2007 New Years Eve

"Of course its not too late to make a booking for dinner" said Si on 30 December at 5pm.

"Are you sure? This IS Kep afterall" was Niks retort.

We picked the 2 fanciest restaraunts in the area and strutted in to make our reservation for NYE 2007/ 2008. The first Maitre De smiled, as if to say "You must be joking!", and apologised for being fully booked for the evening. The response to our same reques tat the second resort was much the same!

So we made the vesy best of the situation....

We grabbed a pricey bottle of Australian White Wine (DÁrenburg Stump Jump Sav Blanc) and a chilled bottle of bubbly (2002 Taittenger Champaigne) and made a reservation at the local Crab Market on the banks of the bay. The look on their faces was totally different! Instead of "You must be joking!" it was much more of "What do you want? A table right now? Sure! Let me clean it for you." After some quick sign language and translation by Nik - we had a table on the waterfront booked for 7pm. Let us take just a line or 2 to describe the table we had reserved: hand made from excess wooden crates, plastic outdoor chairs, thin vinyl table cloth, pink toilet paper as napkins and silverware served in a mug of boiled water - but a view to kill for overlooking the bay and outlying, smaller islands.

Upon our arrival the "father" of the family gave us some lime scented water (served in a greem plastic tub) to wash our hands and quickly scurried off down the road to find a real bottle opener for our corks. All the time the rest of the family were smiling from ear to ear at the sight of 2 westerners: dresed up for their special occaision, enjoying 2 bottles of wine, the view of the sunset and each others company. And what a feast we had! Everything in the restaraunt was fresh - and we mean fresh! Throughout the afternoon we saw them hauling in bamboo fish and crab traps; filled to the brim with their catch. So we endulged on freshly caught BBQ squid, a kilogram of freshly caught crabs, fresh vegetables, amazing rice dishes and a huge pot of spicey prawn soup. Fit for a King and Queen!

And as we were finishing our feast we watched fireworks explode (well... OK... more like a pop than the deafening roar from Sydney Harbour of Times Square) over the beach next to us. Perfect night! Perfect way to wrap up the year that was and welcome in the year that will be!