OITG | Kep City, Guide of Cambodia

The background of Kep City
kep is the seaside-tourist city locating at Southwest of Phnom Penh; the city can be accessible by the National Road No 3 from Phnom Penh via Kampot province in 173-kilometer distance or by the National Road No 2 from Phnom Penh via Takeo province. It also can be accessible by rail from Phnom Penh to stop at Dam Nak Cham Eu station. Then continue more seven Kilometers by a road to Kep City.

Foreign tourists can go from Vietnam to Kep City via border cross of ha Tieng (Prek Chak) in 40-kilometer distance. Tourists can also go from Sihanouk Ville or from Vietnam by boat or ship to the port of Kep City.

Kep City was organized in 1908 during the French colonial time. The city was developed as the beautiful seaside tourist resort in 60th decade during the time of Sang Kum Reas Ni Yum. The name �Kep� is taken from French word �Le Cap� means peninsular.

The story related to the name of Kep said that there was a king named Sa Kor Reach who had the mighty spell. He put the sleeping spell to a commander at Ang Kor Thum, then stole the commander�s white horse and fled together with his troop to the southwestern seaside. When he took a rest at the seaside, he was approached by the commander�s troops who had chased him from behind, Suddenly, he got on the horseback; the horse jumped up, and fled away without picking up the horse seat because the commander�s troops nearly approached him. So that, we called the area �Kep She� means �the horse seat�; then we only called �Kep� until now.

Koh Ton Say
Is the natural resort locating at the Southeast of Kep town in 4.5 kilometer distance from the town, and has two beaches suitable for swimming because they have white sand and shallow water. At the bottom of the sea, there are varied fish, plant and coral, which enable the research on ecology.

The name ' Koh Ton Say ' comes from the word ' Rum Say ' meaning ' Spread Out� because when the king, Sa Kor reach is hopeless for struggle due to his troop and parties break off, he leads the remaining troop a crossing the sea to an island in front of Kep town, then his troop spread out there. So that we call the island �Koh Rum Say�, after that we call �Koh Ton Say� until now. Koh Ton Say has two-square kilometer land area. Before, prisoners were sent here for correcting and defending the island.
The tourist infrastructures at the island were constructed during the Sang Kum Reas Ni Yum time such as path of horse cart around the island, wooden motel and restaurant, clean-water system and other administrative buildings etc. But, because of the past more than two decades of war and natural disaster, these infrastructures have almost completely been damaged.

Handicraft
Tourists usually interested in availability of many kinds of handicraft that we found mostly from Kampot province such as�
-Shell Handicraft: They collect varied shells of snail and oyster to make figures of sea animals. These souvenirs are displayed for sale along the beach from Kep City to Koh Kong province. -Coral Souvenir: Many souvenirs made the coral are displayed for sale along the beach for local and international tourists who buy them as the remembrance and for decorating their houses.

Phnom Sar Sear Resort
Is the natural and cultural resort locating at the Southeast in 14 kilometer distance from the provincial of Kampot. When the King, Sa Kor Reach and his troop arrive at the seaside area, he get off the horseback and move furtively along the mountain side (at that time the mountain was an island) for fleeing. So that, we call the mountain (Sar Sear) mean (move furtively).

Phnom Sar Sear consists of three-small mountains having approximate 1.5 square kilometer land area. Tourists can enjoy themselves in the mountain caves such as the cave of Phnom Ach Pro Chiev and especially the cave of Phnom Dam Rey Sar where we found a great architecture of Viel Sre 100 inside. On the mountaintop of Sar Sear there is an artistic and color full stupa built in 1964 by the princess, Rasmey Sou Phoan.
And we can view the scenes of rice fields, forest, local villages, island, vast sea ect. The mountain is also the worshipping place for people who go there for praying and wishing for happiness and other fortunes in Buddhism.

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