What a difference a day makes, Sihanoukville to Kampot (3 March 2013)

Time to move on from Sihanoukville and wend my way further around the Cambodian coast to Kampot. The are no regular buses on this route, but there is the option of a shared mini bus which I book at the Cool Banana Travel Shop for the princely sum of $5US. I know, I could have got a taxi... Bearing in mind this is an almost two hour journey and some 110kms, I was wondering how the economics panned out in an eleven seater minibus, $55 is not a lot for the petrol, the driver, the luggage loader at the Sihanoukville end and the depreciation on the minibus, to say nothing of the wear on the tyres on the really rough roads and the frequent replacement of the horn from continual use... It was not long before I found out. We left the Cool Banana almost full, not bad I thought a couple of empty seats. Some dream.... We then stopped up the road and the empty seats filled up. On our way at last I thought..... Some dream. We stop again and three more people were waiting. But no matter, out came all the bags from the back and the boot area turned into three very small jump seats which they struggled into, their knees up in their faces. Rather them than me... But of course the luggage still had to go back in, so they packed it on the narrow six inch ledge that was still left and proceeded to tie ropes around it so it was sticking out the back like the bustle of a Victorian lady's dress, with the door almost at right angles held closed with yet more rope. No chance of the advertised aircon then with the back door completely open!



We all breathed a sigh of relief and hoped the roped in bags, quite a lot with what was now 14 people, wouldn't be left trailing along the dirt roads. My only consolation was that my bag, being a more regular shape was on the bottom, with the irregular shaped backpacks jigsawed together and piled on top, I was hopeful that if it did all go horribly wrong mine would be the last out and someone would have noticed by then! At last, much later than advertised, we set off. Some dream... We stop yet again at another guest house in the back streets where two hopeful looking French people were waiting. A mutual giggle and "no way" reverberated around the bus. The door opened and they proceeded to shove two large backpacks almost on the knees of the passengers in the front row and then indicated that everyone move up a bit so four people could now fit on three seats, especially difficult as these were larger than normal French people probably wishing they hadn't eaten that last baguette... But it proved to be the straw.... With many emphatic shoulder shrugs, a few "zut alors" from the French and an unbelieving "Kampot, comme ca?" followed by many Charles de Gaulle "non's", saw the Cambodian equivalent of a Mexican stand off. Offering to take them "tomorrow" instead" was, surprisingly, not acceptable. And now the rest of the passengers chipped in saying they had paid for one seat, not a bit of a seat so please sort it out. In a country where French is routinely spoken, the exception seems to be Sihanoukville. So with a Danish girl translating the many phonecalls from English to French she eventually was able to tell the French people that another minibus would come for them in ten minutes. We left them there with their luggage in the road, no idea whether the second minibus actually turned up, but I haven't seen them here yet...


Apart from the rather bumpy ride over roads damaged by the last wet season, we arrived late but safely in Kampot. And the journey was with the benefit of "natural aircon", with all windows and the back door open it was like travelling in a force nine gale generated by a hairdryer.



But what a contrast to Sihanoukville. I've been here a couple of times before and not much has changed apart from a monstrosity of a hotel being built on the Riverside, by the design, it looks like Chinese money. Local town planning is still run by the power of the dollar (or should that be yuan renminbi?) rather than sympathetic development I think. It's still a sleepy small Cambodian town, full of rubbish and run down old colonial French buildings. A few soapdodger places offering cheap beer and the odd guest house. It's known as being a safe place where not much happens, until about three weeks ago that is. A young French woman went out on her bike at four o'clock one afternoon and never returned. She was found the next day in the river.... The Cambodian police continue to investigate. Such a pity for a place with such a gentle reputation, and needless to say I am being over cautious, sticking to the main riverside and not walking out at night.
But that's no hardship. I am booked into Rikitikitavi a lovely place on the river. Six rooms downstairs with the bar restaurant upstairs overlooking the river and the Cardamom mountains in the distance, it was originally an old rice barn which has been restored sympathetically by two Brit's so still lots of old dark beams around. The restaurant is fantastic, really good food, beautifully presented. This place is expensive for here so I am paying the grand total of £28 a night B & B with a lovely room, modern four poster bed with a comfortable mattress (a first so far this trip!), modern designer type bathroom - although the why why at £2 a glass does bump that up a bit!


So I while away the days here wandering, reading, soaking up the atmosphere. Watching the old couple in their row boat of an evening letting out their fishing nets and planning my next move towards Vietnam. I plan to cross at the Ha Tien border crossing and my biggest issue so far is to find some sort of continuous transport, most reports talk of having to get a moto (i.e. small motorbike taxi) from the border the 8kms into Ha Tien town to get a connecting bus. This I want to avoid... I'll keep you posted!


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Location:Riverside Rd,Kampot,Cambodia