Teuk Chhou, loosely translated as "rushing water" in Cambodian, is an awesome swimming and recreation site near Kampot.
It's popular with foreign tourists as well as locals and Cambodian tourists.
TEUK CHHOU 🌊 KAMPOT, CAMBODIA
Teuk Chhou was one of our favorite quick getaways in our former home of Kampot, Cambodia. Teuk Chhou is a sort of whitewater resort area if we can use that term loosely.
Kampot sits on a tidal river containing brakkish water. The closer you go to the sea, the saltier the river becomes, and the salinity decreases as you go upstream, making the Teuk Chhou area 99.9% freshwater.
The river is not that long, and it is fed from a reservoir owned and operated by China. Every day, depending on the conditions, the gates would open to create electricity and also provide the tourist area with whitewater views.
 |  |
|---|
One not so subtle way Monkey-B would let us know it was time for a Teuk Chhou trip was to casually wear swimming goggles around the house.
I guess it's now I should mention we have never been to Teuk Chhou. It is full of tourists and trash, and I don't trust swimming a few meters downstream from all that undiluted runoff.
 |  |
|---|
We always knew that there were 1 or 2 kilometers of river above the Teuk Chhou Resort, but still below the dam. Through trial and error, we managed to find a piece of abandoned land with a hole in the fence and a hidden parking spot for our tuk-tuk.
To access our little slice of heaven, we had to descend a harrowing hillside full of loose boulders the size of motorycles. You can see this hillside in the above photos, up and to the left of @Sreypov and SreyYuu.
Our little swimming hole was about as close as you could get to the base of the dam without being in extreme danger during a water release. I must admit it was a lot of fun to show up before a dam release, as you could easily wade across the river.
When the dam would release though, it only took 5 minutes for our area to be full of cold swiftly moving water that could easily sweep you away in the middle of the current. The @KidSisters learned their first swimming skills in these pretty hardcore waters.
The river is moving at full speed in the above photo about 40 minutes after a dam water release. We had the perfect little picnic spot for 4 there too, just enough space for us and some gear.
The above photo shows the river a few minutes before a release, the @KidSisters waiting patiently. Monkey-B once spotted a pit viper coiled in the tree branch directly above our picnic rock, and that put an early end to that day's adventures.
@Sreypov is doing the mountaineer's gaze in the above photo. I think it always makes you look more pensive when you pretend to be looking at something important far away, so I asked @Sreypov to stare at the bottom of the hill 50 meters away.
 |  |
|---|
Teuk Chhou Resort is still a site worth seeing if you ever get the chance to make it a little downstream from where our photos were taken. For us, it's just too full of hawkers, and there just isn't any peace and quiet to be found there.
A random sidenote for any of travelers: Kampot is the "Durian Capital of Cambodia," and most durians are grown on small farms alongside the road from Kampot to Teuk Chhou. You can buy some locally grown durian very easily on your way, but not for decent prices, as these durian are aimed at Phnom Penh tourists.
If you are trying to find our secret swimming hole, check google maps for Tada Waterfall. It is directly across the street and over the cliff from the main entrance. Descend the hill at your own risk though.
🙏 THANKS FOR READING 🙏
 |  |  |  |  |
|---|
Nice to see another happy khmerican family on blurt!
You guys living in Kampot?
We're on Hive, just seeing what this place has to offer. We used to live in Kampot, now stranded in Suriname.....long story.