There Is A Party In My Mouth And Everybody's Invited
MILESTONE: I'm away from home for 31 days. I must be having fun, because time is flying out here.
In Kampot, there is a small cafe which is called the Epic Arts Café. Today, I almost not went into this place because I wasn't sure they were serving food. As there is no way of mourning an undiscovered treasure, it's difficult putting into perspective how much of a loss that would have been to this trip.
The Epic Arts Café employs disabled people, most of them with limited to no hearing abilities. They offer drinks, breakfast, lunch, scarfs, bags and bracelets. You order by checking a paper with a pencil and you communicate through smile and gesture. The food is amazing, it's right on par with what I ate in Battambang, the drinks generously poured and the atmosphere is terrific. It's dead quiet in there, no music but the talk of guests and the monosyllabic sounds that some of the staff use to accentuate what they are saying. Still the place is full of life and activity. The walls are brightly colored and you can see your food being cooked as you wait. Most people come to Kampot for the Ghost Village in the mountains or the pepper being sold here. The Epic Arts Café has to be one more reason to come here.
And there is another one: The Kampot Music School For Orphans And Disabled Children. Unfortunately, I'm here during the weekend, so I'm unable to see the public rehearsals on weeknights. I took a stroll inside the building, it looks great and I have little doubt it'll sound great as well.
Taking The Tour
15 Dollars in Kampot get you about 3 high-priced meals, 10 low-priced ones, and it gets you a tour to a ghost village, a waterfall and a boatride on the river.
At about 8:45 I got in a minivan with 10 other people, including the driver, and we set out to a place called Bokor. In the van I started talking to James -27- from England. We spent the day talking about traveling, giving each other tips and hints for what's to come, and we both just 'went along with it' today, because there was little else to do. We were expecting to see a ghost village up on a mountain, but things were kind of dodgy right out of the gate because we were driving on what must have been the best road in Cambodia, leading straight up the mountain.
The first thing we came across was a sandy parking lot, next to a gigantic statue of a woman staring out to sea. Next to the hill leading up to the statue were 3 and half a house being consumed by time, weeds and graffiti. Turns out the big giant statue is interesting for Cambodians, the rotting houses for "the rest". These houses were part of a French settlement during colonial times, but were abandoned when 'Nixon US came here'.
Nixon US is the Cambodian name for Operation Menu. at the time a secret
bombing campaign authorised by then president Richard Nixon. The goal
was to bomb the entire Laos and Cambodian border with Vietnam, in an
attempt to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which the Viet Cong were using
as supply lines. Never before, and after, was so much ordinance dropped
on a region for so long. And never before has so little ordinance hit
the ground without exploding, effectively making the entire region a
death trap for the locals. Some say here that 200.000 Cambodians died
during the bombings and people will be dying for a long time thanks to
undiscovered bombs lying around somewhere, waiting to go off.
The good road situation was swiftly clarified after we stopped for our last available toilet. Our minivan pulled itself over next to a 'development showroom', which had a scaled model for a gigantic resort which is under construction here. They were building a toll house to start asking money for road usage next month, so we dodged a tiny bullet there.
Bokor is a National Park making it even more mindboggling to see that a parcel of land for a house costs 300.000 dollars, there is a huge hotel (ultimate setting for a remake of The Shining) being built with 450 lavish rooms, a casino, a lift for getting to and from the valley real fast and all other sorts of junk. Now this place is basically abandoned houses, rainforest, a waterfall and a weird statue (more on those in a second) all tied together with a high-tech road and it's a National Park.
Next stop in this hill of construction horror: The Church
Ideal for a horror setting, this place was frequently used as a hideout for homeless people, but no longer as there is a sign that says that you can't sleep there anymore.
If you believe that, I'm sure you're nice and all, but also sort of an idiot, be it a fixable idiot.
Up next: The Abandoned Casino.
The Casino is pretty much a grey concrete building, which could have been anything from a school to a factory. About fifteen minivans were parked in front of this thing and everybody was having a picnic.Very cozy.
The place is being renovated, thanks to none other than former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarko dropped by here a few months ago and urged the Cambodians to fix this place, as it was - to his mind - a hazard to the heads for visiting French tourists. Big attraction was not the casino, but the deep ravine that had you looking over the jungle, dramatically revealed or concealed by the clouds moving under you. Enjoy it while you can folks, because if the owners have their way it's going to look like a Western suburb in a decade or so.
Then it was lunchtime near a waterfall. Lunch was fried rice, nothing wrong with that. Lots of things wrong with the waterfall though, as it's massively polluted by plastics and other chemical junk. The rapids before the actual waterfall betray pollution as the produce a white/yellow-ish sort of foam, which kids use to play around with. The actual waterfall is quite steep and visitors are allowed to literally stand in it, so no Niagara Falls type of safety precautions here. It all boils down to: You jump and/or slip = you die. Nice and simple.
We finished up our lunch and headed back to town. I can't say that I liked what I've seen today, but in the meantime, if this is a National Park, I can't wait to see how ugly and for sale the regular parks are.
The Karaoke Story And More Boats
The day ended in a boat ride on the river. It was nice, easy, quiet and scenic. There were about 15 people on the boat and the atmosphere was enjoyable. Floating plastic was there too. And a swimming cow.
Also today, I picked up a story from James about karaoke.
Karaoke, in Cambodia, basically means that you go out with some friends (if you're male). Walk into a karaoke bar and you wait. Then about the same amount of girls show up and every guy 'picks' a girl. The night then involves a lot of drinking, off tune singing and the very explanation of why every condom being sold in this country has the image of three guys singing karaoke on it.
This post may contain some inaccuracies thanks to the wobbly English being spoken by guide or local throughout the day.
MILESTONE: I'm away from home for 31 days. I must be having fun, because time is flying out here.
In Kampot, there is a small cafe which is called the Epic Arts Café. Today, I almost not went into this place because I wasn't sure they were serving food. As there is no way of mourning an undiscovered treasure, it's difficult putting into perspective how much of a loss that would have been to this trip.
The Epic Arts Café employs disabled people, most of them with limited to no hearing abilities. They offer drinks, breakfast, lunch, scarfs, bags and bracelets. You order by checking a paper with a pencil and you communicate through smile and gesture. The food is amazing, it's right on par with what I ate in Battambang, the drinks generously poured and the atmosphere is terrific. It's dead quiet in there, no music but the talk of guests and the monosyllabic sounds that some of the staff use to accentuate what they are saying. Still the place is full of life and activity. The walls are brightly colored and you can see your food being cooked as you wait. Most people come to Kampot for the Ghost Village in the mountains or the pepper being sold here. The Epic Arts Café has to be one more reason to come here.
 |
| Epic Arts cafe |
And there is another one: The Kampot Music School For Orphans And Disabled Children. Unfortunately, I'm here during the weekend, so I'm unable to see the public rehearsals on weeknights. I took a stroll inside the building, it looks great and I have little doubt it'll sound great as well.
Taking The Tour
15 Dollars in Kampot get you about 3 high-priced meals, 10 low-priced ones, and it gets you a tour to a ghost village, a waterfall and a boatride on the river.
At about 8:45 I got in a minivan with 10 other people, including the driver, and we set out to a place called Bokor. In the van I started talking to James -27- from England. We spent the day talking about traveling, giving each other tips and hints for what's to come, and we both just 'went along with it' today, because there was little else to do. We were expecting to see a ghost village up on a mountain, but things were kind of dodgy right out of the gate because we were driving on what must have been the best road in Cambodia, leading straight up the mountain.
The first thing we came across was a sandy parking lot, next to a gigantic statue of a woman staring out to sea. Next to the hill leading up to the statue were 3 and half a house being consumed by time, weeds and graffiti. Turns out the big giant statue is interesting for Cambodians, the rotting houses for "the rest". These houses were part of a French settlement during colonial times, but were abandoned when 'Nixon US came here'.
 |
| Abandoned house |
 |
| Weird lady statue |
The good road situation was swiftly clarified after we stopped for our last available toilet. Our minivan pulled itself over next to a 'development showroom', which had a scaled model for a gigantic resort which is under construction here. They were building a toll house to start asking money for road usage next month, so we dodged a tiny bullet there.
Bokor is a National Park making it even more mindboggling to see that a parcel of land for a house costs 300.000 dollars, there is a huge hotel (ultimate setting for a remake of The Shining) being built with 450 lavish rooms, a casino, a lift for getting to and from the valley real fast and all other sorts of junk. Now this place is basically abandoned houses, rainforest, a waterfall and a weird statue (more on those in a second) all tied together with a high-tech road and it's a National Park.
 |
| 'Progress' |
Next stop in this hill of construction horror: The Church
 |
| Abandoned church |
Ideal for a horror setting, this place was frequently used as a hideout for homeless people, but no longer as there is a sign that says that you can't sleep there anymore.
If you believe that, I'm sure you're nice and all, but also sort of an idiot, be it a fixable idiot.
Up next: The Abandoned Casino.
 |
| Abandoned casino |
The Casino is pretty much a grey concrete building, which could have been anything from a school to a factory. About fifteen minivans were parked in front of this thing and everybody was having a picnic.Very cozy.
The place is being renovated, thanks to none other than former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarko dropped by here a few months ago and urged the Cambodians to fix this place, as it was - to his mind - a hazard to the heads for visiting French tourists. Big attraction was not the casino, but the deep ravine that had you looking over the jungle, dramatically revealed or concealed by the clouds moving under you. Enjoy it while you can folks, because if the owners have their way it's going to look like a Western suburb in a decade or so.
Then it was lunchtime near a waterfall. Lunch was fried rice, nothing wrong with that. Lots of things wrong with the waterfall though, as it's massively polluted by plastics and other chemical junk. The rapids before the actual waterfall betray pollution as the produce a white/yellow-ish sort of foam, which kids use to play around with. The actual waterfall is quite steep and visitors are allowed to literally stand in it, so no Niagara Falls type of safety precautions here. It all boils down to: You jump and/or slip = you die. Nice and simple.
 |
| Waterfall |
We finished up our lunch and headed back to town. I can't say that I liked what I've seen today, but in the meantime, if this is a National Park, I can't wait to see how ugly and for sale the regular parks are.
The Karaoke Story And More Boats
The day ended in a boat ride on the river. It was nice, easy, quiet and scenic. There were about 15 people on the boat and the atmosphere was enjoyable. Floating plastic was there too. And a swimming cow.
 |
| House on stilts |
Karaoke, in Cambodia, basically means that you go out with some friends (if you're male). Walk into a karaoke bar and you wait. Then about the same amount of girls show up and every guy 'picks' a girl. The night then involves a lot of drinking, off tune singing and the very explanation of why every condom being sold in this country has the image of three guys singing karaoke on it.
This post may contain some inaccuracies thanks to the wobbly English being spoken by guide or local throughout the day.
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