Cate’s been in Kampot for four years. She lost her house in the US with the economic crash (living in it for three years without paying because it took so long for them to get round to evicting her due to the number of repossessions they had to deal with). “Somewhere near water, not too big, cheap to live with a sense of community” was her criteria, someone suggested Kampot and six weeks later she was here. She’d never been to Cambodia before, let alone Kampot. Problem is, she now can’t move back: she’s on a Cambodian wage (personal training and teaching yoga) and airfares are $850pp.
But I can confirm she’s a fantastic yoga teacher – it was one of the best classes I’ve ever done. Bordering on bikram yoga in this heat, but that just contributed to the workout.
Another day off to just be in Cambodia. After lunch I went to a screening of “The Killing Fields” – in a lovely, casual cinema:
The film seemed more relevant here than watching it back home. Whilst it showed some of the atrocities, it concentrated on the relationship between a journalist and his Cambodian sidekick. But it certainly brought it to life.
And then I summoned up the courage to try crab for dinner. I like crab (that’s not why I needed courage) it’s just that I had no idea what I’d actually get. Exactly what I ordered, it turns out – a pile of cooked crab!
Nice, and surprisingly filling. And then another thing struck me that I’d noticed, but needed to verify: Cambodians don’t like touching money. When you pay at a restaurant, handing them cash directly makes them uncomfortable – you need to put it on the table, or in the folder the menu comes in.
And now, let’s talk toilets. Unless you’re in a tourist resort (so paying decent money), they have no paper and they’re bucket flush (there’s a vat of water, you scoop some with a small, handled bucket and pour it down the pan).
But there’s always this spray next to it:
It amused me that, despite having no flush and no paper, they always made time to give you a spray to rinse down the pan. Turns out this is exactly why they have the spray. Whilst it is, apparently, very good at killing mosquitos (just aim in the general direction and gravity does the rest), it is, in fact “the bum gun*”.
*I can actually hear my dad laughing (which, to me, is one of the most wonderful sounds in the whole world 🙂