Kampot, Cambodia

Breakfast soup time :) 

8/13- Walked around Kep for a couple hours while we waited for our bus to Kampot, the neighboring town which is on the river and near the bay but not on it. Found an amazing Khmer restaurant on the other side of the street from the bus stop where we had sour beef soup and delicious wok fried eggs and warm baguette.

Sleepy downtown Kampot

Got into Kampot around 11 and rented a moto straight off to head up to Phnom Bokor. Ended up being one of the best things we've done in Cambodia. Bokor is a huge national park with beautiful mountains that take you up into the clouds where the air is at least 25 degrees F cooler and dense fog rolls in and out SO fast. 

The road to Bokor is akin the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier N.P. It's a full hour of perfect winding pavement through beautiful jungle with views of Kampot and the Gulf of Thailand below you. 

The summit has some old French colonial buildings including a Catholic Church and a casino perched on a bluff, circa 1900, which is one on the creepiest, most beautiful buildings I have seen. Reportedly the road was built by prisoners (I assume French) many of whom died during construction. The casino hosted many Chinese patrons, some of whom, after losing an unbearable amount of money, found their peace by jumping off the bluff to rest with the bones of elephants, tigers, gibbons, and other rare creatures that poulate the jungles of Bokor.

Chris got into full-nerd mode for the ride down by strapping the sony action-cam onto his helmet. The 125cc motorscooter we rented turned out to be a real piece of shit. After we got back into Kampot and had dinner the tire had run flat. I examined it closer and saw that it was worn paper thin. This, coupled with a clogged main jet in the carburetor and a broken speedo meant I was not in the mood to pay for a new tube. So I brought the bike back to the rental service and bickered with Captain Rental for a while Lauren and I ended up walking back towards the guesthouse. 


Stopped into a bar that was recommended to us and had a great time. Good people, sweaty dancing to Khmer music. Made it back around 11 pm (late for us), took a dip in the pool and passed out.