Kampot Province, Cambodia

We wave goodbye to our broken tuk-tuk...

We have just spent 5 days travelling in the Kampot Province, on the south coast of Cambodia (it's not far from Sihanoukville). It has been an action-packed stay, so I am ready to collapse now!

First we stayed in a small town called Kep. It used to be a popular seaside resort for posh French and Cambodian people. Sadly, the Khmer Rouge destroyed most of the buildings, so it is not very popular any more. It is a nice place to visit though, and we enjoyed hiring bicycles to explore the town.

Next we took a long tuk-tuk journey to Kampot - unfortunately, our tuk-tuk broke down, so it was an EXTREMELY long journey! In Kampot, we went to the Phnom Chhnork caves. There is an old temple inside the caves which is covered with stalactites. A stalactite forms when water drips down from the roof of the cave. Do you know what the opposite of a stalactite is called? Some children guided us through the cave - they skipped down a big rock wall in their flip flops, while we followed slowly and carefully down in our trainers!

The temple inside Phnom Chhnork caves

Next we went to visit a pepper plantation. Kampot pepper is very famous and is used by all the famous French chefs. We saw the pepper trees, with the green peppercorns growing on them. Green peppercorns can be eaten off the tree, although I warn you - they burn your mouth!

We bought some dried black peppercorns to take home. Did you know that you can even buy "bird pepper"- this is pepper than birds have eaten and pooped out, and it is thought to help with your love life!! Ick!

The next day, we took a long ride into the hills to see Bokor Hill Station. This is a resort built by the French in the early 1900s. It has a hotel, church, casino and post office, which were all abandoned after the Khmer Rouge came into power. It is very strange to walk around the old buildings, and to imagine what they must have been like last century. We were very lucky to see Bokor, because they have now shut it down to build a new resort.

The abandoned Bokor Palace Hotel

On Monday, it was my birthday - yay! We travelled by tuk-tuk and boat to Koh Tonsay, also called Rabbit Island. The island is beautiful, and not many people know about it yet, so we almost had the place to ourselves. We swam in the sea, and lay on the beach, and ate fresh crab for our dinner. There is not electricity or running water on the island, so we had an interesting night in a wooden bungalow, being woken up by howling dogs and crowing cockerels! But it was very relaxing, and a wonderful place to spend my birthday.

My birthday was very stressful...

We're back in Phnom Penh now, and I'm not quite sure what we're doing next - but wherever we go, I will send you a postcard!

Take Care,