Secret Lake Kampot. Exploring Cambodia's Secrets

After a hearty Western breakfast with real bacon (OH MY GOD), we hired a scooter and headed inland east towards Vietnam on “a good road” for Cambodian standards. We went out in the hope of finding the secret lake Kampot.

Turns out these roads are still heavily under construction. Navigating this mess, with huge trucks, buses, cows and local motorcyclists was not easy on our little pink, automatic “Hello Kitty” scooter. Our motorbiking experience is still very little, so we had to be extra careful.

But, we were on a mission. on a mission to visit the Secret Lake Kampot

Where to find the secret lake of Kampot

Secret lake Kampot is a bit tricky to find. Our strategy was to asked as many locals as we could. Most of them do not speak enough English to explain in detail. Perseverance is key. We kept asking and eventually enough hands pointed in a similar direction. But for a small direction service this is ok.

We also recommend checking out the Kampot pepper farm on the way

What is the secret?

Turns out that the secret lake Kampot, is not actually a lake at all. In fact the secret lake is a dam. A dam built by slave labour during the Khmer Rouge time. It is a very impressive size for a man-made lake. Absolutely worth the trip. This is the secret Cambodia we wanted to experience.

The dusty roads made us look like we got seasoned in paprika. Our costume of helmet, sunglasses, pants and t-shirts were quite amusing. We almost blended in with the locals on their bikes wearing PJs, slippers and a straw hat.

It was not even just finding secret lake Kampot, but the journey there that made this day special. We passed many rice fields, rode through local villages and were greeted by many friendly locals. Always yelling out “Hello!”. This is exactly what I had imagined South-East Asia would be like.

The last stop was a spontaneous turn off to see the salt fields Kampot