Getting to Kampot took about three hours from Phnom Penh – although that depends on how long it takes you to get through the capital’s traffic! The bus did it’s usual rest stop, passed through Kep and was soon in Kampot. We got off in a very quiet town. You wouldn’t think that much was going on and to be honest not much was, so why then were there so many tourists milling about?
We weren’t expecting much of Kampot and there’s nothing notable to do but for some reason, we loved it. It was a small town mix of locals and long-term visitors. Because of this there was both decent Khmer and Western food, great coffee shops and bars! This was a great place to relax and we even extended our stay. I guess if you are on a shorter trip you might not ‘waste’ so much time here, but for us it was the perfect place to recharge our batteries.
If you are so inclined, things to do in Kampot include;
1) Rent a scooter for a trip up in to Bokor National Park. This is a lovely drive (over the new bridge and follow the signs. It will take about an hour to get up there, but note; that abandoned casino you will have read about is currently under renovation so it’s not as spooky or photogenic as it was.
2) Take a half day to visit Kep; beach, crab market, stalls. You can get there by either scooter or local bus.
3) Watch the sunset from one of the river’s barge-bars! You can also do a $5 sunset cruise on one of the moving ones but it was just as lovely to sit on one of the stable ones and relax – free except for the price of a beer.
4) EAT! We had fantastic food and coffee while we were in Kampot. As usual, the local places are all quite ‘same,same’, although all that we tried served lovely food. The best Western options we found include; the ribs at The Rusty Keyhole and breakfast at Ellie’s (Ellie’s is a little pricey, but worth a treat).
I do feel the need to mention a fantastic stall we ate at. A little shack called ‘Ciao’ was recommended to us by some fellow travellers. Usually, the stalls are local food but this was run by a lovely Italian man. He had fashioned a pizza oven out of an oil drum, and had a make-shift open fire stove for the pastas. He was making all of the doughs and pasta right there and then and it was absolutely fantastic. On both occasions that we visited we had to wait nearly two hours for our food but it really was worth it; I am still thinking about the texture of that gnocchi and how bloody good it was! If you plan to go, go just before six so that you can get your order in as he opens and avoid a longer wait.
A lovely town, great food and well worth a stop if you have the time.
