En route down to the beach

To cap off our first visit in Phnom Penh, we took up Paulie on his offer to take us out to a second muay thai boxing fight in the same number of nights. We arrived early and were afforded the opportunity to explore the wedding factory area and quickly found the high school hangout site in view of an amazing sunset. The pitcher of beer was under $2 I think, too little to pass up while waiting for the fight to begin. Inside, the intimacy was more palpable even as I went to the bathroom, there was a fighter standing at the urinal next to me, his skin lathered in the overpowering smell of the tiger balm. Unfortunately I missed the best knockout, which came early in that particular fight. The last one was a lot of fun to watch, the fighters were horrible, but they were exchanging blows as if someone's life was at stake. The crowd went nuts, it was a lot of fun and good closure before moving on to Kampot with Richard and Roy.

The bus ride over was eventful when we came upon an earlier bus that had broken down, and subsequently picked up ALL of their passengers. The aisle was full of people standing only, and even a handful of monks (to whom people must relinquish their seats) took up residence just across the aisle from us. Unfortunately, a few Brits were drinking on the bus and acted quite disgracefully. We would never see that group again, thankfully.

Arriving at the Bodhi Villa in Kampot, we were greeted with what looked like a little slice of tropical paradise. Its location right on the river was perfectly suited to its laid-back atmosphere. Coming in, we knew it was run by a couple of Australian stoners, which as one could imagine set the tone of the place. We spent time by the water, just chilling in the common area, swimming, playing a bit of pool, and walking around the sleepy river town looking at the decrepit remnants of French colonization. It wasn't long before the idea was hatched to join the traffic fray and rent a pair of motos to explore the region. From there at Captain Chim's Restaurant, our independence was born. But not before tasting some of the most delicious food since arriving - a pumpkin soup and a chicken amok that I plan to master cooking upon my return home.

That day we would ride through the countryside in search of a pair of caves known to the locals. In one, we would find a hollowed out hilltop open from one side to the other. In the another, a temple on site and a few buddhist shrines inside the cavern known as the white elephant, named after some natural structure inside. On the grounds we followed our ears to a rhythmic pounding where monks worked to chisel stones to build a new structure of some sort, lost in translation. There is where my battery had died and why, much to my chagrin, I need to carry an extra battery on person as opposed to back at the hotel. Oh well. From the second temple site, I earned more karma by giving a monk a ride to his home temple toward the beach town to Kep. We were more than happy to do so after he had given us a tour of the second cave. In between the two, we had found a lake where we would eat lunch and lounge in hammocks by the water. I went for a swim in waters which had a perfect temperature. All in all, a good day. When we headed back, it was to feast on the legendary ribs at the Rusty Keyhole Restaurant. It was the perfect end to a great day. And again, there I sat by the water in the Bodhi villa thinking, here I am and it is freezing back home. I could get used to this kind of "winter".