My Top 5 destinations in South East Asia No. 4
4. Kampot, Cambodia
It turns out that by coincidence (or not?) this list is counting down to my least touristy experience so far in South East Asia. Georgetown and Kampot are probably the most visited of the 5, but in my opinion the small ´backpacker´ influence doesn´t change the authenticity and connection with local culture. It actually makes them better for it.
Kampot I visited twice, once via minivan from Phnom Penh (4 hours) and the other time coming from the Vietnamese Mekong delta which borders Cambodia at only an hour drive away.
My foremost memory of Kampot is enjoying the views and jumping into the warm waters of the river straight from my balcony.
(1/1250, F4, ISO100, 28mm)
Kampot is not far from the sea, but is a river town and although there are some ho(s)tels in town, most accommodation is upriver and many are on the Western banks. My favorite place is on the Eastern side with sunset views over the Bokor Mountain and its surrounding jungle. I was lucky to rent this bungalow with a verandah built on stilts over the water for both times I was there.
The main village is a short scooter or tuktuk ride South and is a tranquil place with pretty French colonial buildings.
(taken with my Huawei P&)
Wandering around the small centre of town you will find many nice expat-run bars, coffeeshops and local restaurants. Every dish here is decorated with strings of the local Kampot pepper, which is by far the best pepper I´ve ever tasted, and the salt is coming from the salt flats nearby. These combined with all the fresh sea- and riverfood create some extraordinary recipes.
One of the great things about Kampot is the numerous day- or overnight trips you can do from there; you can visit the pepper plantations, the salt flats, the ruins of several old buildings on top of Bokor mountain with views over the vast jungle, which is reputedly a home to elephants and tigers, and the beaches in nearby Kep.
But my favorite getaway would be to drive 20 minutes to crab-village Kep and take a local fisherboat to Koh Tonsay (Rabbit Island) and spent one night there.
(1/100, f7.1, iso200, 28mm)
You´ll arrive at the only beach on the island that has some bungalows with restaurants run by Cambodian families.
We watched the sun go down and ate fresh crab taken from the sea cooked with the famous Kampot pepper.
Electricity goes off at night and when I walked into the sea in the dark I saw the fluorescent plankton for the first time, really something magical!
Next day we went for a hike around the island on hardly existing local paths through jungle, mangrove forests and beaches where local families were farming seaweed. Thinking we could round the whole island in 2 hours we were just blocked by cliffs and jungle at the end.
(1/1250, f8, iso200, 56mm)
But the fisherman in the picture was very friendly and took us around the corner and back to the main beach.
One thing that the backpackers community brought to Kampot is some nightlife with a couple of bars in town, but especially lots of live music and late night bars at the resorts on the East banks of the river including some floating rafts for nightswimming.
That night the local Kampot Playboys did rock the house.
(taken with my Huawei P&)
Nothing better than spending the next day on the verandah and the occasional jump in the water to ´cool´ off.
(1/1250, f3.1, iso200, 29mm)
El Bueno, El Feo y El Malo 
Amazing that you’ve also been in Kampot. I just came home from 2 weeks in Cambodia 2 weeks ago.
I loved this place too – and the nice pepper dishes 😉
I’m posting photos from Cambodia from now on……
beautiful! Golden pics!
Your photography is stunning 🙂
Thank you very much, Jo, saw you tweeted it, very flattering, hope all is great, enjoy your wednesday!
Greetings, Ron
Beautiful shots! Going by your description, seems like a must-visit exotic place.
Hi Sheth, thank you! Definitely one to not miss for all its attractions and the vicinity and the laidback feel to the town!
Have a great week, Ron
Was in Kompot and Kep back in 2002, hardly any facilities, rough track up to the National Park. Interesting to see what has happened.
Hi, just read your account of those days, that must have been something else than it is now, still an amazing place, but for instance around the casino are some new constructions, road is renewed, but still a laidback town to enjoy!
Thanks for dropping by, safe travels,
Ron
I should go back, although going back to Luang Prabang in 2011 was depressing. But too many places, too little time.
Oh, really, why depressing? I had to adjust to the many tourists but still found it to be pretty magical! What other travel plans do you have?
Depressing because it had changed so much. There’s a post on the blog about it. I only just got back – after Istanbul I visited Uzbekistan, South Korea and Japan. Still jet lagged! Maybe Sicily next spring, not sure yet.
Can understand the difference must have been huge; don´t know when the ariport arrived there, but that seemed to have a big influence too! Wow, that sounds like some great travels, heading to your blog now 😉
The photos in this post, and in the one on Krabi Town (I forgot to mention it) are just gorgeous!
Thanks a lot, Laurie, great to hear you went along for the journey(s), a little more travel info than good photos, but it was all about the travel 😉
Have a good week, Ron.
How wonderful it would be to visit them all Ron! Your photographs as always are very beautiful! Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Thanks very much, Adrian, these ones are more to tell the travel story and destination than good photography imo!
Enjoy your week too!
I like them very much nonetheless Ron! 🙂
Thanks, Adrian!
i’m happy to
have come along
on this adventure 🙂
Thanks very much, SmileCalm, glad you enjoyed the ´trip´;)
Have a great week, greetings,
Ron
I love your blog 😍 makes me wants to travel even mores
Thank you very much, Fran, that is the purpose of this top 5, to get moving 😉
Have a great week and safe travel,
Ron
and I just came back from a short long weekend trip to Amsterdam, so thanks 😉
I saw on your blog, cold now, no? You liked it?
Thats´s my home city actually, love it, except for the climate!
I loved it! I also met a few people. It was amazing. Weather could have been a bit better 😉
Sounds good, still one of the prettiest cities I´ve ever seen as are the people, I guess you have to take the weather for granted when you go there 😉
Greetz, Ron.
I loved Kampot > Was wondering if you went up Bokor Mountain and if so what its like now? I heard that it was being done up for tourists including a new hotel/casino. This is a great blog BTW > stunning photos mate
Hi Andy, yep Kampot is great, didnt go up Bokor Mountain but woke up every morning looking at it 😉
Yeah, heard they improved the road and built some stuff up there, but the old buildings are still there and abandoned, with the Russian maffia running that whole area, things could be changing faster than I would like…
Thanks, cheers, mate
Well glad they kept the old buildings. Glad to hear that and good one on the update Ron
Great post! Thanks.
Thanks very much, Lana (??) very nice to hear, hope all is well,
Warm greetings from Malaysia,
Ron
Ron, this is a perfect bliss. You used the light so well. Golden outside 🙂
Thanks, Paula, it was more about enjoying it, but always good to have a compact with you, although I don´t think I would have published them outside my travel tips 😉
Prachtig Ron!
Dank je wel, Della, heerlijk plekje daar!
Fijne zondag
Insgelijks Ron 🙂
A fine selection full of atmosphere and sense of place.
Thanks very much, Louis, great to hear you got the ´feeling´.
Greetings from Malaysia, Ron.
I love that first shot.
Thank you, definitely my favorite view of em all too 😉
Greetings, Ron
These are really excellent photos, and I enjoy the narrative as well.
Thank you very much, so nice to hear you like the writing, as that is totally not my thing, but hard to tell a story and info on a place without it 😉
All the best from KL, Ron
Most beautiful images of most gorgeous places.
Thank you very much, Cornelia, and to add the people are even more beautiful and friendly and happy with hardly anything, inspiring country, Cambodia!
Greetings from KL, Ron.
Nice views and like the idea of jumping in the river to cool off. I think you can get right back to sit there and have your favorite meal of the day too.
Hi YC, that was such a pleasure, slowly heating up and jumping off, only problem was the water was so warm you hardly cooled off, but the sense was there 😉
A little sunset drink there is definitely on my bucketlist (again) ;
Cheers, Ron
Gorgeous light and great shots.
Thank you, Richard, photos were definitely not a priority but when the sun went down there´s always opportunities with a compact or phone 😉
Greetings from KL,
Ron
Enjoyed the journey, great photos of a beautiful location, the poster says alot in its figure/ground relationship – would it be safe for women?
Hi Jane, glad you came along, thanks! The poster was just a visual joke, I experience a very woman-friendly party with lots of backpacking women dancing til late!
Thanks for enjoying the journey, greetings, Ron.
I hope you know how lucky you are! Gorgeous. How early do you have to get up to get those great shots?
Oh, yeah, thats very true you say that Nila, I always try to be in the moment wherever I go and see the luck I have by experiencing and seeing all these things first hand!
Actually all of these are sunset shots, guess that´s what Kampot nightlife (and my company) does to me when I was there 😉
Thanks very much, Ron
As soon as I hit send, I realized they were probably sunset pictures and not sunrise. Regardless, gorgeous.
That balcony . . . I want to go!!!
Haha, oh yeah, brilliant spot, didnt se much of the surrounding except from what I could see from my balcony 😉
Enjoy your sunday, Patti!
Jumping into the river from your balcony…. sounds so nice. Great writing and images.
Thanks very much, Carlos, yeah so lucky to have found this place the first time, amazing wooden house on stilts!
Hope you´re having a great weekend, greetings, Ron