Kep is a small city. The beach, which is suitable
for swimming; it only 1,000 meters long, and the sand is not white as
in Sihanoukville. However, Kep is a big seafood market.
The city was founded in 1908 during the French
colonial times. It was renovated into a beautiful seaside resort in
1960s during then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s Sangkum Reastr Niyum
regime. The name Kep is derived from the French words le cap, or cape in English. A cape is a point of land that just into water, especially a headland significant for navigation.
Khmer legend offers another explanation for the
name. There once was a prince named Sakor Reach who possessed great
magical powers. One day, Sakor Reach used his magic to hypnotize a
commander of Angkor Thom before stealing the commander’s horse and
escaping to the southwest part of the country. While Sakor Reach was
relaxing at the seaside, the commander’s troops caught up with him.
Nervous, the prince suddenly hopped on the back of the commander’s
horse. The horse reared back, however, and fell on the prince losing
its saddle1 in the process. The prince got back on the horse and rode
off, leaving the saddle there. Hence, the area was called Kep Seh.
Later it was shortened to Kep.
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