Lazy Days in Kampot and Kep

Church on top of Bokor
see all photos »

Needing to escape the melancholy of Phnom Penh we headed south for some R & R.  The drive to Kampot was incredible, passing rice fields, traditional Cambodian stilt houses and masses of school children.  We arrived at our guesthouse and promptly stationed ourselves in one of the many hammocks.  We didn't move until the sky had darkened and our stomachs started grumbling.  Kampot is a tiny town on the cusp of becoming a popular destination for tourists.  The main drag is lined with pretty little cafes, most of which are foreign owed.  Land is frantically being bought by foreigners (The land can be sold for a higher price to a foreigner than a Cambodian. This makes foreign investment more attractive to the seller and creates a strong incentive for Cambodians to sell their land).   We were happy to be there before it becomes a big tourist spot.

Deserted church
see all photos »

The next day we actually got out of bed before 12 and hopped in the back of a pickup truck (sorry Mom Hewett & Mom Bernow!).  This is the way most Cambodians travel.  Before visiting Cambodia, Matt and I thought the absolute maximum amount of passengers any van is capable of carrying is directly proportional to the number of seats.  Not so!  We saw vans with at least 20 people in/on them.   We got into the pickup truck with 12 others and, feeling like reverse refugees, headed to Bokor National Park.  Bokor used to be the king's weekend resort, then a station for the French occupying army and finally a hideout for the Khmer Rouge.  Now it's a National Park protecting tigers, elephants, bears and monkeys (we didn't see any).  As a result of all the "occupation" at the top of the mountain there's the king's weekend house, a casino, a hotel and a church. But they are all completely deserted, Bokor is now a ghost town and can be reached after a 2 hour drive uphill on the worst road we've ever seen.  When we arrived at the top it was pouring rain and an eerie mist was hanging in the air.  Very spooky, especially when we saw bullet holes in the walls from the Khmer Rouge (who used to transport prisoners to Bokor).

Gecko
see all photos »

The next day we motorcycled to Kep (an ever sleepier beach town) and checked into a $10 a night bamboo bungalow (the resort next door had caught on that this was a prime tourist spot and had recently increased their prices to $50, lucky for us the manager of our place wasn't as savy) .  We had an incredible view of the sea and hammocks hanging from our porch.  Again, we lounged in the hammocks until the sun set and the fruit bats and geckoes (as big as soda bottles!) scared us off.  The next morning, we hired a boat to take us across the choppy waters to Rabbit Island.  We sat on the beach and watched as our crab dinner was caught right before our eyes.  A five crab dinner was the perfect end to four lazy days.