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Region: Southern Cambodia> Province: Kampot>Location: Kep

Kep sights and attractions

Kep general activities - Enough for one or two days

Description
Aside from eating crab, there are a couple of points of minor interest in and around Kep, together they're sufficient to fill one long day or spread them across two days.

In Kep itself, there's two main attractions (aside from the beach).

While ostensibly a National Park stretching across some 5,000 hectares (including offshore Ko Tonsay and Ko Po), the vast majority of Kep National Park's gazetted area is being used for farming and what not and so it's hardly a repository of abundant wildlife and untouched natural beauty. That said it does remain a pleasing area to go for a walk and there's a number of small trails than can be followed with relative ease. Most guesthouses should be able to supply you with a map and a guide if required.

Kep's other tourist mainstay is the mermaid statue. The white concrete mermaid, with absolutely gravity-defying breasts, sits just to the east of the Beach House on Kep's main beach. Every now and then a bunch of social conservatives kick up a storm about the statue's nudity and drape her with garments -- most of which disappear within a day or two.

Further afield, the district of Kompong Trach was once a Khmer Rouge stronghold -- it was in this area that three western travellers were kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge off the Phnom Penh - Sihanoukville train in July 1994 and were murdered late in September the same year. Today the threat of the Khmer Rouge has gone, and a trickle of tourists visit the district to explore a small set of mediocre caves in a limestone outcrop. The centre of the outcrop has collapsed creating an atrium-like effect and there's a bunch of small pagodas and shrines that have been built through the network of caves. There's always some kids on hand who'll happily lead you through the caves for a token fee.

Past the caves, there's some pepper plantations that can be visited in what is referred to as the Khmer Rouge Mountains. These are actually just hills where ex-Khmer Rouge were resettled, given farmland and told to start growing stuff. Their pepper is outstanding -- we mean it -- outstanding. Depending on the farm you go to, there's generally two grades available -- 1 and 2 -- 1 is by far the better pepper and well worth the extra money. Prices start at around US$8 per kilo (some haggling is acceptable) -- a bargain compared to what you'd pay in Phnom Penh -- though you will need to carry it around with you.

In the opposite direction, heading east of Kep towards the Vietnamese border, there's an isolated pagoda that offers breathtaking views of the surrounds. While the pagoda is no great shakes, the views, especially at sunset, are terrific.

Both motodops and tuk tuks can be arranged to cover all of the above -- you will need to bargain to get a reasonable fare of somewhere between US$3 and $5 for the entire trip.

Boats to Ko Tonsay leave from a pier around 1km east of Kep Beach. The fare is set at US$10 for a return trip, so it's best to gather a group together if you want to keep costs down. The boat trip takes about 30 minutes each way. See our Ko Tonsay section for more information.