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Published: November 8th 2009
So, we have found paradise, (again? I hear you say) and are in Kep on the south Coast of Cambodia.
We had a great time in Siem Reap and would love to go back again in the future, our heartstrings have definitely been pulled by our visit to the kids at the Childrens Light Foundation and by Siem Reap in general. There is definitely a touristy feel to the town but in general it is tasteful and the local people remain friendly, fun and hospitable. Unfortunately we left Siem Reap with our second muffler trip burn of our Asian adventures, Finn was a little luckier than Olivia though and his has healed quickly (and quietly!).
Our friend Seng arranged a van from Siem Reap to Battembang and what a different trip this was from March, the road is now great and while there is still all the beauty, colour and craziness of the local people there are no longer the huge pot holes, dust and bumps of our last trip. We saw one of our best traffic sights on this trip with a guy sitting on a motorbike which was very precariously attached to the back of a
ute, this surpassed the previous winner where I saw someone behind the seat in a single cab utility, little did we know we would later see something even more mind boggling!
It was great to see Seng and his family in Battembang again, he was as welcoming as on our last visit and the hotel is doing well. We headed back to the Greenhouse café at least daily and were welcomed back with open arms. The bamboo train was definitely on the agenda and was fabulous again except that our phone is now somewhere in the Cambodian countryside after the ride.
Seng took us on an impromptu drive out to the ‘Killing Caves’ ( Phnom Sampeau) where the Khmer Rouge slaughtered thousands of people, throwing their bodies into the cave. The skulls and bones of many victims are now encased in glass within the cave and the site is a memorial to those who died. From the top of the hill Seng was able to point toward Kamping Poy, ‘The Killing Dam’ where thousands of people perished and he himself was forced to work building a dam in an attempt to provide irrigation for the rice that was
to be the future of the great Angkor kingdom. As we sat on the hill eating fresh Cambodian oranges (which in true Cambodian style are actually green) and longan berries Seng gave us more glimpses into his personal experience of life as a teenager under the Khmer Rouge, which only serves to increase our admiration for him.
The bus trip from Battembang to Phnom Penh was a true Asian experience with many unscheduled stops, including ten minutes while we all watched a guy wander around a market looking for who knows what (apparently it was an express bus, although it was only express in-between stops). It was great to be back in the laid back chaos (if that is how you can describe it) of Phnom Penh even for a brief one night stop over on our way through to Kep.
We took a taxi from Phnom Penh to Kep through some beautiful countryside and as always crazy traffic. The guy at the hotel in Phnom Penh had said to take a private taxi (the same price for six of us as a bus) otherwise they might try and squeeze in extra people; we took his advice without
a second thought really but then it was nearly all over when on the way we passed a car and saw where they fit the extra passengers: five in the back of the sedan, two in the passenger seat and one under the driver! Seriously, we passed a car on the way to Kep that had the driver sitting on someone’s knee, just when you think you have seen it all!!
We were told that while very scenic there wasn’t really anything to do in Kep and just to spend a couple of days here . We arrived and thought the same at first, hmmm its scenic but there’s nothing here, no real beach, no real town centre, what will we do? Once we got our heads around the fact that we could practice the art of doing nothing we were set, of course it was also the time that we realized that there was more than enough to keep us occupied!
Unfortunately finding Kep was a double edge sword and we found paradise just at the same time that a tummy bug (that was slowly working its way through the family) found me. Kep is famous for
seafood, especially crab and nearby is the Kampot Pepper plantation, and after you taste the pepper you can understand why people sailed around the world in search of spices. So although on arrival I was able to sample the crab in pepper sauce at the Kep Crab Market (or for any My Name is Earl fans, as we call it: The Crab Shack) the next three days were spent drinking water and dreaming of the gastronmique delights I was missing out on.
Kep really is a gorgeous little hamlet surrounded by tropical forest and overlooking the South China Sea. It is being ‘rediscovered’ as a tourist destination and is very popular for the Khmer and Western residents of Phnom Penh being less than three hours away. The scenery is amazing , schools of maybe a hundred small fish jump over the top of the water and larger fish literally fly through the air. The forests and sunsets are amazing, the people friendly and the food delicious, did I mention paradise?
We are staying at La Bout de Monde in Kep where we are very well looked after by a lovely Khmer manager and his staff. The bungalows are
spread over a huge tropical hillside garden which overlooks the Gulf of Thailand. The buildings are very authentic Khmer style with open eaves and natural building materials and you can hear the sounds of the garden and nearby forest clearly. We are slowly getting used to the sound of cicadas, ‘barking gecko’s’ which make an amazing noise not unlike a duck (affectionately known as a-aaa’s by us) and monkeys who sometimes make a nocturnal expedition to play on the balcony just to name a few. We did find a frog inside one day and after I nearly squashed the poor thing under my bare foot (and nearly gave myself a minor heart attack in the process) we decided it really had to move out, a proposition which us city folk found highly dramatic!
We have managed to drag ourselves out to explore the surrounding area. We had a lovely visit to the pepper plantation to see the pepper growing and heard a little of the history of the area as a stronghold of the Khmer Rouge where in the 1990’s three journalists were killed after they were taken from a train that runs through the pepper fields. While we
were there a van of tourists arrived and a lovely English accented couple (of grandparent persuasion) started chatting to us, the guy saying “I’ve seen you before”. Oh no you haven’t I thought but then realized that we may well be quite conspicuous as a travel group while trying to maintain some sort of order in our expeditions, so smiled and gave him the benefit of the doubt and sure enough they had seen us somewhere in Laos about a month ago. They were a fabulous couple who, in the short time we waited for our tuk tuk to return from having a puncture repaired, talked to us about their travels through India (with grandchildren in tow) and to Borneo which was fabulous as it is our next stop and I was thinking it might be an imaginary place as we still hadn’t come across anyone who has actually been there.
After the pepper plantation we headed to Kampot which was originally the main port of Cambodia. The drive was beautiful and the pace seems slower in this part of Cambodia than in other areas, perhaps due to its proximity to the sea. There is a muslim population in
the area and groups of girls in their headscarfs walked by the roadside which was a really colorful sight. As always we got lots of waves from the local people, many by the roadside grazing their cows or taking their pig for a walk.
Kampot is a lovely riverside town with the French influence still apparent, unfortunately time and tummy bugs meant that we only spent a few hours in Kampot but would have liked to potter about there for a few days. There seems to be a well formed group of expat Australian’s here, some of whom we met while staying out on Rabbit Island off the coast of Kep, many of them are here to help the local people in increasing standards of living and opportunities for them.
When the lazy pace of Kep got all too fast for us we thought that we’d take a break and head to Koh Tonsay (Rabbit Island) for a few nights. The island is half an hour by boat from Kep and is almost untouched apart from some traditional thatched bamboo bungalows ($5 a night) and a couple of very modest cafés along the beach. There are no roads,
cars, moto’s or tv. Electricity is run by generator from 6 until 10 which powers colorful lanterns in the trees by the beach, a light in the café and a tiny light in the rooms. We had spent a day at the island prior to heading out and the kids were very excited about going out to stay. The beach is very ‘Cambodian’ with the odd cow or goat wandering along it as well as an array of dogs and chickens including a rooster that very kindly welcomed the dawn outside our cabins at 5am every morning. Food was delicious and cheap cooked in a kitchen with a dirt floor and a couple of gas burners and wood fired pots.
We all loved the beach, especially with such warm tropical water. The odd jelly fish would appear and then it was ‘every body out’ although the guy from the restaurant did tell Olivia during our stay that the jellyfish had all ‘run away’ (mind you he did also tell her that our dinner would be a while as the chicken had run away and I am not sure that this was far from the truth!)
Our cabins were
meters from the beach and we could enjoy the water from early morning into the evening under a beautiful sunset. The cabins were literally bamboo huts with thatched roofs and a bed inside, basic but great. We were a bit worried that there might be monkeys that came and stole anything left outside but were told, “Ahh, no worry, no monkeys at your bungalow, just maybe snake on the roof”, the kids looked a little shocked as Mitchy and I had to pretend that he was joking!
Our first night at the island saw a rather quick exit from the water as within seconds the sun stopped shining, the breeze picked up and a gentle rain started. The locals all started scurrying while the Westerners leisurely packed up towels and books until we realized that if the locals were scurrying then perhaps we should too and sure enough within a minute the winds whipped up a minor frenzy, coconut leaves went flying, and the rain bucketed down. Two of our brave young Robinson Crusoe’s found it all a bit much (much to the amusement of the locals who thought this was hilarious) as a group of about fifteen tourists
and the same amount of locals took shelter in the dark behind the bar.
All of our practice of ‘doing nothing’ in Kep paid off at Rabbit Island where apart from swimming, eating and lying around reading our most energetic activity was a boat trip around the island via the seaweed farm, a tough way to spend an hour!
We had such a special five days and only hope that places like Rabbit Island will be able to stave off the almost inevitable ‘progress’ for some time yet.
As all would know we are in seventh heaven with the food in south east Asia and Kep is certainly a gastronomes paradise as far as fresh seafood is concerned. We continue to be amazed at the delicious food created, often in the most basic of surrounds. Chicken cashew still is high on the list of favourites although Finn will eat absolutely anything, closely followed by Olivia and Mitchy who will have a try of nearly absolutely anything! Battembamg had offered a chance to sample various types of bugs which all three as well as Grace took advantage of, Finn tried to tell me that it tasted like
chicken but Mitchy reported it was more like smoky cardboard, which is really just a smoky version of the spider that they ate in Phnom Penh. Mac summed our love affair with the Asian food in Kep when I overheard him talking to his crepe, “mmmm, come here, I love you darling”.
And so if we can drag ourselves away from this picture perfect place we will head to Phnom Penh for a couple of days ready to fly to Borneo and then off to New Zealand to spend Christmas with family. Despite my first hint of homesickness this year a few weeks ago (brought on by unexpectedly and bizarrely hearing John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane during a car trip to the countryside) I think we will all be very sad to leave this amazing country, full of amazing contradictions perhaps the best of life and the worst but definitely a place of immense fun, friendship and wonderful memories.
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Leonard
non-member comment
Fantastic! All that nothin!
Hi guys, as I read this I am at KLIA waiting for my homeward bound chariot. After reading the beginning, I am thinking, "Do I really have to return to Life?" Really???" I think it is too dangerous to read the whole thing until I am strapped into my seat and the plane has pushed back from the gate hahaha. Laos was an incredible experience. I saw some amazing stuff and I met some very cool and interesting Lao folks and fellow travelers along the way. But I am still trying to discover why it didn't touch me in the Cambodia has. I find it an interesting question for myself. We'll see what I come up with. Have a great time in Borneo and beyond and with your return to Oz. We'll be in touch! Fond regards to all!