Along the Mekong in Kampot

After a short 2 hour bus journey we found ourselves in the quaint river town of Kampot. We decided to do something different with our accommodation here and instead of the usual hostels we hit up a hippy set of bungalows on the rivers edge.

We had a garden bungalow that consisted of a bed, a thatched roof and a huge mosquito net. Our bed was above a pond and set amongst plants and trees. The bar and common area was afloat on the river and was super chilled all day and into the evening. There was a much older crowd here, with a lot of people having a mid life crisis as apposed to my quarter. The drugs on use here was pretty visible with everyone taking chilling out to the max! I even felt a bit over dressed with my western brands so changed into my hippy vest tops and embraced the growing of my beard over the next few days.

With time being so short in Cambodia we are having to cram a lot into two weeks. We had one and a half days to explore the town and local area. In the first afternoon we hit up the small town centre. Not a lot going on here other than fishing on the river. A lady at our hostel told us to hit up a cinema that shows Cambodian films and documentaries on its tragic past.  We booked ourself in to see the killing fields film, based on the true stories of two journalists, its worth a watch.

Our second day started early with breakfast on the river. We then caught a tour around the local Bankor mountain. We visited some old buildings up in the mountain where fighting took place between the Khemer Rouge and the Vietnamese.  Up in the mountainous building's clouds would roll in and cover the land so you couldn't see more than 30 ft in front of you. 

Once the clouds disappeared you are left with a fantastic view of the town and sorounding forest area, where gorilla fighting and mine plantation took place up until 1998.

That evening we took a sun set cruise up the Mekong river. We saw the local fishing boats come in as the sun disappeared behind the mountainous landscape. With another early start tomorrow we chilled by the river with a few beers as the communal air thickened with the taste of green smoke.