Tag 56: Until where the (Kampot) pepper grows...

After arriving in Kampot yesterday with the ferry and then the minivan, today we went out into the surrounding area with two scooters. First on the program was Bokor National Park. The entrance to the park is about 15 kilometers outside the city. After passing through the large gate, we took what felt like a hundred curves steadily climbing 1000 meters in altitude. Once we reached the top, we tried chicken with rice at this not very touristy place. Let's just say the rice also made it all the way... After that, we visited a viewpoint and an abandoned church. All the buildings up here were completely ruined and uninhabited a few years ago... Currently, you can see efforts being made to rebuild and revive the old place on the mountain. Then we continued to a waterfall. As soon as we arrived, it suddenly started pouring down, so we sought shelter with a family who were having a Sunday picnic. Thanks to the hospitality of the Khmer (the residents of Cambodia), we were immediately offered a beer, a plate full of snails, and boiled eggs. To not be rude, we of course had to try... It didn't look very appetizing and didn't taste very good either. But the highlight was when we realized that the egg already had half a chick inside! Luckily, we had the beer to wash it down. After the rain stopped, we quickly made our way to the waterfall. Who knows what else we might have been offered...

After the waterfall, we made a nearly 3-hour journey back through the city to a pepper plantation called 'la Plantation'. The last kilometers were only dirt and gravel roads, where we made very slow progress and our not very experienced scooter driving skills were put to the test. We arrived safely and were given a presentation about the cultivation of pepper and the different varieties, which are all derived from the same grain. Then we were allowed to taste all kinds of peppercorns. After the third one, I had such a strong pepper taste in my mouth that I couldn't taste any difference anymore. After plenty of water, we took a tour through the plantation with the sunset already setting.

At night, we returned to our hostel on the terrible road. As a reward for the day, we had burgers, fries, and a beer...