Yesterday we moved from Sihanoukville to Kampot by bus, arrived at the hotel then went out to eat something. Finally, we walked a bit in town, along the river and back to the hotel. Because I forgot my camera, I’ve got nothing to show you. Anyway, we organised for today, the last day, a trip to Kep before reaching the airport in Phnom penh. Kep is the best place to visit pepper farms. Many farms are biologic. The one where we went offers a roughly 15 minutes free tour around their property. The man who showed us around speaks English and French.
Pepper grows along 3m wooden poles. They treat the plants with a natural mixture (which I don’t remember the elements) to protect them. In that same Kep’s area, the ground is very favourable to grow wine too. The composition of the ground is kind of similar to France and other places where wine has good quality. Kep is not far from the see so the maritime weather is helpful, the hills and the wind plus the grown all create that perfect environment.
Every plant are collected by hand here. No machine allowed. They have all sorts of pepper: black, white, red and they all grow on the same plant. Before walking around the place the man explained everything but very fast. To be honest, I don’t remember most of what he said. There was to much informations to swallow in a short period of time for my slow mind :-)
To keep the right balance of moisture and shade, they cover the top with dry branches or something else. Everything is local, I remember that.
Between each section, there is water channels. They also let grow lemon grass and other plan that serve as a natural repellent. The nature takes care of itself :-)
In case you are interested, remember, the visit is free. Yesterday, when we organised this trip by taxi, the guy asked for $50US for the three of us from Kampot to Kep to the airport. I’ve asked if the pepper farm was included in the price and he said “yes!”. Yes, of course, it’s free… Finally we managed to pay 40$ plus, the driver brought me to the right bus station once we let my family to the airport.
That’s where I am now, at the bus station. My family stopped at the airport then, the taxi driver brought me here.
From Phnom penh to Siem Reap the price was $7US. I just had some time to have something to eat before going on a long journey back to Siem Reap.
That trip was longer than I imagine! We left at 1:30pm and arrived in Siem Reap at 10:30pm. On the way, the bus stopped many times to pickup and drop off people. Plus we stopped about 30 minutes at a “restaurant”. The landscape along the way was not very exciting though. See ya!