Blissful I dreamed, blissful I got!

I arrived in Kampot on a somewhat cloudy Friday morning. The local bus dropped me of at the riverside road overlooking the river and some of the sweetest little eateries and shops in this town.
The first thing that struck my mind was sheer calmness of the streets, away was the buzz and insanity of the streets of Sihanoukville and Pnom Penh. My heart instanly knew there was something about this place that would cling on to one's heart and get stuck there like a loved one.
And I fell in love! I did....with the town that is. It inevitably is the calm that surrounds this town from the people to the traffic which is but dissolved leaving the streets a beautiful sense of calm and dessertion. The people offer you the honest of smiles where ever you go and can't help but strike up a friendly conversation loaded with intrigued questions and to exchange experiences and culture.

The man hiring me a bike couldn't help but smile when I returned on my bike asking for the lock to the bike that seemed missing, "there is no need for a lock" he said and smiled. Things here don't dissapear  he said! And so right he was. Here you walk down the street and driver will strike up an honest conversation with you and not even mention of hiring the tuk tuk.
Now did I mention the town is covered in mountains and a beautiful river?
I am sure this is where the people rub off on that friendly , laid back attitude as the surroundings are flowing with karma just pouring down the mountains covered in green lush jungle, they make for an awesome sight!
Couldn't resist trekking up on one of them. Having arrived approx 1700m high up the Bokor mountain to the Bokor Hill station, I was rewarded with some breathtaking sights covering hundreds of miles and some rich yet cruel history.

Now the Bokow Hill station served as a French (bastards) colonial resort built in the 1920's by the Khmer slaves for the rich and powerful, later on overtaken by the Khmer rouge to serve as a stronghold and execusion site for some 400 000 innocent victims. Well you know the story if you bothered to read my earlier blogs =)
Today deserted and a ghost town, bearing the remnants of the cruel history through it's shattered windows.

I ended up staying 4 nights in this lovely town, where I found the sweetest of rooms at the blissful guesthouse (proper name) and the coziest of restaurants in Wunderbar, set by the riverside and covered in great big sofas and armchairs to sink in. I came back here every night for dinner and a drink as well as to chat with German- Swiss owner and the Khmer waiters. I apparently made the waiters day as I left a 2$ tip for the friendly service and the honest smile, explaining the next day that the average income is some 30$ a month so this meant a lot of money to him. Hah, so I tipped him another 2$ the same night again...doesn't seem right for me to be able to spend 5$ on a meal, when that same amount is a weeks wage to some! Oh and did I mention that from the next day I was his favorite customer....hmmm I just might return to Kampot one day. Can't help tp feel at home here so to say!