12th February: Kampot, Cambodia

We were woken by our resident alarm clock, the gecko that lives behind the curtains. Breakfast and coffee were had on the balcony whilst I also spent some time writing until the heat built to be too strong. It’s very hazy and humid today, so much so that the hills around town are almost entirely obscured.

The skies clouded in for afternoon, although this didn’t feel any less hot and sticky. The tide had flowed in up the Sangke River, and a stiff breeze rippled at the water’s surface. A giant seahorse sculpture spurted water from the embankment, although much of the spray was blowing back onto the shore today. On the far bank, a giant clock face complete with swinging pendulum told us that it was lunchtime.

We decided to have a treat today from a place Kaja had found a short walk across town. Obviously (!), we had a smoothie each – thick and fruity mango and a healthy leaf eaten in Cambodia. It’s such a treat to be able to have fresh fruit like this every day. Next, we shared a banana blossom salad with peanuts, tempeh, and garlic. For the main, we took a curry. Having shared those, we hoped to have room for dessert! I wanted to try the baked banana, which was fairly plain with sweetened coconut milk on top. Kaja’s choice was a shaved ice concoction with an amazing array of ingredients including candied ginger, jelly, mango, banana, and coconut. It was all delicious, but we were now almost too full to move!

Zig-zagging our way back, the sun light darted down the dusty streets. Deep pink flowered giant-crepe myrtle trees were backlit spectacularly in the golden glow. Bird noises could be heard from speakers on roof tops all around town. We think this must be to attract swifts to build nests and then sell them for bird nest soup.