ABOUT THE ADVENTURE
$2.50 Kayak Rentals
While staying at Karma Traders Kampot in Kampot, Cambodia, I had heard about Merkari Kampot, a hotel which offers $2.50 USD / 10,000 KHR kayak rentals per day. Seeing how I had had a call to the water ever since the 4,000 Islands in Laos, I was excited to check this out. Merkari Kampot does in fact have a $2.50 USD kayak rental service and it's pretty simple to acquire a kayak. Simply just show up at Merkari and ask somebody at the front desk (located inside the property) about the kayaks. They'll bring you over to the water, get you set up with a kayak, and you are free to take it wherever you'd like for the whole day.
Route Less Traveled
Many people take their kayaks to the Green Cathedral (featured in another post). I, however, did not know the Green Cathedral existed at the time that I first rented the kayak and instead took it all the ways up the Preak Tuek Chu River. I even went as far as the Entanou Slide River Park. Along this route, I traveled the wider part of the river and enjoyed the reflection of the palms on the water.
North or South
If you're up to try something other than the Green Cathedral or you'd like to continue your journey afterwards, you must pick whether you'd like to go North or South from Meraki Kampot. To go North is to go upstream towards Preah Monivong Bokor National Park, while South flows downstream towards the center of Krong Kampot. If you go North, be careful you don't go so far up that you get caught in the Teuk Chhou Rapids at the edge of the park. I went upstream for two hours and made it to the Entanou Slide River Park and then took an hour to return.
