Kep and Phnom Penh (again)

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David here...

We arrived back in Phnom Penh with 2 goals that day; to book all our onward travel up to Vietnam and to get to the National Museum. We made our way back to the Indochine hotel which we had pre-booked during our last stay and from there booked onward travel to Kep for the next day and then the trip to Chau Doc in Vietnam on the 21st when our visas become valid. All of this was done for us quickly and easily which meant we had plenty of time to make it to the museum. It has to be said, booking travel all over South East Asia has been a doddle and we are yet to be let down by anyone.

The museum itself is a very grand building, in the style of an ancient red and black pagoda and houses many treasures and statues found at Angkor. It was good to see these exhibits after seeing Angkor itself. It helped to see it this way round as you could almost picture these artefacts in the city itself. We spent a good couple of hours walking round the museum and sitting in the very pretty centre courtyard. A very good way to spend an afternoon and $3 each. That night we fancied a real local foody treat so decided to go to a place that Suzanne had read about on the Chowhound website. It doesn't have an English name above the door but was easy to find (corner of St 19 and St 148). There specialty - Burned Beef or in more basic terms a BBQ'd cow. We turned up and found all the outside seating to be full and most of the inside tables taken, and this was a normal weeknight? We did find somewhere to sit and ordered a large plate of 'cow' and some fried noodles with beef. This all arrived with various dips and salad and the friendly staff showed us what to do with the dips. It has to be said, that plate of meat was delicious. So good in fact that we ordered a second small plate to enjoy. We only saw 2 other western people in there and at the end of the night, we really felt like we had enjoyed a local foody experience.

After a good nights sleep, we then set off for Kep. The bus journey was fine. A little bumpy but we've found that everywhere in Asia, especially in Laos and Cambodia. We arrived at Kep and made our way to 'Le Bout du Monde' where we had booked a bungalow with them. Compared to the bungalow in Don Det, this was a palace. A massive balcony that overlooked the gardens. A big room inside with space to leave your packs and a bed. Best of all, it had it's own bathroom, thoughtfully laid out so that the shower was away from the toilet. We felt like we had gone to heaven, though we could only book it for 2 nights as it was already booked on the 19th, but we'd decided just to find somewhere else while we were there. Kep itself is very, very small. It consist of a row of restaurants, in an area called Crab Market and then about a 15 minute walk round the hill to the beach area. That is pretty much it. The first day was spent walking round the town and then relaxing on our balcony...obviously listening to music and downing a few bottles of the local stuff, Angkor beer. The next day was again spent walking round the town and relaxing, the highlight being lunch. As Kep is right by the sea Suzanne decided to try the local crab for lunch and ordered Crab in Tom Yam soup. I stuck with my favourite staple of this trip so far, Noodle Soup with Vegetables. Suzanne had never had crab before and it was only after she had ordered that it dawned on us that the crab might not be in it's flaked form but quite together as a whole crab. Sure enough when it arrived, the crab, whilst not in a single piece but cut in 2, was very much still in need of some manual intervention in extracting all the meat. Full credit to Suzanne who picked up the tools and got cracking on getting as much meat from the crab as possible. Whilst it might not have been a professional job, it was efficient enough to do the job and I have to admit to feeling quite proud that she had just jumped right in and tried a new culinary experience.

After 2 nights in our luxury in our bungalow we then moved onto the N4 guesthouse just round the corner. We had scoped it out the day before and decided that it looked to expensive with big comfortable bungalows surrounding a beautiful garden and pond (that used to be a swimming pool). We were shocked to find that it was actually cheaper than our first place so quickly settled in. Our final afternoon in Kep was spent walking through Kep National Park, up to the summit of the hill that overlooks the town and then right round it. The views were stunning. Some of the most beautiful we had seen in Cambodia. Our little side trip to Kep turned out to be a very relaxing and enjoyable little jaunt down to the coast. It was then time to head back to Phnom Penh and our final day in Cambodia. The bus journey again was pretty much uneventful until a young girl, sat on her Mothers knee across the aisle next to me got travel sick and threw up everywhere. It was not a pretty sight...or smell and made the last part of the journey almost unbearable. The poor mother was covered and all we could offer her was a single wet wipe, which didn't do that much.

Again, we made our way to the Indochine hotel on the quay, which we had booked in advance, which was especially good as the city was in the grip of the Water festival and most hotels and guesthouses were all full. The quay was a heaving mass of people. All watching the boat races taking place on the mighty Mekong River. There were people and sellers everywhere and it seemed the whole city and all of the local provinces had all converged here. It was a city that was bursting with life and vitality and you just couldn't help but get dragged into the fun of it all and just enjoy the sheer happiness of it all. We walked endlessly from one end of the quay to the other just soaking up the atmosphere, taking pictures of the boat races and the mass of people walking around. The racing teams, (there were over 300 of them) once they had completed their races, were all gathering to cheer the other racers on. Singing songs, banging tubs like drums and occasionally shouting a very loud and boisterous 'Hello' to us as we walked past. In the evening there were fireworks galore and big, lit up boats floating along the river. As many of the people at the festival were 'not local' they had not seen many Westerners before...let alone a 6ft 2in guy with long blonde hair and I did get many good natured stares, laughs and greetings as we walked around. At one point we ended up watching a stage where 5 'volunteers' were dragged up and talked at for about 10 minutes. Obviously we had no clue at what was going on but then to our great surprise the 5 were made to dance and it turned out it was a game of musical statues. After a couple of rounds only one person was knocked out, a tall gangly guy who really didn't know too much that was going on, so it changed to be a dance competition. After a few dances they gave the tall gangly guy a go and he didn't disappoint with a dance routine taken straight from John Sergeant. Finally the winner was decided by the large crowd that gathered and it was not a great surprise, as everyone loves the underdog, the tall, gangly guy won. His prize? A bulk load of Colgate products!

It really was an amazing last night in the capital and topped off what turned out to be a brilliant and unexpected joy of a country. Before hand we didn't really know what to expect from a country that had been ravaged within our living memory. It is a country that is so full of life, heart and friendliness and we enjoyed every single moment we spent there. However time marches on and we have a deadline of December 18th for our flight from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpa and a visa for Vietnam to use, so with a sad heart and a longing to come back to visit this great country, we packed our bags and headed off to the unknown that is Vietnam.

EXTRA:

The bulk of the above was written yesterday, before this morning when we heard of the tragic deaths of almost 350 people at the Water festival last night. First of all, both of us are safe and sound and currently in Vietnam. Secondly, we are both extremely saddened and shocked at what has happened, so soon after we were there and having experienced the joy and friendliness that was in evidence at the festival. Words really do fail me as I try to type sympathies and platitudes to the people of Phnom Penh and Cambodia, but they just seem so empty. I want to say something about the heart of the country, it's people and of coming through this tragic event but it sounds all to superficial and I'm not a good enough writer to get it right without sounding like a fool. The best I can do is to say again we are saddened by the events and have heavy hearts at this time.

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Comments

[Corinne]

Glad to hear you both are ok - I was a bit worried when I saw the news!