Kampot was once a very nice town or at least it seems like it could have been. There are plentiful ruins of French villas, some of which have been rebuilt. The walkway along the river is very nice though still under construction to extend the entire length of the town along the river. The oversized roads that run most of the main thoroughfares seem empty with the few motorbikes and tuktuks that use them. There is a park running down the middle of town that is being rebuilt as the original light posts still stand from the French era. It seems like a town that was once a playground for the French and Khmer elite, but the years of Khmer Rouge rule and civil war have had it's way with Kampot. Now most nights you can see the electrical outages that flash on and off or just stay off for periods of time and it becomes quite dark and quiet. There isn't much in town, but definitely worth a stop for a day or two.
Aside #1
I'm currently in Kep, Cambodia drinking a Beer Lao which is brewed in Laos and exported to Cambodia, but I pay less for it here than I did in Laos! What sense dose that make? However, the beer in Vietnam was cheaper by far than anywhere I've ever been, including Mexico.
Aside #2
On the bus ride from Phnom Penh to Kampot there was a rest stop for the driver to eat, of course, a bowl of soup, which I think you must have when you stop if you're a bus driver (every driver I've seen has always had a bowl of soup at rest stops). But I wasn't in the mood for a hot bowl of soup in the 95+ deg (F) heat, so I found a steam bun. If you knew how much I like steam buns, then you would know this was a gold mine. Only…they really weren't that great. I think I was spoiled with the light and fluffy steam buns I was getting in Hanoi and I got a lot of them. These had a different filling; they still had egg, but it was a half of a big egg and some kind of gooey sweetish filling and the bun itself was dense. I was not impressed, but a steam bun is better than no steam bun. I wish I took a picture.
Aside #3
I'm full of asides today, but I guess I have some things to say and since Jen isn't here to listen, I have to write it. I visited (I'm really sitting there right now) the Veranda Natural Resort for a drink and to see if I could get on their wi-fi. This is one of the nicer places in town, rooms for $30-$50 with a wonderful view of the gulf of Thailand and the town below. The menu is wonderful, full of fresh seafood and everything is under $12. Why don't people with money from the USA come here on vacation?? The flight here isn't that much longer than to Europe and for less than you pay for marginal accommodation there, you get the best here. Plus – it is cheap to hire a driver (about $30 a day) to drive you everywhere. You would pay that in cab fares in any major city in Europe and the States. I don't get it.
My time in Kampot
I arrived in Kampot with less than an hour of light to find a place to stay. Luckily there is really only one short street with all the budget guesthouses, which always makes things easier. In small towns it's really nice to stay in the backpackers' ghetto because it allows easy access to the amenities that you become dependent upon. For me, it's cheap beer and free wi-fi. Pretty much as long as I have those two things I can make due with almost whatever else there is. As I mentioned earlier, Cambodia doesn't really have that cheap of beers. They are the most expensive of the countries we have been to; I pay $2.50usd for a 640ml bottle (Vietnam $0.55, Lao $1.25, Thailand $1.5 to $2).
The backpackers' ghetto is a block from the bus station, but you have to wade through tuktuk drivers and touts to get out of the very small bus station. I'm pretty sure they all know the bus schedule and show up for each arrival. After pushing my way through the touts, I walked to the Kampot Guesthouse to see a room. The only room they have is a $10usd room, which was well worth the ten bucks. If Jen was still here, it would have been wonderful, but $10 is a little much for my budget, so I decided to look somewhere else. The next place I tried was full, so I decided to just take the $10 room and look again in the morning. I needed something to eat now since it was already getting dark and I only had grilled pork and rice that morning at the bus station. I walked out to the river front to investigate the nicer hotel area. I walked the strip once and then decided on a little Indian place that had cheap beers. I had 2 beers before I ordered my meal to capitalize on an empty stomach and the dinner for 2 for 1 that included fried morning glory and a red chicken curry and two servings of steamed rice, but I only ate one. I called it a night as everything seemed deserted and went back to my very nice room.
The next morning, since I couldn't stay in my room another night, I looked at the $7 room they had and then ventured out for some $1 noodle soup I remembered seeing the night before. The soup was a little disappointing as it was just ramen with some fried fresh veggies added to it, but it was better than nothing. I took a look at 3 other guesthouses that were all more expensive, save one $3 room that even I wouldn't stay in, and went back to move my stuff the $7 room at my current guesthouse. I then ventured out to see what the city of Kampot was like, of course by this time it was 10am and starting to get pretty hot. It's hard to say much about Kampot other than the desertion I felt the night before is the norm for the city. Some parts have been restored and are very nice like the walkway along the river and a park that still has light posts that the French built down main street. Most of the town, however, is still in ruins from I'm guessing the years of war and oppression in the country. There seems to be a lot of potential here, if this were Thailand or Vietnam it would be very developed already with lots of touristy bits, and I think in time Cambodia follow suit. After walking around and getting a feel for the place, I went back to some street stalls next to a convenience store to have some fried noodles, but it was ramen noodles yet again. It was actually pretty good, just not the noodles I'd grown to expect in Thailand and Vietnam. The rest of the day was spent at the guesthouse (fooling around on the web) and taking a nap with one more uneventful venture out to get some dinner.
My last day in Kampot
This was also an uneventful day and I should have left Kampot after my second night there as I don't think the city deserves more time than that, but I wanted to try a couple of restaurants that were raved about in both LP and TravelFish. I went to the first place, Akashi Cafe, for lunch, but with a little bad luck I showed up on the only day that the place is closed, Wednesday of all days. The hours are very weird too, from 12:30pm to 5:00pm, I thought it was very strange. So I crossed to the other side of town to Mea Culpa for some wood-fire oven pizza. After I ordered my pizza, they lit the oven just for me, I felt quite special. The pizza was alright, crust was good, but the rest just alright. I ordered the veggie pizza and it came with corn on it. Last time I checked corn is a grain, not a vegetable. After lunch I went back to the guesthouse to spend the very hot afternoon. I spent a lot of time in Kampot at the guesthouse because they had a very nice area that was shaded and their beers were pretty cheap. The major attraction in Kampot is to take tours, which are much easier to do out of Kep so I organized my transport to Kep for the next day. The only other eventful thing was dinner that night, which I had at another Indian place and ordered a chicken kottu roti, which can only be described with a picture that I will post with the title "Chicken Kottu Roti."
Editor's Note: I was mildly concerned that Robert was just drinking his way across Cambodia in my absence, but when asked, he reassured me: "I really don't feel like I drink that much and can't with the budget I'm on." So alas, perhaps he just dreams about drinking more and is a price hound, hence all the references to cheap beer. I am extremely curious to see the chicken kottu roti!! Aren't you?? -- Jenn
1 comment:
Yeah, let's see that chicken kottu roti!
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