Rivers & Roads
Kampot (my favorite)
It’s small, on the river, relatively quiet, has cute little buildings… I love it. Inspired by the Head & the Heart ::
Rivers ::
boats on kampot river
houses on the river
view from restaurant
view from restaurant
monks @ wat treuy koh
kampot river – away from town
kampot river dock – right before I got yelled at
I was swimming off of this dock, and I didn’t realize it (b/c there were other people there when I arrived), but it was actually a private dock for the employees of a guesthouse there. I didn’t know! So a lady who worked there told me this and asked me to leave. I apologized and got out of the water to leave. As I’m getting dressed, this angry Frenchman comes over, “Excuse me! What are you doing here?! This is my property!” Me: “I’m leaving, I didn’t know.” Frenchie: “Oh, you didn’t know?? There is a sign! It says ‘staff only’! This is my guesthouse!” Me: “I didn’t see the sign, it was an honest mistake. I’ll never stay here b/c you’re a jerk, so I don’t really care.” Frenchie: “Oh, you didn’t see it? Here, look at it!” Me (walking past him): “I don’t need to see any sign. I’m leaving. You’re a jerk.” Frenchie (trying to get of front of me to make me stop and look at the sign): “OH, I’m a jerk?! This is my property! You can’t be here!” Me: “Okay, bye dick.” (and I drove away on my bicycle😆).
I mean, seriously. But, for all of this time traveling, it’s a pretty good record that I got by this long without having a run-in with someone like him already! His place is called the Greenhouse. Please never stay there when you are visiting Kampot, Cambodia😂.
Roads ::
today’s tuk-tuk:)
It costs $1/day to rent a bicycle. I had such a fun ride to the countryside! 5 miles each way = my butt is sore today:) My bike ride ::
bike ride
Other stuff ::
There is a durian obsession here.
durian tree (paula)
durian-flavored ice cream (👎🏼)
durian STATUE in middle of roundabout!
Buddhist temple.
wat treuy koh
sleepy buddha
buddha
pano
at temple
paintings
at temple
Kampot @ night.
rikitikitavi
cute street
? i’m not sure what this is, but I like the sign:)
Next up: Beach (Gulf of Thailand), and I have a special, non-traditional Christmas planned😄
Phnom Penh and Kampot
I took a bus to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap; it’s a 7-hour bus ride, for $16.
The bus agency that is most popular is called Giant Ibis, and they’re really comfortable, for such an inexpensive way of travel. They have wifi that sometimes works on the buses too!
Phnom Penh – all the Siem Reapers(?) told me they didn’t like it because it is too noisy and crowded and hot. Well, it wasn’t too hot… I kinda didn’t like it either! It’s a big city, it felt a whole lot bigger than Siem Reap, even though I’m not even sure that it is. It has high rises, lots of traffic, lots of trash… I call them “pop-up landfills”. I think it primarily was that I was just not in the mood to be in a city. But, the people are still really friendly! Here are some of my travel pics…
through the bus window
sunset
in tuk-tuk: traffic jam
motorbike + trailer
water + field + babies
pretty bike girl❤️
disclaimer #1 :: these next couple of paragraphs are not upbeat
The place that I saw in PP that left the biggest impression was called The Killing Fields, or Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. It’s one of the mass grave sites where Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge executed thousands of people. It’s not a very big area – there are human bones and pieces of clothing coming up out of the dirt everywhere. They are building wooden walkways for people to use so that we’re not walking on the dirt anymore and bringing up more remains.
disclaimer #2 :: don’t read this next part if you don’t want to be upset The worst thing I heard was that one of the trees is called The Killing Tree because it’s where the executioners working with the regime would kill babies by smashing their heads against the tree and breaking their skulls. Disgusting. Disturbing.
Even though it’s depressing, I think it’s important to see these types of things to be reminded of them and be grateful for what we have. And remember :: that things like this have happened in the past in our own country (Native Americans). And be aware :: that things like this, the exact same things, are still happening now. I haven’t heard about Sudan on the news in months. The Khmer Rouge slaughtered 1-2 million people and were still members of the U.N. – and Pol Pot was still in power – years after. I can’t go down this rabbit hole into politics and privilege, but yes, it makes you think.
choeung ek genocidal center memorial
some of the skulls found on the site
Onward! To Kampot: my favorite Cambodia thus far. I had two days in PP, and only one day in Kampot. I would’ve stayed only one in PP and two in Kampot, had I known how I would take to each😊 Beautiful countryside…
kampot field + ditch digger
cow + rice field + mountain + palm trees!
field by railroad tracks
rice field
Riding in a tuk-tuk, it’s perfect 85* weather and sunny, with a cool breeze. Amazing. And I found the Secret Lake…
secret lake – village
secret lake
secret lake
And I found some cool temples in the woods…
phnom sorsia
in the jungle
phnom sorsia shrine
phnom sorsia
And I found an awesome pepper farm😊 I was so psyched about this, and it didn’t disappoint. Kampot pepper is like champagne and bourbon and prosecco – it has been given the status of “protected geographical indication”, which means that this distinct, awesome, organic pepper can only be grown here. It smelled and tasted SO good.
pepper out to dry
pepper vines
babies
pepper berries growing
Some things I learned:
- Black pepper is unripened (green) berries that are then dried
- Red pepper is ripe (red) berries that are then dried
- White pepper is ripe (red) berries that are skinned and then dried
- Pepper plants are vines that naturally grow on the ground
- The plants have to grow for at least four years before they start yielding any berries
- The older the plant, the less pepper it yields but it is higher quality
- Be careful if you don’t buy direct from the farms because Cambodians rip-off the labels and sell non-Kampot pepper under the label!
I bought some black peppercorn – can’t wait to use it on scrambled eggs or mixed with EVOO and salt for bread dipping. Yum.
Andddddd, I love this random dude…
smilin while workin
Next up: Beach!, Sihanoukville
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