Friday 21st October 2022
This morning we caught the 9am bus from Phnom Penh to Kampot. We went with Pacific Express rather than Virak Buntham for this journey.
It wasn’t the most relaxing start to the day. The day before yesterday we’d dropped our laundry at the hotel, they’d told us it’d be ready the following day. Yesterday that changed to 8am this morning. At 8.20am it was finally done (though still damp) – so a mad rush to pack and get to bus station on time!
Unlike Virak Buntham, Pacific Express didn’t have a dedicated waiting room, so we sat in a couple of chairs in the general office area until the bus departed. This one was also clean and comfortable, although there was very little room for luggage. Fortunately it was very empty (just one other passenger when we departed) so our rucksacks got their own seats.
We arrived in Kampot around lunchtime, and were dropped off by the quirky looking Durian Roundabout.
We found a money exchange to change some of our GBP into riel, then went to Marina Italian Restaurant & Deli for lunch. We shared a sausage sandwich and a piadina (kind of like a very thin margarita pizza) between us. The sausage sandwich was especially tasty! We shared a chocolate cake thing for dessert, which was also pretty good.
We were staying at Sabay Beach, a few miles outside of town. We were originally going to climb the mountain about 30 minutes walk from the hotel, but we’re slightly put off by the guy at check-in telling us we’d need to take big sticks to beat away all the dogs. Apparently they all chase after you barking, but won’t bite if you have big sticks to scare them off with!
Shortly after check-in, it started to rain – the beginning of a thunderstorm. That made up our minds for us. I read my book in the treehouse in which we staying (the middle floor was open to the outside, but sheltered, so a pretty cool place to observe the storm!), while Pete got a tuk tuk to the money exchange in town (annoyingly, despite being a bit more of a high end hotel, Sabay Bay only accepted cash so we wouldn’t have enough for dinner – we’d only changed £60 earlier as tomorrow is our final day in Cambodia and we don’t want loads of riel leftover when we leave).
When Pete returned, we went to the bar for a couple of beers before dinner – it was a beautiful view over the river.
For dinner, we ordered a beef lok lak and a chicken with honey and ginger between us. As we finished eating, the torrential rain resumed, so Pete used this an excuse to order banana fritters for dessert (it was a massive portion!) and I had an Amaretto. The food in the restaurant was very good, and worth the slightly more expensive prices (mains were around $8, or more for western food).
We waited for the rain to ease slightly, before heading back to our treehouse, where we chilled out for a bit and video called both our parents before going to bed.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 