Blogs from Kep, South, Cambodia, Asia - page 6

Après avoir visité la Thailande, nous étions à la recherche de quelque chose de différent... fini les plages touristiques bondées de monde. Nous voulions un endroit très calme avec très peu de gens où relaxer sur la plage est une religion... Et bien, réussi, nous y étions... Koh Tonsay, surnomé Rabbit Island par ses habitants dû à la forme de l’île. Cette magnifique île qui est située à environ 20 minutes de bateau de la ville de Kep, est très petite, environ 3km carrés. On y retrouve plusieurs plages, mais la plus belle est celle où nous étions et où sont situés les bungalows. Ici... pas de luxe, nous avions la meilleure chambre en ville pour 7$ US. Elle était constituée de deux lits simples avec moustiquaire... très utile en passant. Nous avions le luxe d’avoir ... read more

Four hours after leaving Phnom Penh we arrived in the tiny seaside town of Kep. The drive had been very pretty - many postcard scenes of rice paddies, palm leave houses, bullock carts and limestone hills. We (Ruth from NZ) had prebooked accommodation at a guest house with a swimming pool - the owner met us and took us back to our home for the next few days. The guest house (Malibu) was set off the main road at the base of a small hill - very pretty and the swimming pool was gorgeous! The owners (French) were really casual and we didn't even have to sign a register or give our details - the first time in the whole trip we haven't had to show our passports when we checked into a room. We ... read more

Going into the jungle with a George W. Bush hippie-clone, avoiding getting killed by a murder- coconut on a Robinson Crusoe kind of island, and drinking beer in a David Lynchish kind of karaoke-bar full of “sad young men”, are some of the experiences I had in south-Cambodia, but also here old ghosts from the Khmer Rouge, ruins of burned down villas, standing up like skeletons in the landscape. I just spend a few days here, but the impression of all the good people I met along the way, are everlasting ones. Driving out of Phnom Pehn felt like a relief. Next to me sat a young man. - Do you speak English? I asked. - Just a little. The usual Asian modesty, I’d say. Later on it turned out his English was probably much ... read more

About three weeks ago I'd read someone else's travel blog on Kep who'd said that the Vanna Bungalows were nice so we went there first from the bus and yes they did turn out to be nice. Built half way up a forested hill with great views at sunset over the ocean. Straight away I noticed the tweets and twitterings of birdsong from the surrounding hillside and I realized its a sound we've not heard in a while. Borneo was not bereft of bird life but I had expected more. I don't think birds can nest in palm oil trees like they would do in natural forests. What we saw of peninsular Malaysia was just as bad maybe worse than Borneo for palm oil plantations. The first thing you see on leaving Kuala Lumpur airport are ... read more

A four hour bus ride from Phnom Penh we arrived in Kep. From the early 1900's until the 1960's, Kep was a thriving resort town for the French and Cambodian elite. During the Khmer Rouge years, much of Kep's French colonial era mansions and villas were destroyed. Many of Kep's villas are abandoned, but some of the town's former splendour is still apparent. King Sihanouk built a home here overlooking the Gulf of Thailand, but it was never occupied and now sits empty. When we arrived we were greeted by a group of tuk tuk drivers all offering to take us to any guesthouse we wanted for a dollar. Not having anywhere in mind we went with the driver who looked the friendliest and he drove us around until we found a place to stay for ... read more