Cambodia, Well-Seasoned: Kampot and Kep

 

Carefully picking through the whole fish we’d managed to catch for dinner on Koh Rong, I explained to my smart husband in my Hermione Granger-ish fashion that we had three nights to kill before we could enter Vietnam on a 30-day visa.  We were already in Southern Cambodia, so where to go?

We decided on a sleepy river town called Kampot.  What an adorable little place it proved to be.  The old French buildings were steadily slouching into genteel disrepair and quaint restaurants lined a picturesque riverfront.  (Does this sound familiar?  Kampot reminded us a lot of Luang Prabang, Laos.  We liked Kampot more because it was less gentrified, less touristed and less expensive.)

 

There were quirky sculptures around town highlighting Kampot’s claims to fame:  a giant durian, a salt-producing statue, the Year 2000 statue.  The people were friendly, the prices very reasonable, and there were several great little bakeries.

We spent a day touring the surrounding countryside, poking around pepper plantations and salt fields, and waving like minor celebrities as every passing kid yelled “Hello!”  We also stopped by Kep to sample its world famous crab and meander past ruined French mansions, rotting away after 50 years’ abandonment.  We came here simply expecting a rest stop and found ourselves charmed by this peaceful and friendly slice of Cambodia.