First Night in Kampot

I was feeling a little bit frustrated with Cambodia on our second pass through Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville is a very touristy beach town that is also the portal to Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem. It was starting to seem like I just didn't like Cambodia all that much. But then we took a bus to Kampot.

It was similar to arriving in Da Lat. This town has a fair amount of tourism, so there is plenty to do, but it is so much more relaxed. People are not trying to take my money nearly as much, they're friendlier, and everything is also a bit cheaper.

We arrived without a place to stay, but the English woman we were crammed up against in the minivan had been here before and had some ideas. A surprising number of guesthouses were fully booked, but we ended up finding a place that I really like. It is run by an Italian couple that were unhappy with their lives back home and took a year to travel the world and find a place to settle. They picked Kampot and opened a guesthouse and restaurant. They have some adorable children, the first good wine I've had in SE Asia (handpicked by the owner's grandfather back home), and a really excellent restaurant.

The first event of the night was a river cruise. For $5, you got a beer, soda, or coconut, and a three hour sunset cruise. They took us upriver under one of the most incredible sunsets I've ever seen until dark, then turned around and showed us some interesting natural phenomena on the way back. There were trees full of fireflies and hordes of tiny fish that would jump whenever the Khmer guide shined his light on the water.

Both of us are under the weather right now, so we came back, had a delightful Italian meal on the balcony just outside our room, and made it an early night.