Kampot is a riverside town with an extremely laid-back atmosphere (short 3-hour mini-bus ride from Sihanoukville and Koh Rong, $6 per person). For me, Brazil was already pretty laid-back when I visited. Kampot made Blumenau seem like a big, happening town. Our time in Kampot was spent relaxing, chilling out, and living a laid-back lifestyle for a few days. Perfect place to enjoy some cheap, Cambodian draft beers.
As you have probably guessed, Kampot is pretty small. We saw some roundabouts on the map that looked fairly far from each other – turns out they were right down the street from one another. You could probably walk from one end of the main section of the city to the other in about 20 minutes or so. That being said, it had all the usuals that you would find anywhere, and we had some nice strolls through the streets.
The entire city is concentrated along the Kampong Bay river. Everyone says that the best part of the city is by the river and they were totally right. The river was wide and peaceful, while the area by the river was open and uncrowded. It’s not the prettiest river we’ve ever seen, but in Kampot, you feel like you have the river all to yourself. Plus there was never a rush – we could sit by the river all day if we wanted to.
The central roundabout in the city, like many roundabouts in the world, has a statue in the middle. Usually it’s some famous person, some kind of tower or fountain, or some pretty gardens. In Kampot, it was a durian. Yes, you read that right, durian. For those of you who don’t know what a durian is: it’s a large, smelly and thorny fruit, popular in SE Asia. I personally think durians stink and dislike them. Apparently Kampot used to be filled with durian orchards before the Khmer Rouge.
Overall, we took it easy, and spent some time getting caught up on the blog (you all know we needed to). Occasionally, we played some pool or some mini-golf. Our guesthouse – the Magic Sponge – had both a pool table and a 9-hole mini-golf course onsite. Both Carlos and I are pretty competitive, so that made it more fun. I would say that my pool skills went from nonexistent to I can actually hit the ball now!
After a few days in this laid-back town, we’re ready to get going and get busy again. Looking forward to the next stop, the best of Cambodia yet to come – Siem Reap and Angkor Archaeological Park!