Weekend Away in Kampot

It's only a couple of days into being at the the orphanage, but usually the volunteers take the weekend to explore the rest of the country. By the end of the week most people are ready to get away for a weekend. The orphanage decides to have a dance party one night so somebody rolls in a couple of huge speakers and the kids dance like crazy to songs like Boom Boom Pow by The Black Eyed Peas. They all dance in unison and seem to know the moves and have a bit of choreography to this song. The little ones try desperately to copy the older kids. It's so adorable watching the kids dance without inhibitions.
One of the volunteers, named Ali, asks me if I would like to go with her for the weekend to a couple of towns a few hours away. She wants to check out Kampot, Kep, and Sihnukville. I'm definitely interested in going with her because she says she plans to hang out on the beach and relax in Sihnukville even though some lady at the table advises us against it. We invite Laura, one of the new volunteers who seems really sweet. The three of us leave on Friday for our first stop, Kampot. We take a bumpy bus ride about three hours to Sihnukville. When we arive we are instantly bombarded with people trying to give us a ride to our guesthouse. We don't know where we're staying yet, so we just say No NO No as we're walking through the crowd of desperate tuk-tuk drivers. We stumble upon a hotel/guesthouse called The Magic Sponge. We unanimously decide to stay here. We absolutely adore the manager who is Irish and about sixty-years-old. He sits us down while we wait for our room to be ready, and serves us wonderful food and milkshakes. We check into our room and set out exploring. The town is very cute and has a river running through it. We meet a friendly tuk-tuk driver who we politely dismiss since we just want to walk around instead of being driven. He shows us his book of recommendations that his former customers have written in.
That evening when I'm napping, Ali and Laura meet Gary, the manager's son. He works the bar in the evenings. They come in and tell me that he's really cute and has a really sexy Irish accent. I meet him later and am equally impressed. His eyes are dark pools of brown and his accent could melt a girl made of stone. He has a confidence to him that drives us all mad. He's funny, loves music, and has dreads that he's been growing since he was thirteen. He's now 24. We have a mini romance later on in the weekend. The girls and I sit around drinking banana and chocolate milkshakes with Gary and I decide we need a shot of Bailey's in them. Gary tells us he'll put them on the menu and we get to think up a name. We settle on The Bad Monkey.
That night we decide to look for a kayak tour on the river. The guy tells us it will cost $25 for the day. We tell him it's a ripoff and suddenly the tuk-tuk driver from earlier makes an appearance. He gives us a good rate on transport to the kayak place so we decide we'll just rent kayaks and go out on our own. We tell him we'll meet him in the morning at our hotel.

The next day he's there just as we finish our breakfast. He takes us to the guesthouse on the water called The Mango Tree. We are taken by boat (like the ones pictured) down the river with our kayaks trailing behind. He drops us off and leaves us to our own devices. They recommend a little tour around an island before heading back upstream to The Mango Tree. We enter the part of the river that surrounds the island and instantly feel like we're in a Vietnam War movie. The palm trees are so thick that we can barely see the few houses buried among them. We decide to explore a pocket of the river that is completely shaded by the palms. It feels like a crocodile will jump out at any second. As we continue to paddle in silence, we hear a prayer being sung in the distance. We pass next to people bathing in the warm water, as their children shout "Hello!" to us. Once we make it back to the main river we decide to take a little rest before heading against the current. The weather is looking a bit ominous so we get a move on. About thirty minutes away from The Mango Tree the wind picks up and the sky begins to pelt us with rain. It's an upstream battle to the finish and we're mighty happy to be back. We eat a really nice meal on the water before heading back to The Magic Sponge and flirting with Gary all evening.
The following morning we have lined up our tuk-tuk driver to take us to see some sights. We set off at nine o'clock and he drives us all over the place. We see the salt and pepper fields, the caves, and go to the beach in a town called Kep. Everywhere we go people yell "Hello!" to us and wave as we pass. My favorite thing about Cambodia has to be watching what these people can pile on to a motorbike. We see dead animals swinging off the back, babies being carried by their parents, entire families, and bales of hay piled high with people sitting on top of the load. By mid-afternoon we are exhausted and just want to go back to the hotel for a good meal and a rest.
That night Laura and I stay up all night listening to loud music at the bar with Gary and a thirty-five-year-old English couple just talking, laughing, and drinking the night away. Gary makes us free drinks until 7 o'clock in the morning. A couple of hours later we catch the bus back to our village of Takeo.