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Published: November 25th 2011
Kep is a coastal fishing village famed for its spectacular sunsets and fresh seafood (specifically crabs). It was founded as a colonial retreat for the French Elite in the early 1900's and Cambodian high-rollers have flocked here to continue the tradition ever since. The Khmer Rouge were known to harbour a particular hatred for this town and during their reign they destroyed the town. Today, Kep's luxurious pre-war villas are still just blackened shells with bullet holes riddled throughout the walls, poignant reminders of the Khmer Rouge. The remnants of the mansions left behind have a post-apocalyptic feel to them, showcasing the violent end each one met. Kep is now rising from the ruins and has become popular with the wealthy elite of Phnom Penh, expats and slowly but surely, Western tourists.
Exploring the Countryside by Tuktuk
Waking up bright and early in beautiful Kampot, we had arranged a tuktuk driver to take us to Kep for the day. He had negotiated $20 USD for the day to drive us down to Kep half an hour away, stopping at the famous Kampot Pepper Plantations along the way. We had plans to meet up with our new friends Donna, Neil and
Lois for lunch/dinner once in Kep.
We headed off bright and early to the Pepper Plantations. He stopped at a little Pepper stand for us to buy some pepper but I wasnt convinced it was the cheapest, rather just his friends. I had wanted to stop just up the road at a different plantation but he wanted to take us to this stand. I told him I would be back and we walked back up to the Pepper Plantation I had seen just up the road. We were shown by a young boy around the pepper trees before purchasing some pepper.
When we got back to our tuktuk he was trying his hardest to convince me that I had just bought fake pepper imported from Phnom Penh and not the real stuff, but I wasnt convinced! From there we headed to another plantation to have a look around. We ended up sitting in the shade with our tuktuk driver and the owner of the plantation eating jackfruit and trying to learn Cambodian... they thought it was too funny that we couldnt speak their language and loved teaching us 'tom tom' which meant fat... very big. The rest of
the holiday was spent calling ourselves and each other tomtom!
As we were leaving the pepper plantation we ran into Lois and Neil on the road. Small world. We chatted for a bit and arranged a time to meet in Kep before heading off. We had decided that before reaching Kep we really wanted to see the caves nearby at Kompong Trach. After asking if we could go there our tuktuk driver wanted to add another $15 to the price of our day. I was really mad and offered $5 which was more than reasonable... $25 for a full day of touring in the region to all sites is the going rate... but he knew he had a captive audience and wouldnt budge... we eventually got him to $30 (an extra $10 on the original price) but I was pissed. He shot himself in the foot... had he not been so unreasonable he would have ended up joining us for a seafood meal, gotten a nice fat tip and been more than looked after. Instead he got his $30, no meal and ended up having to sit around in Kep by himself for hours while we did our thing
with friends.
We got to the Caves and had a look around. Due to it being wet season we were unable to go into alot of the caves as tehy were flooded but it was a nice place to visit and worth seeing. I do find I am a little numb to great cultural temples and shrines these days, having seen just about every one worth seeing in South East Asia but we had some great kids as tour guides for a couple of $$ each and afterwards shared a beer with our tuktuk driver and the locals at the small food/drink stalls at the entrance. Our tuktuk driver was still trying to teach me Cambodian and after I tried repeating some of his phrases all the children gathered around ended up in fits of giggles and kept repeating what I had tried to say. They thought it was hilarious, and maybe whatever I said had translated to mean something else! They were certainly amused! lol
After the caves, we headed into Kep to meet up with Neil, Lois and Donna. Donna is currently living in Kep and building an eco-resort with her best mate, Scott. If you
ever are thinking of heading to Kep let me know and I will give you Donna's contact details. They are still in the process of building but should be up and running in the next 12 months. We stopped at a couple of the old abandoned mansions along the way but they were all overgrown with trees/weeds and we were unable to find any to explore. A few quick photo opportunities later, we headed to the local Crab Market - a row of wooden waterfront shacks with spectacular views over the ocean and fresh crabs plucked straight from the waters in front of the market. After a quick beer at one of the shacks, we headed to Kimly Restaurant, another of the shacks with great reviews.
We ordered two different crab dishes, a prawn dish, a squid dish and a fish, all served in either the famous Kampot Pepper sauce (yummo) or other Asian inspired chilli sauces. Along with copious amounts of steamed rice and washed down with the local Anchor beer, we completely pigged out on a seafood feast with new, amazing and beautiful friends. Total cost of the meal - less than $10 EACH! How I love
Cambodia! Once we had finished, Donna suggested we head to another favourite spot of hers for sunset. We ended up at a resort called "Knai Bang Chatt" drinking cocktails and watching the most beautiful sunset ever!
Once the sun had set, we decided it was probably time to head back to Kampot and let our tuktuk driver head home! Saying a sad goodbye to our wonderful new friends, we set off... The whole way home, we were chased by a spectacular lightening storm... and it was a little fun, a little scary. I was glad I had rubber thongs on and was careful not to touch the metal sides of the tuktuk! LOL ... Exhausted we collapsed in bed for an early night.
Luxury Spa's and Rugby Grand Finals
Up bright and early, I headed off to Jolie Jolie Spa for a 4 hour package. Danni walked me there, and on the way we passed a group of little boys scavenging for scrap metal, walking around barefooted. Resisting the urge to throw money at them, we trekked on.
Arriving at Jolie Joli, Sichan was waiting. Donna is a good friend of Sichan, the owner and had arranged
the night before for Sichan to open early for me to do the package. Upon arriving, I was given a lemongrass water before settling in for a manicure and pedicure. Once finished, I was taken upstairs when I stripped down except for some cool little stocking undies and had a Cambodian Coffee body scrub. The smell was amazing and afterwards my skin felt so silky smooth, I wish I could have them every week! Next up, a Swedish Massage with Jasmine Oil... so relaxing! Last but not least, Sichan gave me a cucumber facial, recommended for problem skin like mine.
Once we had finished, we headed back downstairs where Sichan painted my toenails while I ate a luxurious chocolate brownie (to complement my coffee scrub!). Perfect! Total cost for this morning of luxury? $45... yep you heard it right. If you are ever in Kampot get yourself booked in with Sichan for one of her amazing packages... Not only is she an amazing therapist, but she is lovely and a real sweetheart. I loved her!
Just before I left to head back to the hotel, Danni turned up, having decided she too wanted some luxury! She told me
that she had been on an adventure all morning trying to find the little boys and succeeded. She said she was walking around trying to find them when a local man asked her what she was looking for. She told him about the little boys. He said he knew who she was talking about and to jump on his bike and he would help her find them. Not long after, they came across them. She told the boys to stay where they were and she went to the local markets to buy them shoes, clothes and food/toiletries for their family. The boys told her that their Mum was home sick with her baby, and this story was confirmed by the local man who said he knew of the family.
While telling me the story, an expat lady that runs a local cafe, overheard our conversation. She told us that she had a local man come into the Cafe earlier on, stressing about the Western woman than had bought his children stuff, thinking there might be something sinister to it. She assured Danni she would let him know it was all above board if she saw him again. It was
a little weird as the local man Danni had been with, had confirmed the boys story that there was no father... It will remain a mystery I guess! Sometimes giving is great and sometimes it backfires... but Danni was very conscious of making the boys wait where they were, rather than going with a stranger to get stuff... Oh well...
Haka Time
I left Danni at Jolie Jolie and headed back to the hotel for a shower and to get ready. We had plans to chill at our hotel in the afternoon with Donna, who was coming up from Kep. Eric, the owner of our hotel is a New Zealander so was screening the Rugby World Cup Grand Final between New Zealand and France. Meeting up with Donna, we both ordered Mexican Pizzas and I splurged on a few Margaritas, and we settled in to watch the game. Danni joined us a short time later and with all the local expats we ate, drank and cheered on New Zealand ... there were some token French in the crowd.. unlucky for them!
Right before the end of the game, the signal decided to cut out and it was
funny seeing Eric scramble to find the game on his laptop! Once it was confirmed that New Zealand had won, Eric gave us an impromptu Haka and shouted shots all around. He gave us all a honey vodka to skull and the shot glasses were huge.. I tried to skull it, but it resulted in a really fast trip to the toilets.. the vodka ended up all over the toilet floor (which I did clean up!) .. I must be getting old huh... cant even handle a vodka shot! Pfffft!
Rude Rude Rude
On a funny note, upon checking my email in the morning I received quite a 'nasty' email from the owner of Olly's Bungalows! Apparently we had put his nose out of joint, leaving after only one night... This is what he had to say:
"Hello, You booked 2 bungalows for 5 days @ Olly's and you checked out after 1 day.. Those things can happen but you have to understand that we refused other reservations because the bungalows were booked. Greetz from a hard working man who's happy that those situations don't happen every time,otherwise I can close my business soon. Olly" I
know for a fact that he did not refuse other reservations due to us booking... a) its low season b) there were plenty of available rooms while we were there and c) the majority of their business like other places in Kampot is walk in backpackers... I found it extremely rude that he didn't ask me if there was an issue that caused us to leave, rather than trying to put a guilt trip on me... It caused me to look further into his 'amazing' reviews on Trip Advisor... Having been on that website for a long time, I would bet my life on the fact that a stack of his glowing reviews are from himself or friends... Half of them sounds like they were written for a holiday brochure, and his rundown place is not the paradise it is made out to be in the reviews or his website...
Hey Olly, heres a tip.... if you want happy customers spend some money on maintaining your rundown piece of paradise... Review on Tripadvisor to follow!
It's been so long since our holiday that I am struggling to remember what we did after the rugby finished, but I will give
it a guess and say we had an early night in preparation for our trip to Sihanoukville the next morning.... Kampot was amazing and I was so glad that it was the one place that I decided to spend the most time at... it was the best decision, turning out to be my favourite place in Cambodia!
I took loads of amazing photos, which will be attached to this blog... scroll to the bottom and click on the extra pages if you are interested in seeing them! On that note, another blog down, another memory recorded... I am on a roll... See you all in Sihanoukville!
Reet xxx
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Naz
non-member comment
Kampot pepper sooooo tasty!
I really enjoyed reading this one xx