Blogs from Kampot, South, Cambodia, Asia

We spent the first half of the day Chasin' Waterfalls (Songs in your head innit?), then commenced on the 4-5hr drive to Kampot. Shortly before we get into town, Vanny announces that there's been an issue with our hotel. Another url=https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50676917/search-and-rescue-operations-end-at-kep-building-collapse-siteHotel in town (7 stories high) collapsed, killing 36 people and injuring 26. Some the the police/rescuers/investigators ended up taking the rooms allocated for us, so our hotel moved us to another hotel instead. Given the tragedy that had occurred, the reasoning seemed ok. Vanny assured us it was a new hotel, so it didn't seem all bad. Boy were we wrong. We get into the hotel, it definitely doesn't look new, but hey, maybe he just meant new in ownership and it was just a misinterpretation of English. Get up to my room, open the ... read more

Did you know there are different types of pepper? Today we visited the Kampot Pepper Farm (La Plantation) and learned move about pepper than my previous knowledge times 1000x. Due to Kampot’s soil composition, pepper grows extremely well here. In fact, at one time Cambodia was known for its pepper quality around the world. However, during the Khmer Rouge, all pepper plantations were shut down and exportation of it was stopped. There is now a revival of the industry particularly in the Kampot area. We visited a plantation which grows normal pepper which can produce: green, red, white, and bird pepper based on when it is picked and how it is fermented. Bird pepper is the most expensive because the grounds are collected out of bird waste. The digestive process (fermentation) in the bird stomach is ... read more

There was a spectacular thunder storm last night, and judging by how wet everything was it rained a lot whilst we were asleep. This meant that the clothes we’d left to dry on the balcony were wetter than when we’d put them out! Oops. After breakfast we went looking for critters in the sea. Unfortunately the wind picked up and the sky clouded over making it very difficult to see anything. As the rain came down we gave up and swam back to our things before packing and checking out. The rest of the morning was spent reading in the bar, watching the ominous sky and dark sea with its white horses. Our tuk tuk to the bus stop was due to pick us up at 1pm. It was 30mins late. The hostel was great - ... read more

Dnes odpocinkovy den. Na ranajky vybehnutie do neakej ulicky. Tu nudlova polivka a v nej par kuskov crev. Ble. S poulicnym jedlom inak dost problemy. Vsade maju to iste. Odovzdanie motorky, mi ani nedal zlavu za pokazenu motorku. Majitel mi len povedal, ze dobre ze si nepoziciavam motorku i dnes. Dnes ide vela ludi k pagode a vsetci sa idu ozrat, tak to bude na cestach trochu nebezpecne. Inak zadok ma riadne boli. Na ubytku relax. Z dormu prakticky skoro vsetci check out. Prvy raz som videl zidovky a ze vauuuu. V pristresku oproti baru prieskum ubytiek v sihanoukville. No nic moc, dobre drahe. Asi tam ostanem len dve noci a potom na jednu sem. Zabookovane ubytka na mojom eurotripe. Pod 17€ eur za dorm som sa nedostal, zlata azia. Ubytka samozrejme s moznostou zrusenia, okrem ... read more

Noc nakonec v pohode. Este ma napadlo nieco zo vcera ked som bol na pive. Dosol tam asi 50rocny beloch, uz mal nieco v sebe. Objednal si pivo. Odpil a vratil ho nazad, ze toto neni dobre, inde maju lepsie. Ako fakt ozraly dement. Vonku rano (8.30) pod mrakom. Na ranajky idem asi 5min k soche durianu (street 701) Tu zapadam do miestnej vyvarovne. Dostavam rozvarenu ryzu a v druhej miske malu rybu. Fajn jedlo len dufam, ze sa z toho neposerem. Cestou na ubytko sa rozhodujem, idem na motovylet. Motorka rovnaka cena na ubytku ako cez cestu. Ono je to podla mna jedna firma aj ked to ma iny nazov. Prichadza chlapik, podpisujem tlacivo, nechavam pas a fasujem prilbu. Tu menim za novu s plexisklom vpredu. Palolivo na pumpe. Platim v domacej mene, no stojany ... read more