The road to Kampot

And so the proper travel begins in earnest! As lovely as Koh Chang was it was a week of R and R and if we were under any illusions that Cambodia would be the same they have been swiftly shattered. We have already crossed from one side of the country to the other and it is as beautiful as it is beguiling, as chaotic as it is charismatic and the people are as friendly as they come!

We left Koh Chang after a final night at the old Riddim Shack, having shared a few too many beers and not enough of the beautiful barbecue Barracuda that David had laid on for us all. It was sad to leave Koh Chang but we clambered aboard the ferry and a few hours later we made the crossing into Cambodia. We were probably a bit too polite for our own good here, as two locals persisted in completing our paperworks they and then locating a taxi for us, all in all paying over the odds for both. Apparently though no trip to Cambodia is complete without getting ripped off once or twice, so we now have a badge of honour and a different mindset moving forward (probably for the best with Phnom Penh coming up!)

Our little friend from the border then proceeded to try and take us to the best guesthouse in town town and arrange our onward travel for the next day. It's fair to say we'd had enough of him by that stage so with a firm no and directions to the selected hotel of our choice, we bid him a not so fond farewell and booked in for a night in Koh Kong. To say Koh Kong is a one horse town would be doing single horses everywhere a disservice, but it did afford us our first glimpse of Cambodia proper. As we sat by the river watching the sunset over neighbouring Thailand it was hard not to smile at the constant clamour going on by the water. Our new favourite game was who could spot the most people on a single scooter, which turns out to be 5 (so far). We also had a much nicer Khmer gentleman approach and arrange our travel for half the price we were quoted by the shills at the border. To this we accepted and hit the hay pretty early.

The next morning we boarded our bus (picture people carrier instead of coach and your there), our only fellow passengers two lovely Khmer ladies who could hold a surprisingly lengthy conversation with no English but a big smile. Off we set along the Cambodian version of the M4, but with fewer potholes and worse overtaking, until about a third of the way there when the bus gave an almighty rumble and rolled to a halt, luckily in a small village that had a guy who knew how to fix it. We guessed it was either clutch or break by the flapping noise that was made when the driver was testing the pedals, but for peace of mind I maintain it must have been the clutch. Anyway, after 15 minutes we were on our way again.

Obviously one of us had not crossed their fingers hard enough as about an hour later a different but still terrifying noise brought the bus to a shuddering stop on the side of the road, this time in the middle of nowhere. As we hopped out it was plain to see one of the tyres was shredded to bits and had ripped the mudguard clean off. Step forward smiley Khmer lady no.1 who produced a rather large selection of knives from her bag, handed one to the driver who proceeded to cut off parts of the shredded tyre and then partially deflate it before giving the order to set off again! What followed was laugh or you'll cry 45 minute spell as the tyre knocked against the underside of the bus with every revolution, before disintegrating further and reducing us to a speed of no more than 20mph before a spare tyre could be found. We must say all this time, despite no common language our fellow travellers shared the joke with us, even pointing mockingly as a bus full of western tourists passed our stranded vehicle on the roadside!

The rest of our journey was pretty uneventful and we barely had to slow down at all after that, save for one moment. A rather large, mud splattered pig came ambling out of the roadside bushes and proceeded to amble (at its own pace!) across the road. So far we have learnt that people, chickens and cows respond to the beeping of a car horn but pigs however do not. Despite some rather rampant hooting of the horn this pig was taking its time and luckily our driver managed to apply the breaks before the front of our van was turned into a butchers window!

Never the less it was one way to see Cambodia, and it all seems a minor inconvenience as we lay in the hammocks at our guesthouse in the sleepy town of Kampot...the aptly named Blissful Guesthouse.

Later in the evening we paid a visit to the Kampot Traditional Arts School where we caught the children there practising Khmer dance and song. It was so beautiful, we were pretty disappointed we only saw 10 minutes worth, that was until the lady in charge told us that the next night was the big performance to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the school and we were welcome to come along! We were talking with the children and they asked us to take a poster back to our guesthouse. All in all a long day with a great ending, we'll let you know how the performance goes.... so glad to be getting our art/performance fix so soon in the trip!

Love to you all, speak soon and don't worry, we're doing fine xxx