Entries about kep

We decided to treat ourselves to a night of luxury, so we headed to Kep, famous for its crab, and checked into the Vine Retreat, an eco-lodge and organic farm. On arrival our host, the manager Dan, who we had met at Bodhi Villa's famous friday night, drove us all to Kep, a small fishing town famous for one thing.... CRAB! And so we sat down to a delicious late lunch of Kep Crab cooked in green Kampot pepper, overlooking nothing but the ocean. In the evening we relaxed on the balcony of the lodge, reading books, listening to music and sat down to a beautiful home-cooked meal incorporating the farm's home grown tomatoes and morning glory.

We stayed only one night (was a little pricey... we are supposed to be backpacking, not flashpacking after all) and the next day after a tour around the grounds, we hopped in a share taxi all the way to Phnom Pehn.

Our trip gets better the minute we leave Sihanoukville, starting with our minibus trip to Kampot.
Us and another couple were treated to a comfy ride, driven by two very sweet & nice young Kymer men, who on getting close to Kampot asked us if we wanted to see a waterfall as they themselves had never been..... ''ok!'' we replied. So we had a little walk to a waterfall, and saw lots of gibbons sitting around bugging the locals.

Following the lonely planet's advice we decided to stay at the Bodhi Villa, just outside of town, and from the moment we walked through the door we felt at home. Our days at Bodhi were spent sitting on the deck overlooking the Kampot river, reading books and ordering delicious food and drink from the menu. We hung around with other folks who, like us, arrived and didn't want to leave.
On our first night we walked into Kampot town to look around, about 1km away and had a lovely peppery meal at a place called Ricki Ticki Tavi overlooking the river.

The next day we signed up for a tourist trip to Bokor Hill Station, a misty cold abandoned outpost, built by the French on the top of Bokor hill. It started out well, a minibus to the base of the mountain, we were then decanted into the back of a pickup truck to proceed uphill. Due to the road quality, or some kind of legal ownership issue (the hill having been recently privatised) part of the deal was a hour and a halk walk up through the forest, led by a gun-toting forest ranger in flip flops and a sweet old tour guide. It was a hot humid walk, but we made it, stopping regularly to listen to the tour guide's story of how he spent his childhood hiding from the Kymer Rouge in the forest, and, after his parents and siblings were killed, living alone for two years following gibbons to find food.

To cut a long story short - we got to the hill station which was - as decribed in the tourist brochures - a creepy chilling place (pretty cool).

AND THEN IT RAINED! and I mean RAINED!

What proceeded was a miserable three hours of uncomforable wet walking, and pick-up truck riding in the pourrrring rain. And LEECHES!!! (ok, so only one leech actually got me and it was through my sock, but still - I ran around screaming in the forest for a while)

Safe to say, when we got back to Bodhi Villa, we decided not to leave for at least a day. Plus, it was Friday night, Bodhi Villa's live-music evening and with the owner, Hugh, celebrating the birth of his second child, it was a bit of a party!