15th February: Kampot, Cambodia

Today was an admin day. We’ve booked all of our accommodation and transport for the rest of the trip now, so we can hopefully have a bit more relaxation time without always having another place to book. I’m trying to teach myself to chill again too after getting a bit carried away with trying to get everything done, whilst simultaneously not really having much energy.

It was time for a special treat for ourselves for lunch. Luckily, Kampot has quite a few good food options. It’s very, very warm and muggy again and just from walking to the restaurant we had sweated right through our clothes! My brain was clearly still frazzled as I was expecting pancakes (which weren’t even on the menu) but had apparently ordered dumplings. Luckily, these were really tasty being filled with tofu and veg and served with both soy and sweet chilli dipping sauces. Kaja had yuba amok and we both enjoyed a pineapple smoothie.

That was it for the day! We had planned to go kayaking but didn’t have the inclination to do so in the heat and with limited headspace to travel out of town to the calmer tributaries. We would’ve liked to explore more countryside around Kampot but downtime won. We needed it.

We’ve both suffered a few more mosquito bites today. They seem to be everywhere in Cambodia and especially Kampot, much more so than we’ve experienced elsewhere. It is likely to be our southernmost point, so hopefully they’ll become less common again as we head back north. Sometimes the bites are immediately painful from Tiger Mosquitoes but otherwise they catch you unaware and only start itching and swelling once the little bastards are long gone. We’ll have to start using the mosquito spray during the day too rather than just around dusk and dawn, I think.