The Best of Cambodia & Laos

168
SOUTHERN CAMBODIA
8
KAMPOT
and guesthouses line the riverfront. The main attraction here is the eerie and decayed old
French colonial hill station of Bokor. At the time of writing, access to Bokor is either not
allowed or highly restricted as the inevitable renovation of Cambodia’s only real place in
the cool gets underway. Don’t let that put you off a visit to Kampot and the surrounding
area—there is more to it than Bokor. The surrounding countryside is some of the prettiest
in the country with the usual flat, deep green rice paddies, this time interspersed
with steep limestone outcrops and crisscrossed with inlets and rivers.
GETTING THERE
From Phnom Penh, there are two routes to Kampot, National routes 2 and 3. Neither
remotely matches National Rte. 4 to Sihanoukville. Both are bumpy but adequate. Rte.
3 is the more direct route, but also in slightly worse condition. The best way is to take
Rte. 2 from Phnom Penh until Sambout halfway through Takeo Province. Then take a
right on Road 22 that takes you the short distance onto Rte. 3 for the rest of the journey.
The road from Sihanoukville is good and takes 2 hours by car.
BY BUS Sorya Transport leaves Central market (Psar Thmei) in Phnom Penh and
takes 4 to 5 hours. From Kampot buses leave from the central bus stand. The first service
is at 7:30am, the last one at noon. It is a long journey since the bus has to take the long
way round, making a stop at Kep, because of vehicle restrictions on bridges on the more
direct routes.
There are no scheduled buses from Sihanoukville. Your guesthouse can book you a seat
in a shared taxi costing $5. You can also go to the bus stand at Psar Leu, from which they
depart, and negotiate the ride yourself.
BY TAXI From or to Phnom Penh, a seat in a shared taxi costs $7 each way. Better to
pay double and book the whole front seat. In Phnom Penh, the taxis leave from a stand
near the InterContinental hotel (p. 70). In Kampot, your guesthouse can organize one
for you. Make sure that they don’t organize one that is empty apart from you, or you will
be driven back to the taxi stand and might have to wait awhile for it to fill up. If the
guesthouse knows what they are doing, they will contact a driver who has a full taxi already
but has been informed to reserve the front seat for you, hours before your departure time.
GETTING AROUND
Kampot is tiny and you can walk everywhere. If you wish to explore, you can rent a
motorcycle. Many decide to stay in Kampot and do Kep as a day trip since Kampot is a
friendlier place to overnight, unless you actually want the evening isolation that Kep
offers. The countryside around Kampot is delightful and well worth a day’s two-wheel
pottering, even though Bokor is off-limits. There are a couple of places near the main
traffic circle that rent out bikes, Sean Ly Motor Rental Shop (No. 27 D Soeng Ngoc
Rd.; & 012/944-687), just south of the central traffic circle, and Cheang Try
(& 012/974-698) next door. Renting a small step-through, 100cc machine costs $5 a
day. A 250cc dirt bike costs $11 to $12 a day. You can also arrange this through your
guesthouse, which keeps your passport for security (instead of the rental shop). The same
offices also rent cars or even four-wheel-drive vehicles for $20 per day. The dirt bikes have
spent their days being plowed up to Bokor and they have suffered accordingly. Check the
brakes, lights, and above all check the horn—it is your friend.
If you don’t want to drive yourself, you can take a motorbike with a driver to Kep for
just $10 per day trip, or $5 one-way if you stay in Kep overnight. For more extensive tour
services, contact Art Suriya Travel (& 012/501-742), sponsored by the owners of the