Southwest of Phnom Penh, just shy of the coast, this riverside town is synonymous with one thing: pepper. When Cambodia was part of French Indochina, more than 2, tonnes of red, black and green Kampot peppercorns were exported to Europe every year.
A few of the plantations have since been revived and now host guided tours and cooking classes. They cast eerie silhouettes against the edge of the plateau, especially on a misty day. Skilled artisans have been hand-making earthenware pottery here for generations.
The large water vessels are cast using wooden frames, while smaller pots are thrown on foot-peddled wheels. Kampong Chhnang sits right where the Tonle Sap river opens up from the lake. Less than kilometres north-west of the capital, Kampong Chhnang makes for an ideal side-trip from Phnom Penh. Kampong Cham offers a window onto what Phnom Penh might have looked like a century ago.
The charming centre of this small town is characterised by wide boulevards, colourful shophouses, and a Central Market whose vaulted ceilings resemble the Art Deco markets in Battambang and the capital.
The lazy flow of traffic and pancake-flat streets make Kampong Cham perfect for exploring by bicycle. Head over the river to the pink French Tower, which looks an awful lot like a lighthouse, and climb the precarious inner staircase for a view of the city.
Beek lok lak. Photo by All themes, Shutterstock. Finish the day with a hearty plate of beef lok lak and maybe a few Angkor beers at social enterprise Smile Restaurant. At sundown, the entire population of Kampong Cham pours out onto the riverfront boulevard. Street food carts set up and aerobics classes kick off. The marshy Mekong waters around Kratie are a sanctuary for around critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins.
Encouragingly, the number of births has been increasing of late, thanks in large part to conservation efforts. Boat trips depart from the village of Kampi just north of Kratie. The dolphins are extremely elusive, but you have a better chance of seeing them in the late afternoon.
Professional skippers know where to go and are trained to keep a safe distance. Another highlight of Kratie is cycling around the villages on Koh Trong island, a huge sandbar in the middle of the Mekong. Along the way, there are homestays where you can stop for a bite to eat.
While in town, be sure visit Kratie market and pick up a few kralan , a local delicacy of slightly sweet sticky rice and red beans steamed inside bamboo shoots. The 12 th -century moated temple bears many similarities to Angkor. It too fuses Buddhist and Hindu symbols. Its crowning glory is a set of carvings that depict the god of compassion with 32 spiralling arms.
A set of satellite temples, including a smaller version of Bayon, complete with face towers, are sprinkled around the small town. The temples of Banteay Chhmar were partially destroyed by the Khmer Rouge and many of the stone carvings were looted. In recent years, work has commenced to reconstruct them, one laterite block at a time.
Visits can be organised through the Banteay Chhmar Community-Based Tourism project, an innovative organisation that trains local guides and manages a network of homestays in the villages around the temples. It is situated both in the Northern and Eastern hemispheres of the Earth. Cambodia is bordered by three countries. It is bounded by Vietnam to the east and southeast; Laos to the northeast and Thailand to the northwest.
Cambodia is bounded by the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. Regional Maps : Map of Asia. The outline map above represents Cambodia, a small Southeast Asian country. The map can be downloaded, printed, and used for coloring or map-pointing work.
This page was last updated on February 24, Home Asia Cambodia. Provinces Map Where is Cambodia? Outline Map Key Facts Flag. The above map represents the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia. Salt Spring Island. Old Faithful Geyser. Kuril Islands.
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