The Columns Hotel, Kampot
French colonial architecture, Kampot
Bokor National Park, Southern Cambodia
Kampot in the south of Cambodia
IT WAS ALREADY TWILIGHT when the tuk-tuk reached Kampot. Our brief search brought us to the Columns Hotel, located on a quiet side street and in the historical quarter. The accommodations had been repurposed from several shop buildings. My lodgings, which overlooked the street, were very comfortable. The atmosphere, which was almost austere, featured tiled floors and attractive wooden shutters, the width of my room. The breakfasts served downstairs, in the colonnaded area, were amongst the best of the whole trip.
On my first golden morning in Kampot, i rented a little motorcycle, through the hotel manager. My destination was Bokor National Park (officially Monivong N.P.) First i had to locate a gas station, which turned out to be a tiny store front operation, on a side street. Old water bottles, filled with fuel, were used to tank up my rental. Soon the under-powered bike, was whining it's way through town, across the Kampot River bridge and then westwards on National Highway #3. Fifteen minutes from town the new road appeared on the right, that led up the hill station. It snaked it's way up the mountain side, through tropical forest, and was an impressive engineering feat. The ride to 1,100 (3,430 ft) metres was really very exhilarating but there were some disappointments in store too. Near the end of the 40 km ride, from Kampot, i crossed a heavily forested on top before the countryside opened up – there stood a cavernous new casino hotel with fountains out front. Fortunately, the golf course was out of sight. I proceeded a short distance further, past a small French church and a big hill station too, both of which had been badly shot up in the 1980s, due to fighting with the Khmer Rouge. In the cool morning air, the views from the limestone plateau were totally sublime. The colonial hill station, dating back to the 1920s, was now being restored.
With care, i stepped out on a huge boulder. It was perched atop vertical cliffs, that plunged into the dense jungle below – to the South was the Gulf of Thailand.
Developing the national park, especially for the rich, will have a profound impact on this tropical wilderness. Here too, a unique jungle habitat, with endangered tigers and gibbons was making way for rounds of golf and roulette tables.
Back in Kampot, i had the time to linger in the old quarter. The blocks of old buildings, which dated back to the French colonial era, provided lots of faded charm and beauty. No wonder this riverport was drawing more and more travellers. Throughout this area, there were some nice places to eat or drink in too. Kampot offered terrific Cambodian seafood or a good cup of mocha. One of my favourite places was the Epic Café, which employed deaf and disabled people. It was a little magnet for me, on account of the lovely coffee, tasty vegetarian fare, wickedly fast wifi and some attractive little gifts for a few folks back home.
Before i forgot, i picked up those legendary Kampot pepper. Near the edge of town i dropped in on a small store and processing facility, where woman were sorting peppercorns. Unfortunately i was not able to visit the actual farms were the product came from but i did buy several small packages of black and red peppercorns.
Sadly, on this leg of my journey, my photos were lost. That was because several burned discs of photo files, were crushed on the flight home.
The Columns Hotel links:
The Columns
The Columns - Hotel Reviews, Deals - Kampot, Cambodia - TripAdvisor
Bokor National Park:
wikitravel.org/en/Bokor_National_Park
The Epic Arts Café was a lovely place to hang, connect to wifi and purchase gifts:
Epic Arts - Epic Arts Café
Kampot's legendary peppercorns:
Kampot Pepper Cambodia
Cambodia's Comeback Spice - TIME
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