Off to Kampot where the pepper grows

The return journey by speedboat from Koh Rong Sanloem went smoothly, although it was a bit delayed. If you want to travel from Koh Rong Sanloem to Kampot on the same day, it is best to take the earliest speedboat at 10 o'clock, as the last bus to Kampot leaves at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Back in Sihanoukville, we walked back to the tourist information and booked a bus at 12 o'clock. This bus takes about two and a half to three hours to Kampot.
However, for five dollars you only get a non-air-conditioned bus. When we got on this bus, we were sweating profusely. The Cambodian sweat chamber greets you. At least it's not a tourist trap. And the bus actually only took a little over two and a half hours. The open door provided a little cooling.
Sweaty, we arrived in Kampot. A small quiet town on the Preaek Tuek Chhu, where you can feel a touch of French colonial history. The Preaek Tuek Chhu invites you to stroll along its spacious promenade or to embark on a culinary journey through Khmer cuisine at one of the floating restaurants.

And exactly here we indulged in our culinary Khmer journey. The internet pretends a little that Khmer cuisine is not as sophisticated as Thai cuisine. Nonsense! It is similar to Thai cuisine and yet different. My absolute favorite dish: Chicken Amok! Chicken cooked in coconut milk, red curry, Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves, served either in a coconut or in a bowl made from a banana leaf.

In addition, the Khmer cuisine in Kampot uses the legendary Kampot pepper. Until now, I always had the impression that pepper is just pepper and that I find white pepper terrible.

After a little pepper tasting, I have been proven wrong and now have a few bags of pepper in my luggage.

In addition to the coziness that invited us to Kampot, we took a half-day trip to the Phnom Chhngok cave and the Secret Lake. So "book-book a Tuk-Tuk" and off we go on unpaved roads and through the rice fields.

Ohhh, Secret Lake is not so secret anymore!” But it was very quiet and idyllic there.

After the transfer disaster at the Cambodian border and the sweaty bus tour, we longed for a bit more comfort for our onward journey to Phnom Penh. There is currently only one railway line in Cambodia that is also used by passenger trains. Sihanoukville-Kampot-Phnom Penh. Since the trains only run on Fridays to Sundays and only twice a day in both directions, a journey with the Royal Cambodian Railway is something special.

Just like the purchase of a train ticket. It is recommended to buy the ticket one day in advance on the internet. We decided to buy the ticket on the first full day in Kampot.

So off to the train station. It is located a bit outside of Kampot.

When we arrived there, we felt like in a Cambodian Western.

Instead of waving bushes, there were empty plastic bags, almost in no man's land. Only "Muttis Bahnhofsschänke" (Mom's Railway Inn) was always well attended.

At the counter, no one.

Probably just lunchtime. Time for a round of cards.
After waiting in vain for one and a half hours, my husband tried to get various Cambodians to lend us their phone so that we could call the "counter attendant" using the number scribbled on the counter. Not that easy. Either they didn't understand us or they had no credit. In the end, it somehow worked and we were asked to come back the next day at 12:30 o'clock. No problem, we had our Tuk-Tuk.

The next day, 12:30 o'clock: The same picture as the previous day. No "counter attendant" in sight. After waiting for another one and a half hours, another phone call with the "counter attendant" via our Tuk-Tuk driver and his brother. Because even our Tuk-Tuk driver had no credit on his phone. "Be there in ten minutes!" After another half an hour, the fruit finally appeared. Pretty sleepy and a bit annoyed with us. He didn't really feel sorry either. My husband was on the verge of giving the little one a proper talking-to.
But the main thing was that we had the train tickets.
In the end, it would have been enough to buy the tickets shortly before departure the next morning. However, you never know!

In this sense: "Timing is not a city in Vietnam!"

Have Fun and Be Proud!

Your Jan/Mutti