Peppered in Kampot

In Kampot we immediately felt comfortable: (yet) a small cozy coastal town, a beautiful riverside promenade, many bars, restaurants, and small shops that are very inviting. Our hotel, which was unfortunately only available for one night, was nice and centrally located, so we could walk around the city from there. We found a delicious dinner on a small green ship that was moored on the shore.

Tired, we returned to the hotel to take care of some organizational matters and book a tour for the next day.

The tour was supposed to start at 8:30 am, which is always a bit more in Cambodian time... after that we drove all over the city without any recognizable system until we picked up all the people. The poor driver was completely stressed out because he was the only one who had to work on the holiday and take over the services of several agencies.

First, we went to the Bokor National Park and the eponymous mountain, one of the highest elevations in the region. Unfortunately, the view was very hazy and the other stops, such as an old summer palace of the king, a huge Buddha, an old pagoda, a temple, the ghost town, and an "old" casino, were very disappointing. Not very exciting in our eyes and crowded with Chinese tourists. Here, our guide informed us that the Chinese buy historically significant places of the Cambodians, such as the casino or old hotels in the ghost town, where the Khmer Rouge have killed some people again, repaint them and turn them into luxury hotels. In this way, they destroy the culture and history of this country, and these places will soon no longer be worth the sightseeing of tourists. Actually, the tour also included a waterfall, but it is currently reported to be dry, so we didn't visit it.

In the city, we dropped off part of the group who had booked a shorter tour, and continued with a fancy converted old Ford. We went to the Kampot Pepper Plantation "La Plantation", which is run by the French, as the name suggests, but provides jobs for many Cambodians. Kampot pepper is well marketed and is well known worldwide. When we arrived at the plantation, we were able to get a free guided tour of the pepper and fruit plantations. Here we learned everything about the different types of pepper and its processing. It reminded us a bit of coffee cultivation in Pakse. Then we tried the different varieties: black, white, red pepper, pepper with salt, smoked pepper, elongated pepper,.... and all of them pure! After that, our whole mouth was burning... but it was still interesting how different pepper can taste. The pepper plants are a bit reminiscent of hops with us because they also grow upwards on poles and are protected from the sun by palm leaves. In addition to pepper, pineapples, dragon fruits, bananas, durians, passion fruits, and turmeric roots are also grown here, but unfortunately, they were all not ripe yet... >Overall, a very beautiful and well-maintained plantation that is worth visiting! And also try the Lemon Pepper Ice Cream ;) <

After that, we continued our journey to the salt fields. Unfortunately, we just missed the sunset, which would have been reflected beautifully on the still-water-covered fields. Our driver explained a little about it and then we drove back to the city.

In the evening, we had a meal that turned out to be not so great in hindsight... Although we tried to disinfect it with cocktails at a rooftop bar and a boat restaurant with Kay, who had also arrived in Kampot by now, and a French acquaintance of his, Fréderique...

We spent the night for the first time on this trip in a dormitory, as there was absolutely nothing else available in the entire city. Very uncomfortable and not really clean, but at least we had a roof over our heads.

Now we are heading to Vietnam!