🌏🚂 Exploring the Charm of Kampot

Our journey continues as we bid farewell to the shores of Koh Rang Saloem and embark on a unique adventure by train to Kampot, a place renowned for its pepper cultivation. 🚆

The train station was a bit confusing, dirty and felt like an Indian train station you see in the movies. We hopped on board the tiniest, coziest train, which surprisingly offered us an incredible view of the Cambodian landscape. Quite comfy as well 🌅🚂

The following day, we decided to add a dash of adrenaline to our trip and rented a dirt bike to explore a bit of the outside area of Kampot. A fun twist came our way as we encountered a flat tire, the bike was swapped in just 20 minutes. The dirt roads were really fun to drive, and as the name suggests, we ended up quite dirty! 🏍️💨

Amidst the ride, we made a stop at one of the world famous Kampot Pepper farms, an absolute highlight of our day. Here, we were treated to an incredible free tour, learning about the organic cultivation of these flavorful peppers. We were the only ones here since it was off season and we chose a smaller farm. We also had a taste testing, where we realised that the generic supermarket pepper we had thought was amazing on “ Lok Lak or in pepper sauce” pales in comparison to the farmed pepper. The irresistible aroma and vibrant colors were too tempting to resist, and we couldn't help but bring some back home as souvenirs…maybe some will make it to your kitchen as well. When we were there the peppers on the bushes were green ( not ripe berries) , bursting with flavour but mild, we would have loved to take some fresh green pepper in brine but NZ customs aren’t a fan.

A little more information about Kampot pepper, if you are interested: Kampot pepper is a protected product like “ Champagne”. The soil and mild climate is perfect for cultivation, each plant takes 3 years until it grows pepper fruits. They can be harvested once a year, by hand, and are all red when ripe. They are then sorted by hand depending on size and grade. All pepper comes from
The same piper nigrum plant and the different types of black and white pepper corns are achieved by special drying & heating ( black) or boiling + peeling (white) of the red pepper fruit. It reminded us a bit of wine production as the processing needs to be very precise.

Our favourites were salted black pepper, red pepper and the fresh green pepper in Brine.

We really loved the opportunity to see the countryside by bike, as you just once again see the country from a different angle that you just don’t get if you just go from tourist spot to tourist spot.Read more