The ride from Kampot town to the park entrance took around thirty
minutes. The road curved around leading up the mountain. It was raining when we
began, but as we drove the fog took over obstructing much of our view. We stopped first at an old abandoned
Catholic Church. The rain and fog made the beat up and graffitied building even
more erie. Bright green moss covered one of the walls.
Our second stop was
either an old palace or an old casino, depending on who you ask. It was
obviously once very opulent. It had been raining all morning so the inside was
wet with puddles that stood up to a few inches deep. The reflections of the
light from the windows on the puddles were beautiful. Surprisingly, there were
families sitting on the ground in there having lunch. I explored the many
floors alone apart from the group. I was on the top floor looking out when I
noticed several of them in their Easter egg colored ponchos making their way to
the car. I tried unsuccessfully several paths to make my way out. When I
arrived last at the van they were already discussing who would go in to find
me.
Our next stop was a "waterfall." There was a large building with
people inside eating at picnic tables. We found out later they didn't serve
food there, so all of those people had brought their own elaborate dishes in
styrofoam containers. You could hear the rushing water from the path. When I
saw how wide the river was I was excited to see the falls. Sadly, the path
stopped at the top of the falls so you really couldn't see anything. I'm still
shocked they had built such a large building to have at this site and that so
many people were gathered there.
We got back in the van and it was still raining.
We asked the driver what else there was to see around the area. Having heard
about a damn, he got on the phone with his friend to figure out where it was.
He timidly drove the roads leading to the damn, obviously not really knowing
where he was going. This may have been the creepiest of our morning
destinations. There were more of the swan boats siting on the water, neglected.
It was foggy over the body of water, it was hard to tell how large it was.
We
raced back to the van as not to get the seat that was falling apart on the long
ride back to the city. I wouldn't say it was a morning wasted, but it is not
how we thought we would be spending the day. I think I got some good pictures
and we definitely had some laughs.
By the time we arrived back in Kampot it was almost three and we
were starving. We sat down for lunch at The Rusty Keyhole. The sign said
"best ribs in Kampot" and it came highly recommended by some other
volunteers. Out front they were basting and grilling large hunks of meat. It
smelled delicious. Jen and I split a "toasty" (a grilled ham and pineapple sandwich) and the ribs. I ordered
a large water and she had a beer. The food was amazing and there was a lot of
it, the total between us was $9.50. I highly recommend it!
We had time to kill so we walked around town in the rain. I had
seen a sign at the restaurant advertising a sustainably and responsibility made
clothing store, so when we passed it I made everyone go in. I got a $10 t shirt
with a graphic of one of the prayer boxes printed on the front. It was more
expensive than items sold in any of the markets, but I appreciate their
mission. We strolled through town a it before having dessert. I had a banana
cream pie and small coconut cookie for $2.25. Both had great flavor, although
the cookie was a little dry. As we were walking back to the Mad Monkey to catch
a ride home the fishing boats were headed out for the day. The colorful boats
travelled in a pack under the Kampot bridge and past town.
We hoped in the van for home. After only a few minutes, the
driver stopped in the middle of an intersection. He hopped out and two young
men jumped in. As the first driver waved his goodbyes, I couldn't help but
think "what the hell is happening?" I worried we were involved in a
scam or worse. We drove about ten minutes in the correct direction and my
nerves calmed a bit. As soon as I was feeling more confident, we pulled over
again. Our already full van was picking up what seemed to be a hitchhiker. He
settled in comfortably in the front seat with the young man who I hope he
already knew. They were in for a long ride sharing a bucket seat. I was still
concerned, but considering the language barrier all I said to the driver was
"Phnom Penh?" At first his expression said no, but then he nodded
yes. I looked to my travel companion, Rannva to see if she and I shared these
thoughts. She responded to my worried look with an enthusiastic "This is
Asia!!" We drove anther
thirty minutes and dropped one of the front passengers off. The other guy took
a brief stop to grab a snack at a food stand selling a variety of fried
insects. We drove another hour before stoping on the side of the road again,
this time for two bottles of water and a pack of gum. As soon as we arrived in
Phnom Penh, we had another dilemma, did these guys know where we were going?
The answer soon became obvious. At this point I was no longer nervous about
being kidnapped but rather only about how to give directions to someone with
this language a barrier. We handed them a card with the information of the star
house. The talked back and forth with one another before making a phone call.
We soon arrived in a familiar area. These guys obviously didn't know where we
were going because they pulled over to ask directions. When they did I took
matters into my own hands and propped myself on the bench between them. I gave
directions by pointing with my arm, left, right or straight until we were
firmly home in front of the star house. These poor guys had to listen to us
freak out a bit at every stop and to us singing to music until our speaker ran
out of juice. Afterward they blared music of their own. I didn't much like most
of it, but the Cambodian rap song that came on toward the end of the ride was
catchy. I'm sure they will be telling stories about us about as long or
longer than we will be telling stories about that ride.
$5.25 Omelet with Kampot pepper and water$9 $80 van split for the day to the mountains of Kampot
$4.75 Lunch at The Rusty Keyhole Toasty, Ribs and large water $9.50 split 2 ways
$2.25 slice of banana cream pie and a cookie
$10 $90 van back to Phnom Penh split 9 ways
Today's Total: $31.25
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