Kampot - World‘s Best Pepper

The last stop on my journey through Cambodia was Kampot. It is famous for its pepper, which is voted #1 in the world. So the obvious activity I did on my first day was to visit a pepper plantation.

We headed to the pepper farm, 'La Plantation', where we got a free tour around the farm with all sorts of information on the different colours of the pepper (green, black, red and white), its characteristics in terms of taste and growth, the harvest process, etc. Last but not least, we had the opportunity for some pepper tasting - I have to admit, there is indeed quite a surprising difference between the peppers (colours) - from smoke-y to lemon-y. With this much pepper tasting, my whole mouth was filled with a spicy pepper taste for at least 1h. I definitely had to drink quite a bit of water.

The half-day tour also included stops in a pitch-black cave that involved some scrambling and climbing, a short visit to the salt fields and ended with a stop at the crab market in nearby Kep. To finish off the day, we headed back to our hostel for an afternoon of tanning, relaxing and reading by the pool.

On the second day, I hopped on another tour to visit Bokor Hill, which is the second biggest mountain in Cambodia and c. 1.5h away from Kampot. The main purpose of the half-day trip was to visit an abandoned French village and hilltop station at the top. It was quite a fun day exploring an abandoned church, temple and hotel. For a late lunch, we also stopped at a waterfall, before heading back and doing the same as the day before - tanning, relaxing and reading by the pool. In the evening, some of the people I met on the two tours (mostly French) and I headed to the night market for dinner.

That day concluded my trip through Cambodia and I can honestly say that the country has positively surprised me - not just the people (next post), but also the diversity of things to do and see (i.e. Angkor Wat, bats in Battambang, floating villages, gem mine area, jungle trekking, its dark history, beautiful islands and world’s best pepper).

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