The Last Few Days in Cambodia

Our last few days we spent in the southern provinces of Cambodia. It took all day by minivan with a lunch stop in Phmom Penh to travel to Kampot. The first two nights we stayed at the Natural Bungalows. Lovely setting on the river:

We hung out in Kampot which is a resort city on the Gulf of Thailand. Our first stop was at a salt farm. Plots of land are flooded with salt water and left to dry for 14 days. If it rains during one of the 14 days the fields are drained and refilled with new salt water. Next we visited a pepper farm—Kampot pepper is famous. We tasted different types of pepper, walked in the pepper tree groves and learned about the growing and harvesting process.

Kampot is also famous for seafood. We walked through the fish market and had lunch at The Crab Shack—yummy. I had to go for a swim. The water in the Gulf of Thailand is very warm—warmer than Florida water.

We said goodbye to Kampot from in front of the giant Durian and took off for Sihanoukville.

Sihanoukville is a beach/resort town with miles of beach, beach restaurants and bars. Very nice but going through major building growth. There are a zillion condos going up and I’m sure tourist numbers will increase exponentially. Most of the influx seems to be from China. We took a boat to the islands for a day of swimming, snorkeling and a grilled fish lunch on the beach. If I didn’t know better I would think I was in the BVI. Yes—that is our boat.After our days in the sun we headed back to Phnom Penh—an all day bus ride which gave me a good chance to finish my book. I had one last day so I indulged in one more temple visit, one more massage and a great lunch (fish and green mango with sticky colored rice balls for dessert) before heading to the airport.

The salon where I had my massage is just lovely. They start by giving your feet a salt scrub, jasmine tea before and after and when you put your head in the rest you get to look at a pretty flower floating in a bowl of water. I enjoyed a 90 minute “therapy” with eucalyptus oil for $30.

I took a Tuk Tuk to a restaurant near my hotel and had Cambodian fish bowl and the cutest little colored sticky rice balls for dessert. Everything served on decorative banana leaves: