On my way to Kampot

At six o’clock in the morning, the van that was supposed to take me to Phnom Penh was parked in front of my guesthouse. My destination was Kampot, but since there was no direct bus from Kratie to Kampot, I first had to drive back to Phnom Penh.

More people were picked up on the way to Phnom Penh. As is the case in Asia, there were of course many more people on the bus than there were seats. Some had to either sit on wooden boxes or plastic chairs or share a seat with another person. I was lucky and had my seat and enough space, but on bus trips in Asia it can always happen that the trip becomes an absolute adventure.

After five hours we arrived in Phnom Penh. Since we stopped right in front of a supermarket, I went there first to buy something for breakfast. After that I took a Grab TukTuk which I drove to the bus stop. There I was able to easily book a bus to Kampot for the next hour. So I waited until it was 12 and then got on the bus to Kampot.

Three hours later we arrived in Kampot. There I took another Grab TukTuk, which brought me to the hostel. When I got there, I was able to check in straight away. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the hostel terrace. I couldn’t really do anything anyway because it kept raining.

Experiencing a true crime by myself

In the evening when it was getting dark, I made my way to a night market that was not far from my hostel. In the meantime the rain had stopped. What looked so cool in the pictures was actually quite disappointing. There was nothing going on at the market and it seemed pretty deserted. So I made my way back to the hostel.

On the way back, a Cambodian suddenly stopped next to me on his motorbike and said something in Cambodian that I didn’t understand. I just said „No, thank you“ as I assumed he offered me a ride with him. But he kept talking to me, but I didn’t understand anything, which I let him know in English, but he didn’t understand English.

I kept saying „No, thank you“ and just kept walking. However, he continued to ride his motorbike very close to me. I started to feel uncomfortable, which is why I was glad that the road was very busy and there were many other people driving down it.

Eventually the man let go of me and drove on, which I was quite relieved about. But after a few meters he came back and stopped next to me and spoke to me again. This time I just ignored him and walked on with quick steps. But then he started to cut me off. I started to feel more and more uncomfortable. Finally he turned and drove back a bit, but I could already see that he turned again and drove towards me. In the meantime there were no more lights on the street and everything seemed very dark and deserted. Luckily it wasn’t far to my hostel and all I could think of at that moment was „run“. So I started running and soon I could see the sign of my hostel.

When I got to the hostel I was visibly relieved. I didn’t see the man again after that. I was already afraid he might follow me to my hostel.

It was the first time in 15 months of traveling that I felt really unsafe. I think I was pretty lucky and it could have turned out a lot worse (or maybe I just listened to too many true crime podcasts).

Quizzes and burgers at the hostel

In the evening we had a quiz and burger night at the hostel. I took part in the quiz with a few British guys. The questions asked in such quizzes are always so random that you can only guess the answer. At the latest when it came to guessing songs, we were out because no one was listening. So of course we didn’t won.

Exploring the Bokor National Park

The next morning I got up early because I wanted to go to Bokor National Park. This was a bit out of town, so I had to drive for a while. At my speed, of course, it usually takes twice as long. In addition, it usually starts to rain in the afternoon, while the sun is shining in the morning. So of course I wanted to take advantage of the good weather.

I borrowed a scooter from the hostel, which I first used to drive to the supermarket. From there I made my way to the national park.

At the entrance of the national park was a huge gate. Really beautiful nature began right behind it, through which a 30-kilometer road led to the top of the mountain.

The route reminded me a little of the Hai Van Pass in Vietnam, however there were no viewpoints to stop at to take in the view as you were surrounded by trees all around.

I stopped anyway because the view of the mountain with the fog looked really cool. Just as I got off my scooter, I heard an animal come out of the bushes in front of me. At first I expected it to be a dog, but suddenly a monkey stood in front of me. I was totally shocked because the monkey wasn’t particularly small either. I also didn’t know if he was dangerous or not.

Then I put my camera straight away and drove on. I didn’t dare to stop the whole way. Again and again monkeys sat on the street or at the side of the road or they suddenly jumped out of nowhere onto the street.

The beautiful temples of the Bokor National Park

After riding the route for 20 kilometers I was pretty close to the top of the mountain. For the first time there was also a possibility to stop. This was the „Lok Yeay Mao“ monument, a Buddhist statue that actually looked pretty cool. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see anything from the view there because it was quite foggy.

After looking at the statue, I continued to the top of the mountain. The first thing I noticed there was that there were huge buildings like hotel complexes everywhere, but they were abandoned, which was very creepy.

Finally I stopped at a temple complex. This was really nice and the view of nature and the sea was very nice. I stayed there until the fog moved over the temple and you could no longer see the view. On the top of the mountain it was much cooler than in Kampot, but I found that really pleasant. So you could explore everything in peace without sweating all the time.

Exploring the nationalpark in the fog

From the temple complex I drove on through the dense fog. It wasn’t entirely without danger, because you couldn’t see any vehicles that were more than 20 meters away. I was also surrounded by abandoned, run-down buildings, which was pretty scary.

Finally I stopped at a church. If there weren’t any other tourists there I wouldn’t have stopped there as the abandoned church already looked very spooky in the fog. Behind the church was a small path that I walked up through the bushes to a viewpoint. Of course I didn’t have a view because of the fog.

The Popokvil Waterfall

I finally drove from the church to the Popokvil Waterfall. On the way, the fog slowly passed and the sun came out again.

An entrance fee of 2000 riel was charged at the waterfall. I had already seen in pictures that the waterfall is not that spectacular, but since 2000 riel is the equivalent of only 0.50€, I paid the entrance fee.

The waterfall was quite nice. First, a small river led through a forest where you could climb over stones. A little further on was the actual waterfall, which was a lot bigger than I expected. Nevertheless, the waterfalls I saw in the Philippines or in Australia were a lot nicer.

After exploring the waterfall, I had also seen everything that could be seen in Bokor National Park. So I drove the 30 kilometers back to the entrance gate. On the way I stopped again at the „Lok Yeay Mao“ monument. The fog had cleared by now, which is why I could now see the view of nature.

On the search for the Kampot River & Kampot’s Local Market

When I arrived in Kampot an hour and a half later, I wanted to find a nice spot on the Kampot River. I drove down the road that ran along the Kampot River looking for a place to stop. Unfortunately there was no access to the water at the river. I drove into a few side streets, where I discovered really nice corners of Kampot but unfortunately no nice spot on the river.

Eventually I gave up trying to find a place and went to the Local Market instead. I looked around there a little. I always find local markets interesting. I’m just fascinated by what people sell and how they do it. However, what I don’t like is the way meat is sold in Asia. Most often, the animal is taken apart at the market and then, for example, the head of a pig is placed decoratively. I’ve also often seen whole chickens skewered on the grill.

After visiting the local market, I drove back to the hostel. It was now just after five pm. and I was quite exhausted from all the driving. On this day I had already covered more than a hundred kilometers on the scooter.

In the hostel I then booked the bus and the ferry to Koh Rong. The next morning at 8 a.m. I was picked up by a TukTuk which brought me tot he bus stop. If you would like to know what I experienced during my time on Koh Rong, please read my next blog post Island Life on Koh Rong – Cambodia Travel Diary.