Kampot Countryside Tour

I wolfed down some breakfast and joined two French couples at the tour office. One couple was young and spoke good english. I had met Alex and Vanessa on the hill tour the day before and liked them, but the other two were older and spoke only French. This effectively ruled me out of any conversation, which was a shame.

We had to make a decision between which cave to visit. They tried to sway us toward one cave, saying that the road to the other was very bumpy and it might be a bit muddy. We chose it anyway and just changed to better shoes instead! The road, which passed through gorgeous lush green countryside, did prove to be more than a little bumpy, but it just added to the fun.

The cave was halfway up a hill and we had to climb some steep and sloping steps to get there. Half way up we stopped to take in the view of the surrounding landscape, which was phenomenal. With the exception of the odd hill here and there, Cambodia seems to be a very flat country. From our position we could see vast squares of green rice fields with coconut palms dotted in amongst. Wooden houses with palm leaf thatching with their vegetable plots alongside.

The cave itself was home to a pre-angkorian temple, where the stalagtites had grown into it. The place was also the residence of choice for a large number of bats, so the place had a bit of a whiff to it!

Next up was a pepper plantation. Kampot claims to produce some of the best quality pepper in the world. The pepper grows on vines and we had a wander in between. Our guide encouraged us to try the fruit', which, not surprisingly, tasted strongly of pepper. I conclude that pepper is probably best consumed as a condiment rather than a food itself! The farm also had a large orchard with mango and durian trees.

On we went to Kep, the next town along, and ate lunch. Then we took a boat over to Rabbit Island. The island is a really chilled out place with a long beach. Behind the beach is lots of wooden 'bungalow'accomodation, which looked like a cool place to stay. I wished I had more days to be able to come and relax here for a while. Still, we had the afternoon to swim and to sunbathe. The water was lovely and warm in the shallows, but there wasnt any point in snorkling with nothing to see. Instead we indulged in the local speciality of pepper crab, which was messy, but delicious.

Our boat was late picking us up (Oh what a shame we have to stay and sunbathe longer!), so we got to the salt fields later than planned. It was pretty darm by this point and I was amused that they had even bothered to take us. We headed back home and I reluctantly booked my bus back to the capital for the next morning.