Off to Kampot

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We left Rainbow Lodge 🌈 by boat then taxi to travel to Kampot. The road was very bumpy with lots of road works but, thankfully, the journey was not as long as the one to Tatai and we got to see more of the beautiful countryside.

There were also a large number of high story buildings with only small vents and no windows. We were baffled as to what they were but discovered they are swiftlet houses used to farm and harvest edible nests that are exported to China for use in birds nest soup. It is a very lucrative business,as a pound of these can sell for over £3000. I’m not tempted as the fine plant materials and feathers are bound together using the birds saliva 🤢

Our accommodation in Kampot was perfectly located, again, near to the old bridge which is not used by cars or heavier vehicles as a newer much bigger bridge has been built. We are near the old fish market which has been turned into a huge 2 story Starbucks. We settled into our new room then headed out to dinner upstairs at a local noodle/ dumpling restaurant overlooking the river.

Next day we had breakfast at Epic Arts Cafe , which was founded in 2006 and supports students learn about art and you can buy some of their handmade items. After breakfast we set off to visit Fish Island where there are salt fields which produces sea salt in the dry period. It was very hot so we stopped for a drink at the Fish Island Community Arts Centre which is another social enterprise scheme that helps train and employ local disadvantaged women.Set up by an Australian it also encourages musicians to visit, volunteer and perform. Local children can do visual arts, dance and theatre. They were practicing for a fashion show that night, teetering around on very high heels. We had a refreshing drink and the owner organised a tuk tuk to take us to our next stop, Farmlink. Kampot is famous for its pepper production and Farmlink, set up up European ex pats in 2006, enables small family farms to export their produce. We saw ladies in a room hand sorting the peppercorns with tweezers to take out the bad ones. Our guide explained the process for growing the different coloured pepper. It was very interesting and we saw the list of over 100 farmers whose produce is branded as Kadodë for sale and export. Kadodë is Khmer/ French meaning ‘A gift from the earth. The pepper production was virtually destroyed by the Khmer Rouge regime but is now beginning to flourish again. We walked back over the new bridge and enjoyed dinner at Rikitikitavi, a restaurant very close to our hotel.

The next day we had breakfast then got picked up to go to Bokor Hill. It is a national park and about 100 years ago the French colonists built a resort for the affluent members of their society to enjoy cooler conditions and great views. It was abandoned when the French withdrew from Cambodia but some of the buildings still remain. We wound our way up the hill through a troop of short tailed macaque monkeys and stopped at the 29 metre high statue of Lok Yeao Mao, a local heroine who protects travellers. We also visited some temples, passed by an ugly hotel built by the Chinese and eventually reached the deserted town. Much cooler as the peak is over 1000m so lovely to get some respite from the heat, albeit temporarily. When we got back to Kampot we visited Lotus Park then walked through the riverside market and watched the sunset before enjoying dinner at the restaurant next to our hotel which reopened on the 30th.

After breakfast on New Years Eve at the cafe on the corner, a short stroll from our hotel, we took a tuk tuk ride to the train station. We were told that the train was running but would be an hour late which is not unusual on Cambodian railways. When it did arrive we waited for the mad rush to ensue as, we thought, we’d booked seats. However, after boarding we were advised that passengers could sit anywhere so hot footed it to the last of the 3 carriages where we were told we would find spare seats within an air conditioned coach. Thankfully, we did and sat back to enjoy the journey to Sihanoukville.

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