Up in the Heights

Back in Phnom Penh, sitting on the sofa, we can now tell you about the last two days.

Yesterday, it was incredibly hot in Kampot and very oppressive due to the high humidity. So, we wanted to take it a bit easier and relaxed by the pool in the morning. Since it is currently off-season and there were only 3 other guests in the entire hotel besides us, the manager offered us one of the private pools, which we gratefully accepted 😉

Around lunchtime, we wanted to go into town again and explore the area, but it was simply too warm to really do anything. At least, we visited the seahorse statue and a nice little restaurant.

Back at the hotel, we rented a kayak and paddled along the river branches under the palm trees.

Afterwards, we returned to the pool (this time the public one), where we stayed until dark.

The manager also offered to take us to Bokor National Park the next day.

As said, so done. This morning after breakfast, we got in with him, and he drove us up the mountain for a good hour while telling us much about the history of the buildings.

We were also surprised that way up high, almost at the summit, there were several really large hotels. He told us that these houses belong to a wealthy Chinese person. Subsequently, we talked about the Chinese citizens in Cambodia. Other Cambodians had already told us that there are regions where many Chinese people live. We also noticed this in some neighborhoods in Phnom Penh. There are only Chinese restaurants where the menus are only available in Chinese characters and not in Khmer or even English. This seems to really disturb many Cambodians, as predominantly rich businessmen from China buy up entire neighborhoods. Moreover, it seems that normal laws do not apply to them because they can simply buy their way out. As a result, Cambodians feel unfairly treated. Additionally, due to their recent past, they are generally more suspicious of foreigners.

Finally, he drove us back to the city, where we could take our bus back to Phnom Penh. Tomorrow, the usual madness at the clinic continues.