Our customers won a trip to Cambodia with us!

Do you remember our Facebook contest where customers had the chance to win a trip to Cambodia to visit our pepper plantations? Nikola and her boyfriend David just spent a whole week there discovering Kampot pepper and Cambodia through the eyes of our poorest farming families. We asked them to describe the entire trip as if we were there with them. Read about their experiences and see the impressions Nikola wrote down and photographed together with her partner.

They welcomed us as if we were part of the family

Their constant smile acted as a connection instead of language, because we struggled a bit with that. But “čolmoj“ and “nadraví“ were enough for us in the evening, and when not, our guide Dolphi and Google Translate helped express how good the dinner was. We were actually served snake soup, which we had seen whole just a few hours earlier. An experience for a lifetime! Kind of like seeing what a real pepper plantation looks like. We had many questions and received many answers. Too bad we couldn’t see the entire process of harvesting and preparing the pepper before it reaches the plate. But well, it’s not the season. That’s part of farming; you are dependent on nature.

Even when you go to sleep. During the evening shower of water from a tub, a gecko watches you, and while you sleep on wooden planks, you cover yourself with a mosquito net to protect yourself from mosquitoes that would otherwise eat you alive. And supposedly, it’s not even their season.

We also had a nice encounter with the local fauna

Watering piglets or training dogs… And the afternoon herding of cows and the morning pasture were more of an event and fun than anything else. Early in the morning on the way back home, you pick a coconut from a palm and try (unsuccessfully) to cut it yourself, feeling the essence of hard but actually lightened farm life.

The influence of the Western world hasn’t escaped here either. In the evening, phones with YouTube and a huge speaker come out. Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran play alongside traditional Cambodian food.
But they also have Facebook. Which is great because we can stay connected with Kunthea’s daughter and her friends, who called us “sister“ and “brother“ and left me beautiful, cute messages. I really felt like a princess when five other little princesses kept telling me how beautiful I am.
In short, we now feel like part of the family! :-)