January 6, 2015

Lucky for us, our final day in Cambodia was a full one. Our flight didn’t leave until midnight (Saturday) so we had plenty of time to savor our last hours. We had arranged to leave Kampot on a Giant Ibis bus so we had an entire morning to do some last minute wandering. We had breakfast at Les Manguiers (I can’t turn down delicious jams and baguettes) and rode bikes to the neighboring village, Kampong Kreang. We rode by the village school which was bustling on a Saturday morning and we also stopped to admire the village wat. Everyone in the village was extremely friendly; we were constantly being greeted with smiles and shouts of “Hello!” especially from the school kids.

duck crossing!

bicycles at the village school

entrance to the wat

secondary entrance

ornate village wat on the Kampot River

the road leading away from the wat

cycling on the dirt road into town

We rode our bikes into Kampot and I made some final purchases from Epicarts. We still wanted to eat at Espresso Cafe and this time we were in luck! The food was great! We lamented the fact that we couldn’t eat more off their menu. We bought some of their coffee, too. (Good coffee in Korea is tough to come by.)

getting some more stuff

My pineapple juice

Zach’s macchiato

Zach’s falafel

My eggs benedict

We returned to Les Manguiers content with our over-stuffed bellies and waited for our tuk tuk. Les Manguiers was the perfect place to stay. It was peaceful and laid-back, the staff was excellent and incredibly friendly, and the owners were extremely helpful. I heartily recommend staying there if you are headed to Kampot. It really made the end of our trip exceptional.

We stayed in a room in this house. You can also rent your own bungalow – next time…

our room

our terrace view

all the free bicycles for guests

one of the many river cabanas

A delicious French breakfast with homemade jams

hammocks by the river

Les Manguiers from the river

some of the property dogs taking a nap in the sand pit

some sheep grazing near the bungalows

We left Kampot on a Giant Ibis bus – which is definitely better than a share taxi!! – and made it to Phnom Penh in the early evening. We walked around the night market across from the bus depot and Zach had a bowl of noodle soup. Then we walked along the river to Dairy Queen. Yeah, I know. It’s not something we would normally do on vacation but since we live in Korea and there are no DQs, we decided to stop in for a Blizzard. And it really hit the spot. From there we went back to the area near the Anise Hotel. I enjoyed a $5 pedicure while Zach drank at a nearby bar. Then it was off to the airport and back to Korea.

Giant Ibis is the way to go

Some sites along the road to Phnom Penh

Need a bike?

Spirit House shop

We saw dozens of trucks like this on their way to garment factories…

an old SLP mini bus!

Night Market

Eating area

Zach’s dinner

Blizzards!!

Independence Monument at night

A terrible final photo of us

Sadly, we are now home and back at work. It was too brief of a vacation but we packed a lot of great experiences into such a short time. I can confidently say we will be going back to Cambodia. It was a beautiful country, albeit with a lot of trash, with extremely friendly and welcoming people. It was such a vast change for us – after being in Korea for 6 months – to encounter such genuinely kind people. I cannot wait to go back!