Kep and the coast of Cambodia

After the luxuries and extravagence of Phnom Penh, we headed south to enjoy the sights and scenery of coastal Cambodia - at Kep, which was once the playground of Cambodia's elite before the Khmere Rouge oblittorated it during the 70's and 80's.

Kep comprises of palacial estates (well... now the ruins of), walled off from the streets and housing the devastated remains of large "French inspired" manors. The villagers have naturally moved in to inhabit the shells of houses (no roofs, no windows and in most cases only 1/2 walls and 1/2 floors) but have neither the money nor the means to restore them to their former glory. Shame really! Kep would have been spectacular in its hey-day.

Arriving when we did - between Christmas and New Years - we found it difficult to get a cheaper place to stay on the first night. We were forced (through necessity) to fork out US $25 for a ground floor room - with no hot showers, cold breakfasts and expensive fruit juices! As you can tell we were not overly impressed by this and found ourselves alternative (and cheaper) accommodation for the next 5 days a tthe Kep Seaside Guesthouse. Rumor had it that all the guesthouses had upped their prices for the onslought of foreigners (tourists and Expats from Phnom Penh) that make their way down to the coast for the holiday season. Despite this we had a place right on the beach (well... our Australian & American friends its not the sort of beach we are used to!). The so-called beach was a sandbox filed with imported white sand from further up the coast. The "actual" beach was a muddy bank of the Gulf of Thailand - strewn with a few small pebbles.

Playing the good tourists we succombed to the constant requests of the local tuk-tuk drivers and tour guides to visit the much hailed "Rabbit Island". The 15 minute boat trip across the bay found us on a grainey, grey sanded beach with storm clouds brewing on the horizon as the wind howled from the east. Picture perfect!!! We found the furtherest away bamboo platform (scattered all along the "beach") and made ourselves as comfortable as possible. Well... at least it didn't rain and the wind died down somewhat until it was finally time to board our boat for the return trip to Kep.

The next day we hired a scooter (1950's style Honda with no headlights, no front brakes, no speedometer, shattered shocks and nothing for the pillion passenger to hold on to) and bounced our way towards the town of Kampot. Kampot was famous for the production of black pepper and we were told that no restaraunt in Paris would have been without Kampot Pepper on its menu. Well.. things have changed somewhat! We searched and searched and searched for the renouned Pepper Plantation and, despite riding down the correct dirt track in the middle of "who knows where" we could not find it. Later we were told by the local tourism officer that we must have ridden right past the front gates - several times. Why oh why don't they have signs in English if its meant to be so famous and such a tourist draw??? Cynically we think its so you have to hire a tuk-tuk driver and guide :) Despite our failure, our desire for Kampot Pepper had not deminished so we made it for the markets in Kampot where we purchased 1/2 kg of the famous pepper corns. What are we going to do wit h1/2 kg of pepper? Ha!!! Wait and see what you get as a present next Christmas :)

There's not terribly much to do in Kep (the town is mostly a corner of 2 streets where the bus drops you off and a market area) - so we spent several days just relaxing, lying in seaside hammocks, watching the sun set over the Gulf and reading. What a perfect way to finish off 2007 and start 2008.