Kampot

Built up on the banks of the Preaek Tuek Chhu River, just shy of the Cambodian coastline, is the sleepy city of Kampot. With a large expat community settled in, the city has a more diverse personality to complement the easy going pace that made the stay here very relaxing.

We managed two day trips during our stay, the first was a tuk-tuk tour around the countryside, beginning with a bumpy ride out to Sorsia Pagoda, which had a little cave system we were guided through.

After this we went out to Brateak Krola Lake (known to the locals as Tomnop Tek Krolar, but most commonly referred to as Secret Lake), a massive reservoir which was excavated using slave labour on orders from the Khmer Rouge regime. The disheartening secret not being the location of the lake, but the mass grave in which thousands of prisoners who did not survive the construction were buried at the bottom.

Moving on with our countryside excursion, we were taken to La Plantation pepper farm, which specialised in organic Kampot Pepper alongside contributing to the local community through schooling projects and employment (read more here https://kampotpepper.com/). The tour of the pepper farm was enlightening, but the pepper tasting afterwards was an experience (samples were purchased).

Finally, to compiment the pepper, a stop by the Salt Fields before returning to to our accomadation.

The second day trip was a group tour through Preah Monivong Bokor National Park, which encompasses the Elephant Mountains and is an ASEAN Heritage Park. The park had a verity of historical buildings, but the views from the top peaks were the highlight.

And to round out the day, some Riverside photos of the sun setting behind the Elephant Mountains.