So what is your perspective of life in Cambodia? Ours was way off. A lot of effort was put into planning the path through what we thought was a poverty-stricken country with generally poor roads and little in the way of accommodations and amenities. We had decided to get through Cambodia and plan for a longer stay in Thailand. Cambodia is a country recovering from a fairly horrific recent past (half of the population is under 23) with a government that is rated as the second most corrupt in Asia next to North Korea. All in all expectations were low. Little did we know...
It was good to get back on the bikes. I'll admit Phu Quoc Island was getting to be a little too cushy. Wake up - whenever, saunter down to the beach and plunk ourselves in a chair to order breakfast before pondering what kind of day we are to have: beach day or tourist day. After ten days it was high time to spin some wheels.
Another high-speed ferry took us back to mainland Vietnam then it was on to the border which is always a bit nerve-racking. Entering a country as corrupt as Cambodia had us proceeding extra cautiously. The visa office was a 4x8 shed beside the road with one window and two guards inside, one processing visas, the second merely watching. With visa in hand it's over to the passport control centre, a nicer shed, a little bigger with a covered veranda, a few more guards on hand, one processing passports, all the others sitting around a table with some tea. And in short time we were over the border without issue. I would have taken a photo of this strange set up but you and I both know how that would have turned out!
Our first few kilometers in Cambodia were noticeably different from Vietnam: no horn blowing and lots of greenery. Google's blue dot (Google Maps) took us down a road that ended into beach. We ended up riding right through a little village bustling with lots of Saturday morning activity. All eyes were on the two aliens passing through with their two-wheeled spacemobiles. There was lots of giggling, choruses of childrens' "Hello"s and much back-n-forth commentary (in Khmer) as we passed by. Kep, our destination city, was in sight a little further down the shore so we pushed on through the beach sand - not over, through. All of a sudden, a bunch of little children appeared out of nowhere, gathered around Leigh's rear wheel and helped push the bike down the beach as if it were a game (at times getting a free ride by hanging off the rear pannier rack!). It was a completely heartwarming experience that I struggled to capture on film while pushing my bike alone with one hand and filming with the other...but hey, don't worry about me kids, I'll do just fine thank you very much! Please check out the photos of these kids. It's a priceless memory for us.
Kepmandou, the guest house we booked in Kep was a mind-blowing surprise, one of the coolest little joints we have seen yet. It's basically a big tree house with a bar and rooms upstairs and down. Great staff, great food, reggae muzik playin' all day mon, lots of cold beer on tap, $1/mug, within our first hour we booked an extra night, three in total at $8.00/night. The tour of the Buddha caves was very cool, as was the swimming cave but the horseback riding to a Buddhist temple and a butterfly farm - just us and the guide - was the highlight of our first few days in Cambodia. It gets better. We're now staying just outside of Kampot at another guesthouse called The Greenhouse. Chill, relaxed, friendly, laid back, even somewhat groovy, describes this place well. A nice big open-air lounge on the Mekong river with individual grass huts all around. We took the kayaks out today to explore the river a bit. I'm going to have a go at a paddle board tomorrow. But not until we get our morning latté and pain au chocolat. Again, we booked an extra day here as well.
Our tour de gastronomie continues in Asia! We've been sampling the unique style of traditional Cambodian fare like Fish Amok and Loc Lac from different restaurants. I haven't had food this good in quite a while. And it tastes even better at about $2.50 a plate.
Rather than get "through" Cambodia, we're getting into it.