Relaxing the Weeks Away in Kampot

We’ve been in Kampot, a small Cambodian province of 50,000 people. Justin has some friends from Vermont that live here full time so we thought we might as well pay them a visit while we were in the neighborhood. Due to French influences in Cambodia, Kampot is a town filled with baguettes, cafes and European architecture with an obvious Khmer (Cambodian) flavor. The heart of town, where we are staying is centered along a long boulevard and the river front. There are lots of nice restaurants, with a large Expat community bringing many styles of cuisine to the table. So far we have enjoyed the best Mexican food we’ve had since we left, real Belgian chocolate croissants and real American cheeseburgers. Every few days we go to “mama’s” a traditional Khmer breakfast spot where we tuck into hearty organ, intestine and spleen soup. Yum, that’s one way to start the day!

Sunset on the river

More often than not, at least 6 hours of the day are spent in our favorite cafe where we leisurely sip fruit shakes, affordable cappuccinos and lunch. Reading, homeschool, postcard writing and trip planning are activities you could usually find us doing during the day. When it begins to cool off we head down to the local exercise park, a 15 minute walk down the river. It’s nice to use the clunky metal treadmills and weight lifting apparatus while watching the sun sink behind the hillside.
On the way back in the general direction of our hotel we often stop for drinks and dinner.

Yes, this is a pretty lazy lifestyle, but we have done some sightseeing during our time here.
Justin’s friend Phil showed us some amazing caves just outside town. There were large caverns, tunnels we practically had to crawl through and impressive stalactites. We could have gotten easily turned around, there was not shortage of tunnels branching off and weaving different directions. There were lots of bats in there too! The best part was that we pretty much had the place to ourselves, and we could go anywhere we wanted with no restrictions.
A few nights ago we took one of the many river boats that run upstream for sunset. We got to see Cambodian river life while enjoying some sodas and the evening light. The main attraction was apparently the fire flies- 3 or 4 little bugs about an hour away. The coolest part to me was going under the bridges. Over the course of the cruise we went under 3 different bridges, and I wasn’t sure we’d get under them at first! It was a pretty close call, see for your self!