Road trip to Kampot

Today we had breakfast by the sea. I sure do miss the coffee from home. I think most of the coffee here comes in the powder form. We struck out in our Tuk Tuk for the city of Kampot approximately 26 kms from where we are in Kep. Just before Kampot we turned off and head north to the Kampong Trach mountain cave. Our driver had to navigate around random pot holes over the course of the 6 kms to our destination. Along the way we passed by numerous farms and shanty shacks as well as a dilapidated market all with lots of the local Cambodians by the road side or in their yards, as this is Saturday. I love these jaunts as one can get the true flavour and feel of how these wonderful people live their daily lives. We see them working in the rice fields using small hand scythes and tying the rice bundles, not with twine but with grass. The bundles were loaded into wicker or wire frames and these were suspended on either end of a wooden bar which was then carried over the shoulders of the worker. Many of the workers were barefoot. Some bundles were taken to,the road side where they were picked up by oxen carts or Tuk Tuk type vehicles with a box like a trailer. Sometimes we saw the worker walkingmdown the highway toting the bundles.
At the caves we were met by two young local boys Nan (13) and Dal (17), both of whom spoke excellent English. The younger Nan also spoke French. Very enterprising boys and of course they wanted to give us a tour of the cave. We walked through the rice fields to reach the 200 stairs, with Naga the five head cobra carved into the stone hand rail, that led to the cave. While not a very big cave, there was a temple inside dating back to before the time of Angkor Wat.
After the short tour we we returned to our Tuk Tuk and back to the highway to continue on to Kampot. The final stretch of road was butchered pavement with rough red soil and tons of dust. Add the heat and humidity and it was a joyful ride!
Kampot is on the river. There are many small shops some of which, like the one where we enjoyed a cappuccino, are run by Australians. For lunch we supported the locals and enjoyed a pumpkin dish as well as a green pepper and chicken.