Kampot is a sleepy little town on the Preaek Tuek Chhu River, near Cambodia’s southern coast. As soon as we pulled in to town I knew that I was going to like Kampot. With it’s wide promenade along the river, brightly colored shop house architecture and cute little cafes and restaurants sprinkled throughout, it is just the type of place Dan and I gravitate towards. We had been moving around every few days while Megan and Varshan were traveling with us and we were starting to feel a little burnt out. We had been trying to figure out where we could stay put and take it easy for a little while after they left and Kampot seemed like just the place.

For our first day in Kampot, while Megan and Varshan were still with us, we hired a tuk tuk to drive us out of town and take us around the surrounding countryside. Before its tourist economy really took off, Kampot’s main industries were pepper farming and salt cultivation.

The salt fields were not currently in use but we stopped to see them anyways and got to peek inside the storehouses that were filled with mountains of salt.

We also stopped at a local pepper farm where we got a quick lesson about how pepper is grown and got to sample the white, red and black peppercorns that comprise the finished product.

We also stopped at a small cave which contains an ancient temple, older than Angkor Wat, according to our driver.

The final stop of the day was a little ways down to coast in Kep. We had heard and read a lot about the famous Kep crab market and were eager to try some fresh crab. Our driver dropped us off to explore the market but after walking around for a few minutes we were thoroughly confused. There were stands selling all sorts of grilled fish and other food but we didn’t see any actual crab for sale. Occasionally a woman would yell at us about crab but pushy sales people always make us a little uncomfortable so we ignored them at first, figuring we’d see some crab to purchase. When we were about to give up we decided to give in to the sales ladies and said ‘ok’ when one tried to get our attention. Next thing we knew she was dragging us to the ocean’s edge and motioning to one of her companions who proceeded to run out, chest deep, into the water and drag in a massive trap filled with live crabs.

The first woman then proceeded to pull out a kilo’s worth of crabs and then pass them to someone else to kill and then cook them for us – all right on the edge to the water.

This is why we didn’t see any crab sitting out for sale – when they say the crab is fresh they mean FRESH. They were stir fried with a little bit of Kampot pepper, delicious.

After saying goodbye to Megan and Varshan, Dan and I intended to just relax in Kampot for a few more days while we figured out our next move. However, we didn’t take into account Chinese New Year. We had looked into whether Chinese New Year was celebrated in Cambodia and, reading that it wasn’t really, figured it wouldn’t effect our plans. What we didn’t realize was that everyone in China and Vietnam had time off to travel around this major holiday and many would come to neighboring Cambodia for vacation. We hadn’t booked any accommodation beyond our initial couple of days and suddenly we realized that EVERYTHING was booked. Dan and I ended up sharing a single dorm bed in a very basic hostel for a couple of nights and were grateful not to be out on the streets (luckily it had a full size mattress instead of a twin). We ended up getting a nice room in another guesthouse a few days later when things had calmed down but having to move around three times did detract from our ‘chill’ time.

Overall though, despite the scramble to find somewhere to sleep, our time in Kampot was just what we needed to reset after being in sight-seeing mode for the previous couple of weeks. We did yoga almost every day we were there. There are lots of cute little cafes where we could sit and work; a couple of our favorites were Simple Things, which had delicious vegetarian meals and also hosted the yoga classes, and Epic Arts Cafe, which is run by a nonprofit that works with disabled youth in the area.

One our last full day in Kampot we finally built up the courage to rent a motorbike so that we could go explore Bokor Hill Station. Dan was a pro on the bike and after scooching around the neighborhood for a few minutes we hit the open road and started winding our way up the mountain. Bokor Hill Station was a French retreat during colonial times. The French abandoned Bokor Hill when they left Cambodia in the 1940s and we had read that the old buildings were a fun and atmospheric place to explore.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) a Chinese company has recently leased the land and has started developing it into a modern, luxury resort. This means that the formerly abandoned grand Bokor casino and hotel has been completely refurbished into a very sterile-looking and apparently expensive hotel. And the foundations of future development have been laid, with rebar sticking out of the ground in much of the surrounding area.

We did get to explore the old Catholic church from the French era and it was definitely a highlight.

It was too misty to get to appreciate what I’m sure are amazing views from the top of the mountain but the fog just added to the atmosphere around this little brick building hidden in a clearing. Remember what I said about how much I love old buildings? It was awesome.