We meet Mr. Bun Leung short after our arrival in Kampot on Christmas evening's day. Quite soon after the first time in the city, it was obvious that there wasn't as much hassling as it had been in Phnom Pehn, where it was difficult to move much more than a few blocks before you had turn down the next offer of a cyclo, a Tuk Tuk or whatever the friendly people wanted to sell to us, they must have been very concerned that we did not know how to spend our money.
In Kampot we could in fact walk along the street without being offered anything, even the Tuk Tuk drivers were laying half a sleep in their tuk tuk's. It seemed thet they understood, that if one wanted transportation, you would go and ask for it yourself, and not just you were offered it on every single corner.
We had some lunch at the riverfront in Kampot at a cafe restaurant called "the Rusty Keyhole", and were then on the way to explore the city further.
Soon after leaving the restaurant a man came towards us from his little shop called "Key Man Tours". He asked how long time we'd been in Kampot and as our answer was; "a couple of hours" his face lit up and he began to ask what we wanted to see and where to go and that he was a travel agent and could arrange everything we wanted.
We wanted to see some of the destinations in the country side, but having just arrived it was a bit hard to decide right here and now, so like so many times before when the "busines men" gets to persistant, I just say that we will just explore and then decide. In Cambodia it is not good to say "later" as they will then just come again to you if they see you again, and say that you promised to go on one of the tours "later". In Cambodia a promise is a promise.
We got rid of the "Key Man tour" guy but not long time after a smiling man came across the road from a Tuk Tuk on the other side. Again the same pattern; how long we'd been in Kampot and what we wanted to see?Also he had the same offers and destinations like the "key man" had presented just minutes ago.
We wanted to go to see these places for sure, just in our tempo. But there was something very nice about this man in front of us, so we had a closer look at his program.
He would take us out early in the morning in his Tuk Tuk and take us to some salt fields outside the city, to a famous cave with a little temple inside, to a pepper plantation and finally to a little beach City called Kep about 2 kilometers away. And all this for 25 US Dollars.I thought that I didn't hear it right and had to ask again.
"Yes Sir, that is right. Both of you one day in Tuk Tuk, 25 USD".
Why not/ We wanted to go anyway so we said fine.
"You promise?"
He looked at me with serious eyes, and I understood that if I said yes, then he will also keep his peart of the deal.
When I said; "Yes I promise" I could see a big relief on his face and he smiled with the typical Cambodian big white smile from ear to ear, and we shaked hand."I pick you up out side guest house tomorrow morning".
At 8 Am the next morning he was outside and we entered his Tuk Tuk and on it went on the day of adventure in the Cambodian country side. After 5 days in Phnom Penh, it was nice to see something else than a city and to see how people lived in the provinces, and that in a Tuk Tuk, probably one of the best transport forms for doing that, as is is open and slow so you can really see the area you cross through.
Salt fields, over bumpy dust roads throug rual villages to the cave with the temple and over more remote and dusty roads through stunning landscapes to the pepper plantation -where we offcorse could buy quality black Kampot pepper from the farmers- and down to Kep at the sea and the Bay of Thailand, with is amazing -and quite empty- beaches. I bet that this place will develop into a big tourist destiation in the coming years, it is stunning beuatyful and could be a good alternative a holiday in Thailand, and it is still way cheaper to live and getting around in Cambodia.
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