New Year New Start, New Country? Not Yet!

Enjoying New Year’s Eve on a Farm in Cambodia was one of the best I have experienced.

No Expensive bars or clubs to get into

No dress etiquette

No worries about getting home after a few drinks

All in all a good place to party, a large group of locals, farmers and families all happily spending time together and enjoying karaoke and plenty of beer.

So Still in Kampot staying on the Farm working and looking forward to seeing the harvest in about 6-8 weeks.

Also to attend my first Cambodian Wedding, it will be interesting to see how it differs from Thailand.

TIP OF THE POST

Whilst large cities like Phnom Penn and Siem Reap are the obvious places to celebrate New Year, check out Kampot which although is a small town in the south of the country about 3-4 hours drive from the capital.

It has many western restaurants and bars that cater for all types of holiday makers and is a great place away from huge crowds to consider spending the end of one year and the start of the another.

So after a brief stopover in Pattaya, where I managed to get sunburnt and pick up the flu in a hostel in 4 days 😅

I flew to Cambodia which was a good flight but one I nearly missed.

I forgot the fundamental thing you learn when in Bangkok!

The Traffic 🤣

So after catching the Bus from Pattaya to Suvarnabhumi Airport ( which takes about 1.5 hours)

Arriving at 4,30 and then catching the Shuttle bus to Don Muang which takes about an hour.

On Time so far

Everything okay so far as my flight is at 8.10 so plenty of time

And that is where the trouble starts arriving at Suvarnabhumi was on time and whilst I had some time I decided to go print off my Visa (sent via email) to get into Cambodia.

As I had previously printed off a copy and put somewhere safe.

So safe in the fact that I spent 30 minutes in the morning trying to find it 🤣

Anyway having sorted at the airport thanks to the nice Tourist Police (only 10 baht for b/w) Thanks guys🤞

I jumped on the shuttle bus ( you have to show your ticket or flight info) and as we pulled out I stared in front of us and looked rather bewildered at the rows and rows of red tail lights.

Yep Thursday night rush hour in Bangkok or rather a slow hour because you really don’t move much

The driver of the bus just shrugged, pointed in front then got out and had a smoke.

Don Muang is bigger than you think

Anyway arriving at Don Muang at 7.27pm and rushed to the check-in desk at 7. 40 pm where they looked rather annoyed at me, took my bag and told me boarding was at 7.30 and I still had to get through customs and find my gate.

I am pretty sure the girl behind the counter said Good Luck under her breath but maybe it was my imagination.

Rushing through customs is normally not that easy as you have to remove your shoes, belt, watch and empty out your mobile devices and laptop so after filling up 4 trays and clogging the belt I then went through for security check.

After what seemed like ages I was cleared and gathered my possessions walking whilst trying to put your shoes on and fasten your belt is always fun.

The time now 7.50 pm flight leaves in 20 minutes

Success at the gate

Rushing to the gate I managed to be second to last to board thanks to the old lady who managed to lose her passport and had everyone helping her hold bags while she rummaged in them.

We did manage to take off on time and after a rather good flight for me, we landed in Siem Reap, Cambodia at 9.07.

The plus side to this was my bag was the first one off the plane so I had gone through immigration before most had collected bags

However, I don’t recommend cutting it that close.

TIP OF THE POST

Some times looking for accommodation can be a mixture of cost, availability and location and these do drive us to choose places we may not enjoy or like once we get there, however I have learnt that paying attention to reviews and feedback is also key. I stopped in a hostel in Pattaya which presented itself as a good hostel (all amenities ) great location and good price, however being ill whilst there meant I felt worse and was happy to pay extra to get out, even if that meant having to travel further to reach local amenities.

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Kampot pepper is famous around the world in top restaurants and used by some of the top chefs.

A resurgence coming after almost 30 years of non-production due to the Khmer Rouge.

Forcing the people back to growing rice and vegetables, the Pepper farming stopped.

In the late 1990s at a time when the world started to understand the destruction caused by the KR, the country started to regain some normality.

Elections happened and the farmers felt safe enough to return to the homelands.

Even so, it was many years later when they could actually start to work the farms again.

With the help of foreign investment in the shape of French and Belgium ex-pats who started up farms allowing the region to have a market for the pepper again.

After gaining its Protected Geographical Indication award in 2010 the farming increased.

Once the market was there for the sale of Kampot Pepper the local Khmer Farmers started the slow process of investing and growing pepper again.

Today over 400 farms in the Kampot Province, mostly small farms run by Cambodian hard-working farmers produce over 100 tonnes annually

However, this is less than 1 % of the total pepper grown in Cambodia each year.

If you are visiting Cambodia, then I highly recommend Kampot.

In the town visit, a lovely little shop called, funnily enough, the “Kampot Pepper Shop”

Where you will get to try the unique taste of the pepper and get directions to a lovely local family run farm called BoTree.

Here you will be guided around by volunteers who have a passion for pepper and who will give you a taste of pepper  tour (literally) 😃

You will learn more about pepper and hopefully after tasting come to understand why it is probably the best pepper in the world!