It’s a quick get-up-and-go morning where we have a brief stop at breakfast before being at our reception to be picked up for 8:30 am

We’re whisked around the town picking up a variety of other tourists and then dropped off at a salt field east of the city

A large number of people booked the same tour so we wait here for another bus that has the tour guide that is advertised as “enough speaking” from the booking office ????

While waiting for the other bus, we grab some pictures and admire the work of the people raking piles and collecting the now formed salt

Salt fields, like this one, are close to the ocean because seawater is the main ingredient of this industry – water is either brought or let in and then closed off from the ocean into the fields

The water is allowed to evaporate, leaving salt crystals – this process is repeated many times

When ready, it’s collected and piled up in warehouses in the salt fields where it waits to be delivered to the salt factory; from there, it is cleaned, iodine is added, and packaged in 50 Kilogram bags

With the added iodine, hundreds of thousands of Khmer children’s lives have been saved – this is because iodized salt enhances mental development outcomes for children in rural villages, like Kampot and the surrounding regions

The production period is from the end of December to April, in the dry season

It seems the current youth are not taking up the work from their parents as they consider it too hard when they can find better, easier work elsewhere

We get to have a taste of the salt and can confirm that it is salty

Daisy manages to step into a clay mud pit and almost looses her shoe – a bit muddy but we carry on ????

Next, we’re taken to Phnom Chhngok Cave

This cave has a Hindu temple that was built in the 7th century from Funan brick, dedicated to Shiva

After this, we’re taken south east and have a brief stop at Brateak Krola Lake

This place became known as Secret Lake named by tourists in the early 2000s as this is when tourism became more popular

Locals didn’t visit this area for many years as it was nearby the mountains where the Khmer Rouge hid when they were kicked out of power but still around in the 1980/90s and they laid many landmines – the landmines have now been removed

Back in the van, we’re driven to La Plantation who hosts free tours of their business

Because our group is so big, we have to wait about an hour for one of the tour guides to be able to take us so we have a coffee and chill in the Spice Bar

This is a French and Belgian run pepper plantation, opened in 2013, over 50 hectares – 20 of these are dedicated solely to Kampot Pepper

Pepper was imported by china back in the 13th century; Kampot Pepper originates from India and Long Pepper, another product grown here, is originally from Indonesia

Kampot Pepper is protected by PGA (protected geographic indication), like champagne is in France; in order to meet this requirement, it must be farmed organically

We are told about the formation of this plantation and it’s explained as casual deforestation of the area because the ocean has made the soil filled with clay and limestone, which is good for farming

Pepper takes three years to grow before harvesting is possible and they grow the plants vertically up posts which can produce for 15 – 20 years when harvested correctly

Harvesting happens at different points depending on the type of pepper:

• Sept – Jan is young: green is picked and dehydrated usually, can also mix with salt
• Feb – May is old: red is used for red and white pepper (the latter is put in normal water to get the skin off), dark green is used for black pepper
• May / June is the end of the harvest season

We get to have a taste of some of the 90 products they sell in their shop, including the red, green, black and salted fresh Kampot Pepper and the salted fresh and leather varieties of Long Pepper

They offer us to try some spice mixes as well, which are known as spicy, citrus, smoky and chai in addition to some root mixes which are turmeric and galangal

Our favourites were the salted fresh Kampot Pepper, citrus and smoky mixes

We are then given a packed lunch by the tour guide before heading off south

Krung Kep Blue Swimmer Crab Statue is the next brief stop

Around the corner from here is the Kep Crab Market where we have about 20 minutes to meander around (see the featured image) as well as finding the shoreline where crabs are being caught

Then, we are taken back to the city where we have a quick freshen up before meeting our friend back at the Monkey Republic as a walking tour is being hosted

This tour is run by a Canadian who got stuck here around the time of COVID and decided to embrace the culture and history

He leads us to the hotel next door, The Magic Sponge, and explains that back in the mid-20th century the king of Cambodia sent a collection of people to Paris to go get well educated and assist the Cambodian people

Unfortunately, most of these actually came back with ideas of communism and became the founding fathers of the Khmer Rouge…

However, one of them called Van Molyvann became interested in the European architecture and sought to combine this with traditional Khmer stylings to create New Khmer Architecture

This is the design of the building in front of us is one of the first ordered by the king to be built here, in Kampot

After this, we’re taken by the Lutus or Lotus Pond which has been used as a reservoir for the town for many years – water has been introduced into houses here twice with the first being back in the 1920s and then in the early 2000s, after the several wars

There are fish in it which help to reduce the mosquito problems here and it is decorated with many statues portraying religious myths of ancient Hinduism, as this religion has modernised over the years

We’re told that, because we’re nearer the rural side of Cambodia, the beliefs here are a little more extreme than normal with people seeking help from gurus and even magicians to help them in times of need as well as strongly believing in mystical and paranormal beings

This extended even to the time of COVID where people would create scarecrows to not encourage the COVID ghost to enter their homes and harm their families – this actually appeared to work as Cambodia wasn’t truly impacted by the pandemic!

We’re guided around the waterfront and hear about the original stories of buildings and locations, such as the current Starbucks being where the fish market once was (though the locals love Starbucks!) and the Browns Coffee being an HQ of the Khmer Rouge during their occupation

Our guide speaks of the loud animal noises you can hear throughout the town all day and night – it’s not actually birds but rather recordings of the swifts to encourage them to nest in the area

This benefits the area as they eat mosquitos as well as the fact their nests are collected by locals to sell to China – sadly, Chinese make something called bird nest soup which is a health remedy and is very expensive, also considered the Asian caviar, and sells for about $1,000 per kilo…

Finally, we’re shown a variety of shrines in the area and explained the typical Khmer funeral process, by a local:

• It’s traditional to be cremated but this used to be a ceremony of people setting the person on fire on a table and the family being close and watching
• The hair burns first and then the eyeballs pop and the corpse will sit up which requires people to make it flat again
• Once burned, ashes will be collected and paired with coconut milk and family members drink so that they take a little of the person with them even after death
• Some people will even have necklaces with teeth to keep these family members close

We are then dropped off back at the start point and we go with our German lady to Simon’s Tandoor Indian Restaurant for some dinner

Chicken tikka masala, chilli chicken and cheesy garlic naan

Shattered from a long day, we wander back to our hotel and get some rest