So, having settled in here for a week, we thought we’d
better do a trip to somewhere, just to show willing. Through Michael, we booked minibus
tickets to visit Kampot, the nearest town, which is said to have some lovely
French colonial architecture on a riverside setting. It’s about 45 minutes each
way, along the main road.
Our bus was due to pick us up at 10.30
from the bungalows so we were slightly surprised when a tuktuk rolled up and
the driver told us that he was to drive us to the bus station half a mile away. Not a problem.
We were then unperturbed, but again slightly surprised, to be told that the bus we
had booked was full – which indeed we could see was so. The sweating passengers
were patiently waiting in the bus on the forecourt.
We weren’t fussed – it was only a day trip for us on a whim,
we didn’t have a plane to catch or anything, we thought we could try again another
day once we had our money back. Eventually – several phone calls later - we got
our money back and the bus went on its way. This is everyday chaos and
confusion in Cambodia.
Meanwhile our tuktuk driver (Blue) said he could take us to
Kampot himself, so having negotiated a price, we accepted his offer. He assured
us that the road was now good enough for his little tuktuk to manage. So off we chugged - having filled the tuktuk's water container from a roadside pond to keep the engine from overheating.
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| A huge new road is being built between Kep and Kampot. It's as wide as the M1 but only has tarmac along a narrow strip in the middle. Whether you choose to drive on the left of the strip or the right, or indeed straight down the middle, seems to be arbitrary. |
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| On the journey we passed through lovely scenery - past lush jungle, productive wet paddy fields and mangrove swamps with a background of green mountains. |
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| Rice paddies. |
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| Creeks run up from the coast through the mangroves, and the fishermen, having been out at sea all night, bring their boats up inland in the morning to where their homes are. They sleep in the afternoon. |
To be honest, although it’s a picturesque journey, the town of Kampot was hardly worth the effort. Poor old Kampot is, as one of our fellow
guests said, “just another dusty Asian town”. Nothing much to write home about,
although the fruit shakes were good!
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| This is the centre of Kampot. It has aspirations to be Parisian, with a wide boulevard down the middle, but hasn't quite made it yet. |
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| You can just about make out the famous French colonial architecture under the tin roofs and tattered tarps, but it's a bit faded. |
After a couple of hours wandering through the streets, we
found Blue snoozing by the river and asked him to take us home. Still, at least
we got out for the day!
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| Back at the bungalows in Kep, Trevann admires the flowers in the tropical garden |
Today I've been taking pictures of the flowers:
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| Bananas never cease to amaze me with their red flowers and curious fruit formation. Why!? |
First red flower is a Coral tree (Erythrina spp.) from the Leguminosae. If its planted, its probably E. crista galli. The second one could the "Mickey-Mouse" plant, the name derived from the shape of the drupelet fruit- Ochna kirkii. Strange bush, seems to have both yellow and red flowers. The "berries" turn black. Again, could be planted.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark. Yes, both flowers were in the garden at our guesthouse so planted. The manager, Dara, was a keen gardener but only knew Khmer names. Less than a week to go now until we're back in the land of rain.
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