Kampot

Day 15
Wow! That us the first time that I have been woken up by a bird nesting in my hotel room!
We grabbed some breakfast and meandered around Sleepy Hollow, not much seems to happen in Kampot, the highlight being a bridge that was demolished by the Khmer Rouge now rebuilt in a mishmash of styles clearly from two or maybe three engineers who never communicated from either side of the river. Feeling thoroughly lethargic we mustered up enough energy to harass an equally unenthusiastic tuk tuk driver to take us to Phnom Chnong, a cave out in the sticks which was hijacked from nature by Hindus in the seventh century and turned into a temple. After an hours ride up a dirt road we arrived near the temple site where a small band of children whooped in delight as our carriage halted they all wanted to be our unofficial guides to the cave and after much debate we asked all of them to come along but explained that we could not pay all of them. To be honest without any of them we would never have found the cave anyway. Half way there we were intercepted by moto-monk bouncing along a dusty field to relieve us of a dollar each and to sign the visitors book. Not really how English Heritage do it but then they don’t have seven year old tour guides and Buddhist monks. The kids rallied us to the temple post haste as it was nearly closing time but they let us go round after hours. The many steps up the cliff were testing in the heat however our youthful companions cheered us along.
The temple was an anticlimax to be fair. It was much more fun to meet the kids who were so poilte, cheeky, good fun and innocent just like kids should be. One little girl called Tia or something like that asked if I was a monk pointing to my haircut which was kinda cute. Speaking to them they all had big dreams of what they wanted to be when they left school. Doctors etc. Was high on the preferred professions. On the way back we laughed and joked with them Tia telling me she was my friend and shaking my hand every twenty yards and teaching me how to say your my friend in Khmer. A couple of the boys were very good at English and one had a smattering of French. All of them loved going to school and English lessons were high on their favourite subject. One lad found a surprise near a tree and tried to hand it to the girls who were having none of it, so a handful of leaves in clenched fist were passed to me together with a small part of an ants nest of some rather large red ants! Kids!
Nearly back at the tuk tuk we stopped and held an impromptu English lesson and emptied our pockets of batteries, chewing gum and all the Riels we had, save for the money we had promised the driver.
The kids were definitely the highlight of the trip, however our day was about to take another turn....
We left the hotel to have dinner around half 7, thinking of another quiet night in the tiny town of Kampot. Standing outside a restaurant on the waterfront we heard an Australian man saying he fancied the baby back ribs with Kampot pepper for dinner, I, being the sociable person I am, who can also never resist a conversation about food starting talking to him and his assistant. And that is how we got take out for a very posh dinner by a millionaire! The chap was very nice and chatty, he was in Cambodia doing charitable work with the school kids there. He builds classrooms, sorts out water supplies and is generally a very nice guy.