Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
This morning we were collected at 10am by our friendly tuk-tuk driver and we drove for about half an hour until we reached the pepper plantation. Along the way, the driver stopped and told us he needed water for his engine, before heading down the bank at the side of the road to a nearby pond to fill up his tank! Maybe the pond water was the cause of his problems later in the day, but more about that soon!
After driving though some beautiful scenery, passing villages and fields ready for rice-growing season, we eventually arrived at the plantation. Our driver took us to look at one of the plants and explained to us that black pepper is made from sun dried pepper corns, red pepper is picked when the fruit is completely mature and mild white pepper is soaked in water to remove the husks from the pepper seeds. Kampot pepper is Cambodia's first ever product to receive a 'geographical indication' (like French cheese) and is becoming well-known worldwide; we had to buy a packet, so we picked up some black pepper to take home! We were also shown the durian trees that grow on the same plantation. Durian is a foul smelling fruit which apparently tastes better than it smells, which can't be difficult because it stinks! We catch a whiff every so often from roadside stalls and we've never been tempted to try it!
Our next stop on our mini tour was Phnom Sorsia, a tiny village where a local man who spoke absolutely no English whatsoever took us up the hillside to see the 'Bat Cave' - cue some hilarious bat impressions to explain to us where we were! The bats fly out to the forest and back through an opening in the roof and locals use bamboo poles to hunt them by swatting them out of the air! The guide also showed us a brightly painted modern temple containing a huge Buddha and seemed very impressed with the $2 we paid him at the end!
We then headed back to the hotel and had lunch at the guesthouse next door, run by a very friendly French guy. We'd arranged with the tuk-tuk driver to be picked up again at 6pm to go back to the Sailing club for another sunset, but things didn't go according to plan... We had only just set off from the hotel when we realised that we were going much slower than usual and before long our driver pulled over and said his tuk-tuk had a problem with the water - that pond water from earlier mustn't have been good for it! Luckily, he called his friend who arrived instantly to take us the rest of the way - good service! Our new tuk-tuk driver was very insistent that he would take us back to the hotel again later, even though we couldn't give him a time! We eventually agreed to meet him in the Crab Market where we were going to eat at 9pm.
The sunset and live band at the Sailing Club were both amazing; the band soldiered on despite several power cuts druing their performance! After a sunset cocktail (and an amazing sunset!) we walked to the Crab Market and decided to give seafood a miss for tonight - we had pizza and spring rolls instead! Then we found our tuk-tuk driver (or rather he rushed up to us as soon as we lft the restaurant!) and we headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep - off to Phnom Penh again tomorrow!
- comments