Scootering through Kampot

I had never ridden a scooter before and after seeing the lawless way in which Cambodians drove, I was scared. I had already passed up on a suggestion to rent bikes in Battambang, so I had my mind set on Kampot. Luckily in my van on the way there were two guys (Billy and Kieran) staying at the same hostel as me, we took a tuk tuk therer, hung out and got to know each other.  That night we decided the following day we would rent scooters and scooter into Bokor National Park.

Why was I scared?
For one I’d never ridden a scooter before.  Also, I had been in Cambodia for about two weeks and realized there are literally no traffic laws. On paper they might exist, but in practice they don’t. Cars, scooters, tuk tuk drivers and motorcycles do whatever they want, when they want as long as there is space. The sidewalk may as well be an extension of the road and traffic signs are just a suggestion. In Phenom Penh our tuk tuk driver didn’t want to wait in traffic on the right side of the road so he decided to drive in the opposite one (until he turned off). Intersections seem as if they have magnets pulling every vehicle toward them at once. Drivers overtaking cars in the opposite lane come fully into yours with very little regard of what’s on the other side, you need to watch out for them not the other way around.

Bokor National Park
Hailed as having one of, if not the best road in Cambodia (built by the Chinese), Bokor National Park entrance was about a 15 minute scooter from the hostel. From there a perfectly paved pothole-less two lane road winds its way up the mountain. With Billy leading the way and Kieran behind me we wormed our way to the top stopping to take pictures of the view or of the giant Buddha statue randomly located along the road.  Aside from beautiful views,  the park draws tourists because of a reservoir with the guts of a hotel next to it, a beautiful waterfall that in rainy season would be magnificent, a giant abandoned casino, an abandoned church extremely out of place in a country that is 98% Buddhist, and a formerly abandoned hotel that is now expected to open. Apparently there was one guest staying there from the US. I’m not really sure why anyone would want to stay there.  From the casino to the hotel we had to drive through a blanket of fog, I was on the verge of suggesting we turn around, but then the faint outline of the hotel could be made out ahead of us and when we got there the fog slightly lifted. The way down was even more beautiful than the way up, it was around 17:30 and the sun set around 18:30, there were no other vehicles on the road so it was just the three of us peaceful making our way back to Kampot.

Kep
The following day I decided to keep the scooter and scooter over to the seaside village of Kep, famous for its crab market. I imagined a small fishing village similar to something you’d find in Spain, but there wasn’t one; I drove back and fourth thinking I didn’t go far enough the first time only to realize there was nothing more than what I had already seen. The crab market is what Kep is famous for, I was getting hungry so I made my way there. Along the dock there is a jumble of restaurants to sit down and order a dish, but I wanted the authentic experience. I walked over to the little old ladies selling crabs they caught that morning out of the basket, I bought a kilo for $6, then she took me to another lady to cook them in fresh kampot pepper and sauce for $2, I wanted rice so I made my way to another vendor and paid $.25 and finally I needed to sit down and eat it all, so I needed to buy a palm cane drink from another lady for $.75. It was fine by me because it is the best drink ever,  I would never pass up the opportunity to drink one. I only had $9 in cash on me (or a $100 back at the hostel, but didn’t want to go out with it) and it came out to $9. It couldn’t have worked out any more perfect, I got the kilo down from $8 to $6 and to cook it from $2.50 to $2. It was the freshest and best lunch I had during my stay in Cambodia. After, I went down to the beach and ran into Mel and Lucy, we hung around there the rest of the day.

Later the night back in Kampot, Mel, Lucy and I went out to dinner.  We went to a place called Pepe the Pirate and it was amazing. We started with Brie and Camembert cheese with bread and two amazing spreads, then I ate chicken cooked with kampot pepper and a blue cheese sauce with sliced up baked potatoes. For dessert we went somewhere else and I had chocolate coconut cake and a giant chocolate chip cookie with ice cream. It was the best dinner I had and combined with the amazing lunch probably the best day I’ve eaten in all my solo travels.

Pepper Plantation
A visit to Kampot isn’t complete without a visit to a pepper plantation. Since it was my last day and I was leaving later that afternoon, I decided to scooter out one more time to ….  a small family run operation, no bigger than two football fields. The tour was short, but informative and worth it. I bought some amazing green pepper, there’s nothing quite like it. I wish I had bought more; I use it almost every night to cook so I it’s not going to last long. From the plantation I got back around 1 so I could be there for my 3:30 bus to Phenom Penh to catch my flight later that night. Except my bus never came, what proceeded was a stressful couple of hours waiting around and finally getting in on a taxi going there. I didn’t end up leaving until 6, but my flight wasn’t until 12:20 am, so in the end it all worked out.

And that concludes my awesome and wonderful 18 days through Cambodia.