Getting to Kampong Thom
We continued our trip towards Siem Reap and had decided to spent 1 night in Sambor Village in Kampong Thom, a good 2.5 hour drive from Phnom Penh. Reason was that we wanted to visit Sambor Prei Kuk on our way to Siem Reap and doing the transfer as well as the visit of the temple site in one and the same day, would be a bit too much.
During the transfer, our driver (the same one driving us to Kep) ate grapes or berries that he had bought along the way. The entire trip, we enjoyed the sound of nibbling on the fruit. You might think it was annoying, but at the same time it was also very funny. He also had 2 half pineapples under the seats in his car, not sure why…
The ride itself was again an experience. Even if there were fewer trucks and the road was much better than what we were used to, the overtaking was still incredible. Luckily the breaks of our car were working well.
Our hotel and surroundings
Our hotel in Kampong Thom was more basic than the ones we had the previous days, but it was more than sufficient for 1 night. The Sambor Village accommodation consisted of little villas, each with a porch. The pool was not so clean, so we decided to skip it. The hotel also provided bicycles for free, so we decided to do a little tour to discover the surroundings. It was a real adventure, especially since my legs were a bit too long for the bike (I had encountered the same in Thailand).
Everywhere we passed, the children shouted “hello” while waving to us. How nice was that ! The only thing that shocked us was the rubbish that we found along the road. It was much worse than in the capital. But it has to be said that the city was also making efforts to improve the infrastructure, they were building a pedestrian promenade along the river and that would make the area more attractive. However, it is clear that there is still a lot of work to be done!
We had new pets tonight. The wall of our villa was full of little gecko’s. We did not manage to take nice pictures of them because it was a bit too dark. Luckily, we had already a picture from the restaurant earlier that evening. I really love those animals, a pity that they were quite shy! But I left my suitcase open, with a lot of luck… :-).
The food in the upstairs restaurant was very good. We ate green curry and beef lok lak (with black pepper sauce). The latter had become one of my favourite dishes during our holiday. The dessert… caramelised banana with ice cream was to die for 🙂
