C & C globetrotting around the world…

We did our Cambodian Visa at the border and it went really quickly. The drive from the border to Kampot was nice, passing lots of salt fields. We stayed at Olly’s (a Belgian guy with his Thai girlfriend) in the “eco-bungalows” made of wood, bamboo and cane set in the garden, which are very nice. The best part of the place was the deck stretching into the river where we sat, chilled, read and talked to other guests, something we missed in Vietnam where it was more difficult to meet people as everyone was in their hotel room. Kampot’s surroundings are worth a visit, so one day we took a tuk-tuk tour of the country-side with 2 other travelers. Olly’s tuk-tuk driver Mr. Dara, who is very nice, spoke English and was always wanting to explain and show us things. Our first stop was a Muslim fisher village, where they also have a crab farm. Then we stopped at a pepper farm, where we walked through the plantation and sampled the 3 kinds they have there. Kampot pepper is one of the best in the world and apparently before the Indochina war, all good restaurants in France had to have Kampot pepper. We learnt that the different kinds of pepper are actually all one plant and the colour depends on the process. For green pepper, the peppercorns are picked off the plant while they are still green and is only consumed fresh. Black pepper is dried green peppercorns. Red pepper is obtained by letting the peppercorns ripen on the plant and then picking and drying it. White pepper is obtained by picking the ripe (red) peppercorns, soaking them in water, peeling them and then drying them. So from one plant you can obtain all these different kinds.

After the “pepper tasting”, we were driven to Kep, a small sleepy beach town where the French from Phnom Penh used to come for a weekend getaway. We had lunch & walked along the promenade. Our tuk-tuk driver told us that many people had started building guesthouses hoping that Kep would return to its former glory during the Indochina period, but tourism hasn’t taken off that quickly and they were stuck with empty villas, often going bankrupt. From there we headed back towards Kampot through the rice paddies sprinkled with palm trees, a beautiful sight. We stopped at a cave and were immediately surrounded by some Khmer (Cambodians are called Khmer) kids who wanted to practice their English with us. They spoke really well and asked where we came from. When we said Canada, they also started speaking French to us and some knew basic German. Their English was really very good and we were able to have a conversation as they walked with us to the cave. We were expecting them to ask for money at the end, so we told them that we don’t need a guide, that we won’t give them money, but they still came. At the end one little girl told the driver in Khmer that she was disappointed we hadn’t given them any money, but they hadn’t asked for it and weren’t rude about it (a big change from Vietnam). Unfortunately there are still many tourists that buy souvenirs from kids or just give them a dollar because “they are sooo cute”. This only reinforces the parents to send their kids to beg and sell instead of sending them to school. The cave was in a small hill and the view from there was breath-taking, with the sun setting behind Bokor Mountain.

The next day we biked to town, exploring the streets and the old and restored colonial villas in this sleepy riverside French-era town. The currency in Cambodia is the riel ($1=4000 riel), but hardly anyone uses it. Prices are quoted in dollars and riel are only used for things under $1. So for example if you buy something that costs $1.50 you pay $1 and 2000 riel. It’s an interesting system, but one quickly gets used to it. We spent 2 really nice days here and we already like Cambodia. The landscape is nice and the people are friendly, so Kampot was a really good introduction to the country.