Day 44

Kampot > Phnom Penh

After another early wakeup from the sun, I got out of my hammock and got ready to leave. Saying goodbye to the dogs, I hopped on my scooter and headed towards the rental place which I barely remembered where it was. After no inspection he gave me back my passport (phew) and I headed towards the bus office which luckily was only a couple minuted away for my bus which I was about an hour early for. I dumped my bag and went to find some breakfast. I ended up in a nice little café and went for some ramen and a brownie.

We boarded the bus and headed towards Phnom Penh. Unlike some of my recent journeys, this was very uneventful. We arrived and I ordered a grab tuktuk to take me to my hostel as I didn't want to walk an hour. I was able to check in about an hour early, and rent a scooter directly from the lobby. I change into some trousers and ride out towards the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. The ride out was definitely interesting, but I feel as if I've adjusted to the chaos of driving in South East Asia. Not only was there loads of traffic, but the road was under construction so I was weeving betwen cars on a dusty gravel road all the way.

When I arrived I paid $6 for the entry and audio guide and went round. This was the 2nd half to S21 that we went to a few days ago, and was where prisoners were sent to be executed. There wasn't as much to listen to or see as S21 and it was eerily peaceful but seeing the mass graves and the glass walled stupa filled with 1000s of skulls and bones was very somber. I grabbed a mango smoothie and sat for a while before riding back to the hostel.

I was in dire need of a haircut as it had been about 2 months and the sides were getting pretty messy. I walked about and very quickly found a barber who would cut my hair for $2. I've actually never been to a barber before in my life so explaining what I wanted to a Cambodian barber was fun. I got the sides cut shorter and the top tidied and he did a pretty good job, except that he cut pretty high around my ears which was an interesting experience.

I met an Irish lass called Vanessa in my dorm and it was both our first days here so we headed up to the rooftop bar / restaurant / pool together to explore a bit. I go for a swim which was really nice under the night sky with the colourful LEDs shining over the pool then go and chat with Vanessa for a while whilst enjoying a Cambodian beer. We head downstairs and play a couple games of pool where I make some incredibly lucky skillful shots but end up losing both games (because I am awful at pool). Getting hungry we walk towards the night market for some food, but it was almost 11.30 now and most places were packing up. We find one place who just were open enough to cook us some food.

When we head back to the hostel the bar had closed. Being the old man I am, I was thinking it was a perfect opportunity to go to bed. Vanessa wanted to head to a bar for "1 drink" so I went along with it. 4 hours later it was 4am and we had met this guy from Savannah, Georgia who had lived in Vietnam for over 10 years and was full of so many interesting facts. He was also fairly drunk and kept buying us drinks and shots. The bartender was a super cool Welsh / Australian dude who let Vanessa pour some Baby Guinesses and let's people play whatever music they like. Throughout the night we talked about so many different things and listened to so much music I had never heard from so many times and genres it was pretty mad. I was tired by 2am but 4am is where I called the limit and paid my tab and headed back. After showering I fell asleep almost instantly.Read more