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Ascending Bokor for no reason
In the morning we fell victim to the legendary "Asian Time" or Cambodian time as the locals call it (thats a lie). Being up, dressed and eaten by 7:45 ready for our tour, we were waiting for about a hour. Thats 30 minutes after we were told the driver was on his way picking up people. We were the first people in the minibus so maybe he was dreaming! About another 45-60 minutes later the bus was full to the brim as we started our 1,100m/32km ascent up to Bokor National Park which was used by the French as a hill station until the 1940's (it went on forever, it might be the highest I've been - cant quite remember - maybe Queenstown was much higher). The road up was easily the best we've been on, shame its not really used that much either. Im told between Tash and Wikipedia (or WikiTash for short) that 900-1000 prisoners who were building the road died during its construction. Twice a hotel/casino called Bokor Palace was opened and failed, the empty shell just sits there now with some amazing view of Phu Quoc island (the Vietnamese Island that I went to last year). There is now a company who have just completed a mammoth 4 star hotel, and have the plans to build 100,000 houses and a whole new town/city at its peak. Its hard to see how that will have its appeal, unless people can get work close by.
You would think with those quick few facts this was a interesting tour but in fact it was easily the most boring tour I've been on. Tash said afterwards that she didnt blame the tour company as there is nothing much to see up there; apart from the above mentioned, there is a derelict Catholic Church, a old and new temple, and a statue of "Mother May" a lady who apparently went out to sea to find her man that she wasn't allowed to be with (because he was from a poor family) but drowned on the journey which saved some other people (thats the quick version). The views are the best thing. Beneath the walls of the casino were dark green forests, not sure how much of that will be preserved. The provided lunch was some egg and veg fried rice, so I stuck to my bottle of water. Tash accidentally dropped hers on the floor when trying to avoid a wasp.
The best part was when we got back to Kampot town and it was all over! The day was then repaired by my first Flat white since the start of the month at Cafe Espresso. This little cafe roasts its own beans on site, a blend of Thai, Lao & Vietnamese beans. The lady said they stopped using Cambodian beans as the quality wasn't very good. So at least I now have answers on this! I had a Portuguese chicken sandwich - great but also presented a challenge to dig out some more Khmer food for the rest of the trip.
Dinner was at a locally owned restaurant. I wish I could remember the name of the dish, its only usually prepared on special occasions. Its a soup, containing garlic broth, with chicken and pork. It tasted different from most other broths I've eaten but after a few minutes I figured out why; its powered by Kampot Black Pepper, which some people consider to be the best in the world.
Dessert was at a ice cream/dessert bar over the road. I had green tea ice cream (usually its matcha, but this actually tasted of normal green tea) and some passion fruit sorbet, its was full of flavour (mouth is watering whilst I write about it!).
Another miniature gecko joined us before bedtime, making that 3 running around the room. I was woken up by Tash sometime later to say one had fallen off the ceiling and landed on my back. He didn't stop by for a chat and I still don't know his name.
Bowls of rice; 30
Hours travelled; 66
Geckos in our room; 3
- comments
Tom Clown!
Danka So, the best pepper corn? We like cooking with pepper...wink wink, hint hint ;-)