From Kampot to Sihanoukville, Cambodia
Still in Kampot, it was not a good morning. Debilitated from diarrhea, I took a pass on this morning's breakfast and excursion. Jeremy and Stevie also felt ill. ex-Marine and group had breakfast at a little restaurant run by a handicapped association. The staff and employees were primarily deaf (hearing-impaired if I have to be politically correct). Breakfast was wonderful according to him. One of the best omelets he's had in ages. Then he went with off with the group on the tour while my Immodium and I communed in the hotel room.
They traveled by "remorques," an unusual form of transportation. It is based on a tractor-type contraption that looked like a flat-bed. A hot and dusty ride into the countryside. The group stopped in a village and visited several markets...View image....selling fish, chicken, fruit and other miscellaney.
ex-Marine could not believe the wads of American Dollars one seller was counting out in the market.
From there, they climbed 135 steps up to a cave with some images inside...View image...,
We left Kampot around 2:00 pm for the drive to Sihanoukville on the sea. Sihanoukville is Cambodia's premier beach town on the Gulf of Thailand. It is a place to unwind by the beach, enjoy fresh from-the-ocean seafood (not that I'm going eat any more seafood in Cambodia), take in a snorkeling or scuba trip, and generally slow-down, lay back and chill-out. Hope all this is true because Sam gave lots of warnings about locking everything up, not leaving valuables loose, etc.
Sihanoukville was constructed as a port city in the late 1950's but with the increasing number of foreign visitors, is trying to position itself as a vacation resort. Many tourists hire a motorbike, take boat trips to many of the nearby islands and also use Sihanoukville as an entry/exit point to Thailand. There are several beaches: Ochiatial Beach, Kos Pos Beach and Independence Beach. We are staying at the Jasmine Hotel across the road from Ochiatial Beach.
Tomorrow's plan is a 1-1/2 hour boat ride (in each direction) to one of these unspoiled islands for snorkeling and a beach lunch. I think we'll take a pass.
FACT: Before 1954, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam were called Indochina.
