Bye Cambodia!

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As promised, after the last update, I dug up my jacket from my backpack, and went and walked through the city of Kampot. I was getting tired of playing card games and sitting inside the hostel for the entire day. They’ve got weird houses in Kampot. Houses that are only a few meters wide, but quite high, and ridiculously long. And they don’t put houses next to each other, so there would be nothing for quite a while, and then suddenly a weird house like that. It looked a little strange.

Continued my stroll, and then came past a school/orphanage/thing where a couple of kids were playing outside. As soon as the first one noticed me, everyone stopped playing, and started looking at the almost-2-meter-tall Dutch guy. Some of the kids even ran towards me, asking me to shake their hands. As soon as I shook all of their hands (and they thanked me in the usual Asian way, by some kind of bow, witht heir hands together) I went back towards the hostel. Those kinds of moments are one of the things I love most about traveling. No touristic event, not being with other backpackers, but just being with the actual locals. And I have to say, the locals that don’t try to sell you anything are really nice.
That evening I joined the British crew again. And the bar crew. At the end of the evening, the bar crew was more drunk than anyone else, and they had a great time for themselves, dancing instead of pouring drinks. And they were all really nice!

The next day I ended up renting a Moto, because I needed to do something, and I saw enough hostel for now. I pretty much immediately missed my exit from the main road, so instead of the pepper farms that I wanted to go to, I ended up in Kep. Which is a nice village close to the beach, but because of the bad weather, I didn’t end up staying there long.

After leaving Kep, I went to try to get to the Pepper farms, but unfortunately due to the rain of the last few days, the roads had become horrible, and I didn’t trust my Moto or myself to survive the dirt road that I had to follow for a good 10 kilometers. So instead I went to the nearby caves, where I walked and climbed around.

I arrived back in the hostel around 3PM, because I had booked a bus to Sihanoukville which I didn’t want to miss. Originally, the plan was to go to Koh Rong, a beautiful Cambodian island, but because of the weather and the storm that was coming up, the ferry didn’t go, and if the ferry would’ve gone, there would’ve been a good chance that I’d be stuck there for a few days. So I ended up going to Sihanoukville, so that I still saw some of Cambodia. I went there with Megan, one of the Brits, and when we arrived there, we met up with a gigantic group that Megan had met in Siem Reap before, and I met one of them before in Siem Reap as well. The next two days we spent with that group.
That night, we ended up going to a jungle rave. During the raining season (or at least, during rain). Which was quite interesting. As soon as it started raining, everyone just carried on what they were doing. Screw the rain. When I got home that night, I was soaking wet, but I had a good time, so it was well worth it.

The next day everyone chilled out the entire day. It was a rainy day again, but I still walked around Sihanoukville for a bit. Went to some beaches, strolled around some small alleyways, and got some food (for anyone in Cambodia or planning to ever go there, eat Amok. A coconut curry, local dish, and delicious).

That night, we went to the local ‘cinema’ with half of the group. Or well, it was more like a house with a couple of rooms with huge screens, and a harddisk full of thousands of illegally downloaded movies where you could choose from. I was one of the few people that actually watched almost the entire movie, because most of the others fell asleep halfway through.
The next day, I had booked a bus to Phnom Penh, because that would be the fastest way to get my visa for Vietnam. Megan joined me for breakfast, and she went back to Kampot, because she got her visa for Vietnam from there. We decided to probably meet up again in Vietnam, but for then we both went our separate ways.
When I got out of the bus from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh, two French girls approached me, asking if I had internet on my phone, because they didn’t have a clue where to go. I invited them to join me to go to my hostel from the week before, where I already had a booking. When we arrived at the hostel, most of the crew recognized me, and I had a nice chat with quite a few of them. Later that night, I was invited by the French girls to join them to go visit a friend. I didn’t have any plans yet, so I joined them. But then I found out there were two friends, and they were both French. Which resulted in the 4 French people speaking French all the time, and me sitting there awkwardly. Luckily, I randomly met a girl I knew from Siem Reap, and a guy I met in Sihanoukville, so I had some conversations in proper English, which was nice. So, note to self, don’t join 4 French people if you’re the only one that doesn’t speak fluent French. When I heard enough French for the day, I walked back to the hostel.
Today (the next day) I booked a night bus to Ho Chi Minh city, collected my visa for Vietnam, and I plan to have a day just for myself. The past few days, I was non-stop with people. Not that I don’t like being with people, I love being with people! But sometimes it is nice to have a moment for yourself. And if I feel like company in a few hours, I just go to the bar. But for now, it’s time to sit back, relax, and read a book.