The night I slept in the tree was my last at the homestay on the Vietnamese beach. A friend of the family gave me a lift on the back of his motorbike to the hostel in the main town where I planned my journey to Cambodia and went on what can only be described as a street food RAMPAGE as it was my last chance to street-eat in Vietnam. The next morning I caught a mini bus, a ferry, a taxi and a bus from Phu Quoc Island to Cambodia - an experience I was dreading as I'd heard the borders were rife with scams however my journey was surprisingly drama free - hooray! I arrived in Kampot, a sleepy riverside town, in the afternoon and almost immediately got chatting to a Swedish girl who joined me for dinner that night and then we watched a film in a little makeshift cinema. Meals with complete strangers have become the norm for me now; I have no problem inviting myself out with other travellers that I meet however I guess I'll never know if they were about to invite me or not!
The cheaper, more scenic way to explore the area, like many places, was to rent a moped so with my new Swedish friend on the back I drove to the nearby fishing town, Kep. We visited the crab market where women were manning stalls piled high with cooked squid, shrimps and whole fish on sticks and then made our way to the dock where we caught a wooden boat to Rabbit Island. Although noticeably rabbit free it was a serene, coconut palm fringed island and we ordered noodle soup whilst watching the trees swaying in the breeze; suddenly a giant, green coconut zoomed down from above narrowly missing the couple in front of us. Beware: coconuts kill!
After a relaxing day on the island we got to the mainland and started to get on the bike to go back to the hostel. It was at this point, after spending 24 entire hours with the Swedish girl, that I suddenly realised I didn't even know her name!! Luckily she'd just realised the same and we laughed about it. When you're meeting so many people all the time it's easy to forget names however the more time you spend with an 'anonymous' person the more awkward it can get when you finally have to admit that you don't know what to call them! On the way back we visited salt fields which they cultivate for...err, well you know...salt. That evening we went out for more than a few Klangs (cheap Cambodian copy of the Thai beer, Chang) rendering us pretty much useless the next day apart from going for a meal with a bunch of people from our dorm room.
This fruit was the last new thing I was able to try in Vietnam - almost reptilian on the outside and incredibly sweet and sour at the same time.
The view from the balcony of my hostel, The Mad Monkey, in Kampot.
The cheaper, more scenic way to explore the area, like many places, was to rent a moped so with my new Swedish friend on the back I drove to the nearby fishing town, Kep. We visited the crab market where women were manning stalls piled high with cooked squid, shrimps and whole fish on sticks and then made our way to the dock where we caught a wooden boat to Rabbit Island. Although noticeably rabbit free it was a serene, coconut palm fringed island and we ordered noodle soup whilst watching the trees swaying in the breeze; suddenly a giant, green coconut zoomed down from above narrowly missing the couple in front of us. Beware: coconuts kill!
The crab market.
Rabbit island.
We also enjoyed a $5 Khmer massage on the beach.
After a relaxing day on the island we got to the mainland and started to get on the bike to go back to the hostel. It was at this point, after spending 24 entire hours with the Swedish girl, that I suddenly realised I didn't even know her name!! Luckily she'd just realised the same and we laughed about it. When you're meeting so many people all the time it's easy to forget names however the more time you spend with an 'anonymous' person the more awkward it can get when you finally have to admit that you don't know what to call them! On the way back we visited salt fields which they cultivate for...err, well you know...salt. That evening we went out for more than a few Klangs (cheap Cambodian copy of the Thai beer, Chang) rendering us pretty much useless the next day apart from going for a meal with a bunch of people from our dorm room.
There were no sign posts and after seeing pictures we were expecting piles of salt so I drank from the field...just to check. Yep, definitely salt...
LISETTE. Her name is Lisette.
Sipping a salt field! ha! you made me laugh Jennifer!!...you definitely will be snapped up for a traveller's review role as all your words/blogs/photos are just what all those potential future travellers want to learn about x
ReplyDeleteI couldn't resist having a taste!
DeleteThank you, I only write for family and friends at the moment but it would be great to have a travel related job one day! X