Kampot

My weekend trip to Kampot (which is in southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand) was a nice mini-vacation. It was nice to get away and play tourist for a while. We ended up doing an all-day hike up Bokor Mountain which I've wanted to do since last year when I was in Kampot. It was worth the $18 -for the whole day, lunch included...and the people at the hotel apologized for it being so expensive. A van came and picked us up from our hotel at 8:00 and us and the other foreigners went to the ranger station where we were all loaded into the bed of a truck. We then were dropped off somewhere and were told by our guide that "because of corruption we could hike the mountain." Translation: we were not legally supposed to be there but because of some shady deal the guide had some type of agreement allowing us entry. He then said if something happened to us, it wasn't his fault. Also, he told us not to complain because the hike was kind of hard. It wasn't bad, in my opinion. An hour and a half up a mountain to the truck (why it couldn't take us the entire way was lost in translation). At the top of the mountain was an old, deserted former-French town. We walked around it for a bit and then ate lunch. There was an AMAZING view of the Gulf of Thailand and the forest (landmines included) leading to the beach. This was also inhibited by the Khmer Rouge during the war. Our guide told us that after seeing his parents killed in front of him, he fled to the forest where he lived for 3 years by himself, before joining a faction of the Khmer Rouge that then fled to Vietnam to join their army in overthrowing Pol Pot. He also, sadly enough, talked about building bombs and killing his own people. I was shocked by his honesty and bluntness. We were then taken to a waterfall and when we arrived back in Kampot Town we went on an hour long boat ride down the Kampot River. Definitely a full day worth the $18.
After dinner with some of the people we met on the hike I realized how I've lost many of my manners (this I've suspected for a while, but rarely am I confronted with people who make me see this). We were eating with some Canadians and Australians, when one of the Canadians was telling us about how he got really sick when he was in Indonesia. Then- not thinking- I asked if he had diarrhea and what kind (I think I actually said, "was it a rice stool?" Appalling I know). He was shocked and looked visibly embarrassed. I then, of course, had to apologize. Need to remember that next time I meet nice travelers.
We then stayed at a really nice hotel (it had a pool) that was about 2K from town and on the Kampot River with Bokor Mountain in the background. It was absolutely beautiful. The owner of the hotel invited us (we were practically the only ones staying there) to go for a boat ride to the sea where we watched his son and the owner of a bar/guesthouse kite. For those of you who don't know, I'd never seen it before either, it is a board with a huge kite strapped to their torso and they use the wind to jump and go across the water- it looked like fun and dangerous if you've never done it before. Definitely random. Later we ended up watching a ridiculously stupid Halloween movie (the only movies the English speaking channels were showing because they love ghosts here) with the owner and his son. Definitely random, again. Yet, it was a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend.
Now I'm back at site. I did get new Internet so I now have it everyday. If something random should happen again soon, I'll post again....hope all is well there.