Most Haunted

The next place we headed to was Kampot, a small town about 3 hours away. There were no buses going that way, so we had to hire a cab for the journey instead, but for about two pounds per person for a door to door service, you can't really complain. We did complain though, we were blatantly being ripped off.

Anyway. Kampot. Dead as a dodo. There's nothing going on here, although Duncan and I spent a nice hour or so wandering around the hot, dusty, dusty streets. It felt good. We were the only foreigners around and attracted quite a lot of attention. We checked out the local temple and the river - and, yeah, then we were done.







The guesthouse was super nice though. We had a nice clean room, with towels and a fan *and* en suite bathroom for - get this - 50p a night each. I think it's our cheapest accomodation yet. No Star Movies though.

So, the thing that everyone comes here to do is Bokor Station. It's this big hill, in the tropical forest that the Khmer Rouge used to inhabit. Right up at the top is an old palace, a derelict guesthouse, church and post office. The Rouge captured the people of the village, took them to the guesthouse and slaughtered them. Only recently has it been really safe to go up to the top. The Khmer Rouge were still hiding in the trees right up until 1993, capturing people that drove up the road.





It takes about 3 hours to get to the top on the back of an open top jeep. The dirt track up is terrible, having been all ripped up by tanks, and Eve and I had to hang on whilst being thrown about as our seats had no backs. It wasn't the height of comfort.



Anyway, when you get to the top, you're in the clouds and there's all this eery mist hanging about the dis-used buildings. The guide told us that the guesthouse was haunted with the souls of the people that had been murdered here, and you'd be totally excused for believing it and getting the serious creeps.





Looked about there for a while, had some lunch, kept an eye out for the wild tigers that live in the forest and then had the uncomfortable jeep ride down (the next day I felt like I'd been spanked by a large plank of wood.) An hour long boat trip down the Mekong finished the day off nicely, although we'd been told that we'd be able to swim. We weren't able to swim. We were a bit miffed about that (it's hotter than the sun here.) But all in all, a sore yet fun day.