Kampot (Cambodia)

Discouraged and disgusted with Sihanoukville, my partner and I set off for Kampot. One shared taxi ride and a few hours later, life improved dramatically. Normally, I am anti-taxi. In this case, the taxi was the same price as the bus and it was faster. Also, since we stuffed 8 people in the Camry for the 2 hour trip, I did not feel like I was really indulging in a luxury.

Kampot is a lovely little town on the river. You can pay $50US to stay at the lodge just across for the river. We spent a little while contemplating what exactly you get for that amount of money- AC, hot water, and breakfast included should only be around $15-20. What could possible justify the extra cost? I guess we'll never know. The river view wasn't that amazing. Anyhow, we stayed at LongVilla. Despite the mention in the LP, the rate has not tripled like all the others. $5 still gets you a decent room.

Part of the intrigue of Kampot was visiting Bokor Hill- a national park up a hill. Unfortunately, the Cambodians have recently sold it to the french who are constructing a 500 room resort. It is now closed to visitors as the road is being used for 'construction vehicles' which may be 'dangerous.'

With Bokor out of the running, we rented a motorbike and headed East. Kep is a small town nearby which represents huge contrasts. There are abandoned buildings next to nice, new resorts. Also perplexing are the stalls of pre-set up hammocks. I wasn't sure if the locals rented them for hanging out or if there was some other system. Cambodians tend to do quite a bit of lounging. We took advantage of a lounging structure to stop and have a snack.


Once of the coolest stops of the day was at a pepper plantation. (Pepper as in the companion of salt, not chili peppers). I had never seen the way the peppercorns grow on trees. It is pretty neat. The owner of the plantation also provided us with some of the best jackfruit I have ever had. I have been eating jackfruit for only a few months but I have eaten it in enough countries to know that this was pretty amazing. I wanted to purchase a bag of peppercorns but couldn't really justify carrying around 1 kilo of pepper for 6 weeks.


Kampot was a very necessary stop and more of the relaxed pace of life I have come to love.