After returning from our crazy bike trip to the jungles of northern Cambodia, Alan and I were looking for another adventure. We decided to make our way down to Kampot and Kep, this time sticking to paved roads and major highways. Easy enough we thought…
Day one was a long one, as usual. After much grumbling over the prospect of fighting our way down the overcrowded Rt 6 to Phnom Penh, we decided to go the ‘long way’ around the Tonle Sap. The extra 150km took us through Sisaphon and Battambang on Rt 5 to Phnom Penh. The new section from Siem Reap to Sisaphon is truly amazing. For the first time this major road is paved. Properly paved. It rivals any normal road in the west. My first trip on Rt 5 took 8 hours of excruciatingly dusty and bumpy driving to go 150km. It’s now an easy 1:45. Times have changed.
True to form, Al and I probably didn’t leave as early as we should have, so by the time we hit Kampong Chnnang (100km from PP), it was dark. We briefly discussed staying there, but we decided to make the slow cruise into the capital after dark. The promise of food and drink at the Green Vespa (Irish Pub) was too much. Once the sun sets, the best you can do is wait about 40 minutes for the traffic to dwindle and your headlights to start actually working.
Tucked in behind a Camry we made our way into the capital.
The next day we dropped the bikes off at Flying Bikes, one of the cleanest bike/car shops I’ve ever been to, to get a tune up. With only 120km to Kampot we figured it would be easy to leave later in the afternoon. When the bikes were spotless and running better than ever we set off…it was 4:45pm. No problem, the road’s been paved for years, there’s very little traffic, should be an easy cruise…
Two small items we overlooked. Phnom Penh traffic and the complete reconstruction of the road to Kampot. After slowly making our way out of PP through evening rush hour I reminded myself why I never, ever, want to live in the Penh. Finally out of the city, but still fighting traffic, we hit the road construction. Some parts of the road were fine, except for the billowing clouds of dust that would come off any vehicle (especially the work trucks), which would completely blind us. As the sun set, we carefully made out way down the road, going in and out of dust so thick you couldn’t see the ground. The only unnerving part for me came after riding on a nice smooth, wide section (still crazy dusty), when out of the haze a giant pile of crushed stone materialized in front of me. A quick down shift, a deep breath and all was fine. That started about an hour of intermittent piles of road material. First they were dumped in the middle of the road, then they were alternating from side to side. We picked our way down to Kampot, arriving around 9pm, dusty as always, and ready for a plastic chair on the street, warm beer and a glass of ice.
Kampot’s river walk.
Kampot is great little French Colonial town in southern Cambodia. It’s been largely ignored by tourists and still has a quiet out of the way feel. The town sits on the edge of the Kampot River and has all the old colonial buildings largely intact, if a little bit aged and crumbling. Over the last few years there has been a trickle of new businesses opening, but the throngs keep heading to Sihanoukville to be with all the other tourists.
Strolling the riverfront.
Sunset over the Kampot River.
The next day we took the easy ride out to Kep, a sea side ‘town’ know for it’s crab, nice bungalows, and remains of 50’s modern French houses. There’s not a whole lot going on in Kep. The beach, while not the ultra white sand of Sihanoukville, was occupied by one person. Yes, one. If you ever wanted a beach to yourself, come to Kep.
We found a suitable hammock stand and proceeded to while the day away, eventually ordering our kilo of crabs. An exhausting hour later, we had managed to destroy the crabs and the best sauce ever, lime and fresh Kampot pepper!
Pretty self explanatory.
Please note the complete lack of people!
Before…
After.
Rabbit Island in the distance.
Statue near Kep beach.
Back in Kampot, we met up with Jed and his crew, who had taken a 9 (or was it 11) hour minivan ride all the way from Siem Reap. Needless to say they were a tad tired.
Rowing a boat near Kampot.
Fisherman near Kampot.
Biking at sunset.
We spent the better part of the next day walking Jed’s newly acquired land in Kep, and discussing the prospects of how long the mud-brick guesthouse nearby would last during the rainy season.
Discussing land matters.
All of us are waiting for Jed to build his retirement house!
Alan, Farney, Gary, Theary and her family sit in the shade.
Al and I returned to PP by a different and truly beautiful road to the east. Paved, very little traffic, rice paddies with mountains in the distance. A nice change from flat Siem Reap. Another exceedingly large meal at the Green Vespa, a night in PP and 317km and we were back in Siem Reap.
All in all we covered 2000+km (1200miles) during our two 5 day trips and saw a huge amount of the country. I can’t wait for the next trip!
