Chong Khneas + Phnom Krom

our regular breakfast place, next to our hotel

Thursday 19th November

Got up at 5.30am and had breakfast around 6.30 in our "usual", an eatery next door where no one spoke much English and the other patrons were all locals. Then took a tuk-tuk down to Chong Khneas, the port we had landed at.

The cruise tours from Chong Khneas are a monopoly of a Vietnamese company and they were charging an outrageous $30 per person, so we decided not to do one and just wandered around on foot. There was plenty to see in the village — a school, a volleyball game, people working, houses, etc. — and visiting the little GECKO (Greater Environment Chong Khneas Office) office is free. At 8.30 in the morning it was rather pleasant!

The I left Richard while I climbed to the monastery and ruin at the top of Phnom Krom. It's not that prepossessing a ruin, at least by Angkor standards, but there were very nice views, over Chong Khneas and to the north.

At Phnom Krom I talked to a young Flemish backpacker who'd also given up on the boat trip. He mentioned that he'd received child sex offers while in Cambodia, something which I fortunately hadn't experienced. (There are a lot of signs up warning about this, so the government is cracking down on it.)