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Published: December 3rd 2008
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So, Morgan and I successfully made it to Kep. Kep is a VERY sleepy fishing village. At its height in the mid 1900's it was the seaside resort of the Khmer elite. These days it boasts a population of about 4000 and not much else. There are ton of abandoned villas that look like they were probably pretty nice back in the 60's. I suppose if you love seafood there are some good eats, but as I don't love seafood I was out of luck. I ordered the only non-seafood thing on the menu, chicken soup, only to be served a tureen full of chicken parts. I was a little put off when I went to ladle some soup on top of my rice and got a chicken foot. Anyway... I wasn't feeling so hot in Kep so our second day there Morgan took a boat ride to Rabbit Island and I slept most of the morning and then rented a moto and went for a ride. This country is absolutely gorgeous but I'm not sure the pictures come even close to doing it justice. An Australian couple that Morgan had met on her Rabbit Island trip had rented a moto
from Kampot but were leaving from Kep and were going to get up really early to return the bike to Kampot before coming back to Kep but I had the genius idea that Morgan and I should return the bike for them because we were headed to Kampot anyway. I am pretty sure that the sight of two white girls with two big backpacks and various small backpacks and purses going down the "freeway" made the day for many locals along the way. They don't seem to be used to travelers traveling Cambodian style.
I am in love with Kampot. It is a port town filled with French architecture that has definitely seen better days but is still beautiful. I believe it was probably a busy town until Sihanoukville was built and took over port duties. Morgan and I found a great little bungalow at a very friendly guest house. It only has a few rats can be heard chewing on it at night, and I nearly pissed my pants when a GIANT gecko (8-9 inches long) scared me. We decided that we had a free bike for the rest of the day so we went out to see
some caves called Phnom Chhnork. After some confusion as to where the caves actually were, we drove 15 minutes down a dirt track through rice paddies and found the caves. Lonely Planet said that we would be greeted by a bunch of local kids offering their guide services... we were not disappointed. Morgan and I couldn't decide which of the 12 kids should guide us so two stayed to watch the moto and the rest of gang led us through rice paddies and up some stairs into a very cool cave. Morgan and I both thought that we had forgotten torches which meant we couldn't climb out through the cave, but my giant bag and headlamp saved the day. So, with one light for the 12 of us, the kids led us out through the cave. This involved a lot of rock climbing and even some vine climbing. The kids were excellent guides ("put your foot here, 1, 2, 3" or "that way no good for you"). It was a lot of fun and we only got a few mosquito bites in the cave which was worrying for a few minutes but we figured that bats probably don't carry too
many diseases (haha).
The next day we went to Bokor National Park. Bokor is home to a French hill station that was abandoned during the war. While absolutely gorgeous, there are definitely some eerie qualities to some of the abandoned buildings, especially because they are all in varying states of destruction. While the hill station has been one of the highlights of this trip, the ride there was not. I had known that we would be taking a 4x4 pickup up the mountain. I did not know that including the guides there would be seven of us in the back of the truck and 5 more in the front. All part of transportation adventures in Cambodia, right? Some rich guy recently bought the hill station and is building a new resort up there so the roads are being worked on. By worked on I am pretty sure they mean being taken apart... Anyway - it was a bone-jarring 32 kilometers to the top. We had a few road blocks (trees and rocks that needed to be moved before we could continue up the hill) but we made it. It was unbelievably windy up there. And cold. The biggest building
Bokor Hill Station
Morgan in the wind. up there was the hotel. They definitely should have filmed "The Shining" up here. Four floors of abandonment to explore. All of the buildings are covered in an orange lichen which only adds to the eeriness.
After lunch we started back down the mountain with stops for a trek to a waterfall and also for a "jungle trek." I had been assured that my flip flops would be fine for the trek because it was dry season... I had decided not to wear my trainers because I had made it this far without wearing them. My flip flops were fine for everything we did. Except the trek. If you would like to know what the ground looks like on the side of Bokor I would be glad to tell you as that's all I saw on our "trek." I survived and we wound up our (very long) day on a river cruise back to Kampot.
Yesterday I rented a moto and went to pick up Steph in Sihanoukville so that she could see Kampot before we head back to Phnom Penh and then Vietnam. It was a beautiful two hour ride in each direction through villages and rice
paddies. Motos are definitely the way to see Cambodia, but you do need to be careful because Cambodian potholes eat people and vehicles for breakfast. Coming back to Kampot we had to avoid a lot of cows as I think it was their dinner time. Oh, and I've decided that water buffalo look more like a combination of pigs and cows than buffalo.
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