Did some travelling outside of Phnom Penh finally last weekend. Decided I needed the lie on the beach and just veg for a whole weekend. Had a long ride from the city to Kampot, an old resort town of the French colonials. It was a bit of a disappointment initially coming into a pretty boring bus stop area and staying in a not so ambient guest house. However, we discovered some of the charm in the evening as we dined by the riverside. Kampot was definitely more laidback than the hectic (not as much as Kathmandu though!) pace of Phnom Penh! We were also a bit disappointed because we weren't able to visit Bokor Hill Station (a Khmer Rouge stronghold in the 70's... supposedly very "atmospheric") because the Prime Minister was going there that weekend... so, our plans for the next day were shattered! Fortunately since I'm an easygoing girl, found some other activities for the next day which included cycling to a cave. Unfortunately, I am also a very poor navigator as many can attest to, and ended up lost on a straight highway. How that happens, beats me. But lost we were and 2.5 hours later, ended up in a really remote area where the cave was. The cave is called Phnom Chnnok, and it's really cool. There's an 7th or 8th century shrine there that's in really good condition because it's been sheltered by the cave.
These little boys took us around and showed us the animal figures in the rocks and then took us out in an obscure way which involved jumping and climbing over rocks.
After this much longer than expected bike trip, headed to Kep to meet another volunteer and eat a great crab meal! Perfect birthday meal! Next day headed to Rabbit Island, and pretty secluded island, 1/2 an hour from the coast by a slow boat.
Arrived there, got a bamboo bungalow and then explored the island. Got lost yet again, and had my sandals disintegrate on me (resorted to binding them with twine.. felt like i was a pioneer traveller) and 3 hours later got back finally to our hut. I was ready for the beach after that. Lazed around the rest of the weekend, great fun.
But very little vegging for most of the weekend. Really memorable weekend though... and I'm 27 now!!
