Not content with three days relaxing by the beach, we decided we need a bit more relaxation time by the Teuk Chhou River. Kampot today is a 'sleepy' (read: shitty) riverside town which used to be a favourite hang out of the French during the Protectorate days. As a result there's a smattering of colonial-style architecture on the banks in the town centre, and a lot of French food (including delicious baguettes) on offer.

We were actually staying some 8km out of town, deep in the forest in what can only be described as a bamboo tree house on stilts, built out over the river. It was called Utopia, which was a pretty appropriate name. Within 20 minutes of arriving, we were both curled up in comfortable bucket chairs, banana milkshakes in hand. Bliss.





















A little later, we decided to take full advantage of our riverside location. The tree house had steps leading straight down into the water, and huge tyre inner-tubes for you to sit and float in. I say float, but as the current was slightly stronger than we anticipated, crossing the river to the opposite bank involved a serious upper arm work out! Once there, James spent a gleeful half hour jumping from a rope swing attached to a palm tree – I was too much of a chicken, so I watched, arms folded, and told him to be careful about 20 times!

Utopia was idyllic but somewhat rustic. Just how rustic, I found out on our last evening: heading into our room, I surprised a large rat taking a stroll across our bedroom floor. Fortunately it was more scared of me than I was of it, although this didn't stop me from letting out a horror-film-leading-lady style scream, much to the amusement of the guest house employees. I refused to be alone in the room again, just in case, and insisted that we slept with the light on to deter the rat from making a return journey. James had to wear his free BA flight mask to bed. We also blocked up the rat hole we found in the corner of the room. This seemed to do the trick, although I did still spend half the night listening to the sound of little feet scurrying around the outside of our room, trying to find a way in.