Guest house owner at the Golden Sunset) generously gave us a lift to another guest house at which we were to be picked up by a mini bus. A green Late 90’s Merc pulled up and we were pleasantly surprised to find leather seats, leg room and nobody else on board. But we should learn to never count out chickens, as approx 5 mins into our journey the driver stops on the side of the road and politely tells us we need to change to another bus as the one we were in Air Con was on the blink. Next bus rolled up and it was filled over capacity with locals, a stinky Frenchman, a scooter hanging out the back door and what smelt like somebody’s catch of the day. We all fit in, blocked our noses and hoped our bags didn’t fall out the back.
We arrived in Kampot, booked into the first guesthouse we were offered which was nice except I am sure the bathroom had never been cleaned but with AC and Cable TV you can learn to accept these things. After a quick rest we walked around town in search of the Teuk Chhou River, it was positively scorching until we found it and enjoyed the cool breeze it offered. The river was huge with tankers anchored within it, the ‘boardwalk’ was picturesque with green tidy gardens and white colonial French light posts. We ate a superb lasagna and made our way back via side streets flanked by old French architecture looking worse for ware and with modern twists of Cambodian nestled in between.
Teuk Chhou River
Examples of Kampot's French influence
Dave relaxing by the river
Riverside gardens
Kep - playground of war
Next morning we awoke early and caught a bus to the seaside town of Kep. Once the playground for Cambodian royalty and French holiday makers in the 60‘s. The 70’s brought the Khmer Rouge who decimated the town, the Vietnamese were happy to finish it off - apparently looting and destroying anything that was left over once the KR were overthrown.
It is so quiet that it’s hard to believe you are in Cambodia, it is so peaceful almost eerily so. There is a population of 4000 (tiny for Asia) and as we walked down the seaside road in hunt of the crab market we were confronted huge beach-front lots of land, occupied only by overgrown gardens and destroyed skeletons of what used to be houses. Unbelievably they remain un-cleared, un-demolished and overgrown with original stone fences still marking the lots - every single piece of land that faced the beach has still not been captilised for over 30 years since the war.
Remnants of houses by the seaside
Another house that was once beautiful, abandoned since the war
Amelia checking out the fresh catch of crab
Kampot crab market
