Heeeeeeey Brother….

Don’t take the bus in Asia!!

Don’t do it!

There are no rules of the road!

They drive like maniacs!

So many bus accidents!

I took the bus to Kampot. Between the driver swerving around dangerous bends, moving into lanes where he was facing oncoming traffic and a few toilet rest stops along the way I made it. Shaken. But I made it. It was the first time I had arrived somewhere after dark, and understandably, I was a little leery. I was in a town I didn’t know and my hostel was way too close for me to justify getting a taxi to it. I hightailed it, running (or wobbling with my 80L Osprey) towards my home in Kampot.

Kampot is indeed a small town. That much was very very apparent in the 3 minute run from the bus stop to my hostel. At 8pm nearly everything was already closed, the locals already turning in for the evening and the tourists preparing for their next day’s excursions. I was the last to arrive at the hostel for the day. For this town, I decided to venture into the area of homestay type hostel. I had chosen Park Inn, which set me back a whopping €4.25 per night. The owner Sokheap welcomed me with a smile and a “You must be Barbara”. I was instantly charmed. The dorm was a little basic, there was no running hot water at all and they definitely played Avicii ‘Hey Brother’ more than 50 times during the 4 days I stayed there but I loved it anyway.

Queen of the Mountain… Err Park..

After recovering from the previous days’ journey, I made the mistake of booking a tour to go an explore Bokor Park. Don’t get me wrong the park, which in fact is actually more mountain than park at its elevation of 1081 metres, is absolutely beautiful. I loved visiting it. From certain points you could see the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc, and from others you could see miles and miles of fresh untarnished vegetation. The park is absolutely massive and could easily take you days to explore every facet of it. From Waterfalls, to an old abandoned French church, an abandoned palace summer house and the Bokor Hill station (which was used in the movie city of ghosts), there’s so much to see to fill your time. My mistake was booking a tour to do so. The tour cost me $21 to do, and included a (too brief) visit to the park and a tour to see La Plantation.

The latter location is a peppercorn farm. The town of Kampot is famous for producing some of the world’s best peppers. In fact, it is one of the few foods in the world that has been awarded the Protected Geographical Indication status by the EU, meaning that any pepper calling itself “Kampot Pepper” must be able to show that it is in fact from the Southern Cambodian areas of Kep and Kampot. Basically, the pepper is shit hot (pardon the pun). It was interesting learning about everything that went into cultivating the peppers, from the nutrients needed in the soil, to the eventual picking and harvesting.

Following the tour I returned back to the hostel, a little more knowledgeable, a little bit disappointed in the Bokor Park experience and sun burnt. After talking to a few people in the hostel, it made me realize that my tour in Bokor was way too brief and that I needed to go back to see all of the things I had missed. The following day I joined my new friend Kim in renting a moped to travel back to Bokor and explore.

Bokor Mountain

I was once again committing the cardinal sin of operating a vehicle that I wasn’t licensed to drive. But as they say ‘When is Asia…’. Riding the bike was just as terrifying and exhilarating as it was in Chiang Mai. The hill climb was a lot steeper, and turns were way sharper, but I managed to stay on the bike the whole afternoon. Here, on my own time, I was free to explore and stop at wherever I wanted to in Bokor. It was amazing. High at that elevation, both at peace and at war with myself. Peace came to me in the calmness of the breeze and the relative stillness of the vegetation. War in the chaotic jumping of my thoughts.

In choosing to travel for a long period of time, I had chosen to essentially take a break from everything for 6 months and that was not limited to work. I had chosen to take a break from working, my usual social life, routine, my PlayStation, everything. I had never been left to my own thoughts for such a long time before. I had none of my home worries to dwell on, so instead my mind had expanded to think about other things. I would be constantly thinking about and challenging general social norms with information of things I had seen or come across. In travelling, I had engaged in more political and societal conversations from people from all parts of the world than I had ever had in my previous 26 years of living. It was amazing. It was annoying. At 26, without my own consent, I could feel myself morphing into a different version of myself. Not someone massively different, but different enough that I knew that when it was time for me to go home others would pick up on it.

There, at the top of Bokor mountain I thought of all the times I neglected to explore the beauty of my own country and made my own vows to explore the endless beauty of Ireland when I got home. After hours of travelling around the park, Kim and I eventually left and made our way back to town. That evening I learned to play many different card games, of which I can only remember one; Bullshit. One thing I have learned while travelling; Someone always has a deck of cards and a game of Bullshit can go on for hours.

Climbodia

The following day saw me try to recapture my glory days in Krabi of Rock Climbing. Kampot itself is a very chill town, there’s not much to do here, but the people are sweet and the atmosphere invites you to want to stay “just one more night”. Discovering that I could go rock climbing here was the cherry on top of what was an already amazing area. In fact, I later found out that this was the only certified rock climbing area in Cambodia.

I was up stupidly early to make my way to the rock climbing site. Unlike Krabi, the searing heat in Cambodia doesn’t begin until later in the day, so I had chosen to start in the morning. The climbs were definitely easier than Krabi, or maybe I was just stronger this time around. Unlikely, but a girl can dream. Along with climbing we actually scaled the side of the mountain (via ferrata) and also trekked through some caves and abseiled down from high points. It was definitely scarier than the Krabi climb. Maybe because there were more people rock climbing in Krabi, safety in numbers and all that jazz. In any case, I completed the day, satisfied with my climb and slightly irked at the destruction of my €50 Under Armour leggings.

The rest of my time in Kampot was spent reading, writing and learning new card tricks and games to play. All too soon, I packed up and headed towards the Cambodian Islands of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloen. Coming to Cambodia, I had no idea that the country even had islands, but travellers’ whispers demanded that I skip Sihanoukville (which was a dirty beach town filled with dodgy casinos apparently) and head for the islands. I once again hopped on one of those dreaded buses and made my way to Reef on the Beach.

Until Next Time,

Babs