Kampot is a city in southern Cambodia and the capital of Kampot Province. It is on the Praek Tuek Chhu River southeast of the Elephant Mountains and around 5 km (3 mi) from the Gulf of Thailand. Kampot was the capital of the Circonscription Résidentielle de Kampot under French rule and Cambodia's most important seaport after the loss of the Mekong Delta and before the establishment of Sihanoukville. The region and town are known for high quality pepper, which is exported worldwide. It is also known for its Kampot fish sauce and durian (a fruit that 'smells like hell but tastes like heaven').
How did we get here? It seems like every time we relocate, it's an all day event and completely stresses Sharon. We left our island paradise on Koh Rong Sanloem at 0900. It was blowing too hard to take a small boat to the ferry pier so we rode on a 'flatbed'. It was a rough ferry ride to Sihanoukville and we even had a couple of pukers. 🤮🤣
We were advised more than once to take the train to Kampot since the roads are SO bad. We arrived at the train station at 1030 and had to wait until 1400 for our train. The train ride wasn't the most pleasant ride so the road must have been unbearable! The trains have little to no suspension and sway from side-to-side. The seats were very uncomfortable and the AC barely kept the car cool. But the worst was the horn! The engineer blared it constantly for two hours! We finally pulled into the station and were immediately surrounded by tuk tuk drivers as we were trying to get off the train. Although the train ride was only $12 total, it's why we fly or hire a private driver when we can.
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| I walked all over the place looking for something to eat. There were several places but no pictures and I didn't have a clue what to order. Then this woman carrying a fire pit, bread, 'monkey meat' and fixins on a pole across her shoulders showed up at the train station. Yes please! I think the sandwich she made me was banh mi. It was good but the meat was very fatty. |
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| Kampot Train Station |
Where did we stay? At the Kampot Boutique Hotel. We booked a deluxe double 🤪 room. This room was spacious and had great views. Also had a separate shower and toilet. Having a combined shower and toilet is one thing we have not gotten used to or like.
What did we do? We wanted to be in a city for New Years Eve and see fireworks. And see fireworks we did! There was a small show at 7:00pm. We had a nice dinner at Vanna Restaurant and Bar then hit La Gorda for drinks. It looked fun and there was live music. One of the patrons, Lulu, took to Sharon and even got her to dance.
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| Pumpkin 🎃 Soup |
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| Carpaccio of Barracuda Tahitian Style Barracuda, lime, coconut 🥥 cream, and pesto served with bread |
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| Smoked Duck Breast LOL Lak Marinated smoked duck, pesto, gravy sauce served with rice |
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| La Gorda |
We got back to our room around 2330. Our room was on the 5th floor and had an amazing view for fireworks. Within minutes of arriving in our room, the fireworks started. They were setting them off up and down the river and I think every resident was setting off their own. It was spectacular!
As is our tradition, we start New Year's Day with bloody Marys. We went to Nowhere Bar. One bartender was from Finland. The other Norway. At 1300 the small bar was packed but we found two bar stools. We even had to step over a guy passed out in a bean bag chair at the entrance. All the clientle were Westerners. We even met a young American who lives in Phnom Penh and works remotely in America. It was so nice talking to someone whose first language was American English!
The city is pretty laid back and not crazy manic like other SE Asian cities we've visited. One of the popular things to do here is rent motor bikes. I was tempted but we chose to die another day. It's cheap here and not touristy. We have found .50 drafts and paid as little as $2.50 (total) for dinner. Even our NYE dinner cost $7 each and they were the most expensive entrees on the menu. There are a lot of ex-pats from Europe and Australia and long term visitors here.
We met Darren or rather he met us. Usually we just say no to tuk tuk drivers since we like to walk but he did a good job on selling us a tour. And his English was pretty good so we hired him to take us on a tour for the day. We stopped out of the hotel and heard a squeal when Darren's six year old son, Gigi or Monkey, saw us. He jumped up into my arms and then Sharon's. He was a very affectionate boy. He even insisted on sitting between and took Sharon by the hand everywhere we went. We aren't sure if this 'cuteness' was an act but think that's just how the kid is.
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| Gigi found these lizards everywhere and would pick them up by the tail. |
The beginning of the tour was primarily on bumpy and dusty dirt roads. He even had the side curtains down to help with the dust. We drove through small villages. The first stop was a cave and ancient temple in the cave.
Next we toured a pepper plantation and had lunch there. Our guide was Rebecca from Finland. She was volunteering on the farm for three weeks and receiving room and food in exchange. She used the WorkAway app to find the place. She gives tours, helps upgrade signs and is helping build a playground for the workers' kids. Kind of cool.
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| Kampot Pepper |
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| Indonesia Peppers |
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| Bo Tree Farm |
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| View during lunch |
After our lunch we headed to the town of Kep. We were both stuffed! "Monkey" had a fun time swimming and we enjoyed chilling on the beach. I even got a nap in! After a long dusty day, it was time to head back and get a much needed shower.
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| Welcome to Kep |
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| Darren asleep in his hammock while Rob is by the water with Gigi. He should have paid us. |
There was also a national park with a nice mountain view and some caves. We passed on that since we have been to countless naional parks over the last several months.
We didn't really do much else. We enjoyed meeting people from other countries and even our own! There were plenty of bars, restaurants and cafes and we ate and drank at several.
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| Kalo's Bar the weirdest bar we have ever been in. If it didn't have a sign I would swear 🤬 it was just someone's home, they served us beer in a frosty mug. |
We did plenty of walking. And we did something we rarely do -- book hotels and flights for our next country during our down time..
What did we eat? Our favorite restaurant was Twenty Three Bistro (Gnocchi, Crispy Pork Belly, Seabass, and Chocolate pot).
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| Latte |
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| Toasty Ham & mozzarella sandwich |
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| Vegetable fried rice |
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| Pizza |
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| Soft chicken tacos 🌮 |
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| Chips, salsa, & guacamole |
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| Chicken Amok |
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| Chicken fried rice |
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| Green salad |
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| Spicy papaya salad |
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| Gnocchi Sauteed Gnocchi, spinach, baby corn, cherry tomatoes, pesto, and feta |
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| Pork Belly Crispy pork belly, baby cabbage roast carrot, champ mash, grain mustard and white wine sauce |
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| Vegetable Noodle Soup |
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| Korko Soup Mixed vegetables with chicken |
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| Fillet of Seabass Seabass with cauliflower puree courgettes (zucchini), broccoli and lime caper butter |
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| Chocolate Salted Caramel Pot (OMG) 😋 😋 😋 |
"Rice is Life"
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