Kirsten's Birthday and Rabbit Island

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Kirsten’s Birthday and a weekend on Rabbit Island ...

In the midst of another busy week, working with drillers under the hot sun and chasing around to find local labs that have half way decent analytical methodology, Kirsten’s Birthday rolled around on Thursday (26th). On our way to dinner at Friends (a lovely little restaurant set up to train Phnom Penh street kids in hospitality), K somewhat perturbed by having to wear clothes have become increasingly yellow (village laundry), stumbled across a brilliant and funky clothes shop, Spicy Green Mango, which has some classy kit that would not be out of place in a Newtown boutique. Sporting a classy new dress we had a lovely Birthday celebration, ordered almost exclusively in Khmer. There’s nothing like ordering meals and shopping top improve the language skills.

Whilst we didn’t have fireworks, we did have a spectacular storm, which included a torrential downpour of an hours duration. We get storms most days now, but this one was a doosy. The road out the front of the restaurant become a steadily flowing river. Unfortunately, the stormwater and sewerage systems in Phnom Penh are the same, so this was not a river we were looking to wade! A tuk-tuk was taken back to our digs for the night at the Golden Lotus.

Saturday morning early Kirsten and I are off to catch a bus from Phsar Thmey (Central Market) for a four hour trip to Kep. From there, a 30 minute hop by boat (he!he!) to Rabbit Island. Kep is in the South of Cambodia and is part of this country’s limited coastline. Whilst Kep is a sleepy little town, still sporting some bullet ridden building hulks from the KR years, one gets the sense that the development wave will shortly engulf it. We were treated to a corkscrewing, jostling boat trip across to Rabbit Is that saw us drenched within 5 minutes of launching! Rabbit was named for its semblance to a bunny - there is none. Covered mainly by jungle, a small settlement of bungalows and cafes hugs one of the sides. A sandy beach faces the Vietnam sea and swimming is like having a bath. We chilled for two days - swimming, reading, eating - delightful. The local canines were reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, with two distinct tribes, with home bases at opposite ends of the beach. The Western tribe are descended from Ridgeback -the Southern tribe from wiry muzzled terriers.

Returning from Rabbit, we had four hours to kill and so made a bee line for White Elephant cave, a collection of limestone caves with, yes you guessed it, a large white stalagmite formation that resmbles a white elephant. We were sheparded around a small collection of display caves by two young Khmer kids who were competing for our attentions along with five young hangers on - group photo of the crew loaded. Our bus trip back to PP, usually a four hour trip, was extended to six due to appalling road conditions. The road is being reconstructed and in one section, where a new bridge is partly completed, a by-pass has been built around the bridge. the only difficulty is the bypass is all dirt and the slope impassable when there is heavy rain. The consequence is the larger semis had to be pushed up the slope from behind by a dozer. Long delays but hugely entertaining to watch. TIC = This Is Cambodia!!

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