Kampot

It is a quite little town next to the Preaek Tuek Chhu River with a colonial old town, a durian statue, and an old bridge built by the French. Seen from its mediocre architecture, we can see the level of implication of the french in their far Cambodian colonies:

Kampot is famous for its pepper farms. Kampot pepper is considered by some as the world’s best pepper, having a lingering taste due to mineral-rich (mainly quartz) soil. It is also the first Cambodian product to receive a Protected Geographical Indication (the same certification that protects regional products like Champagne). Pepper production was almost diminished during Khmer Rouge, but regaining its fame again. Although it was again heavily affected during corona times, for example, one farm we wanted to volunteer at had to close down recently.

Some traditional music played by children

While going around in the town, we discovered the Khmer Cultural Development Institute, where orphaned children learn music using traditional instruments, here is an example, do note that the teacher was not around at the time of recording, so the composition played by the children can be a bit out of place:

Here are the instruments used:

City of expats, and bars

Kampot is also quite famous for expats - several people we met on the way living in Cambodia were living in Kampot. In fact, we celebrated St. Patrick’s day in an Irish pub there, it was prettier than any Irish pub in Vienna. We talked to several expats there, mostly coming from New Zealand and Australia:

Similar to some other places we saw, Kampot also had some bars to avoid - named “girly bars” by an expat we met (although, controversially, he was also an older Australian man married to a younger Khmer lady). These bars come with a set of young local women - bartending or just sitting around as a part of the business - and are almost exclusively visited by older white men. You understand the type of business going on there.

Disregarding that, we can see why it is the place the expats choose to live in Cambodia. Still a big city with active life and western bars, yet still in nature with the possibility of going swimming or hiking. We might come back here to spend more time and volunteer on a pepper farm when they get big again and accept volunteers.