A Birthday Blessing in Pakse, Laos

Talor: After that “momentous” bike ride in the morning, we killed a few hours then at 2pm, we boarded a boat to Pakse. The plan was to catch a night bus and go straight to Vientiane, the Capital of Laos. The boat ride along the Mekong was very scenic with rustic villages and fishermen on the water, but the motor was deafening. What was supposed to be a 2-hour ride turned into a very long, very hot 4-hour ride, and by the time we arrived into Pakse, we could smell ourselves... ugh! We were desperately in need of a bit of luxury so we ditched our plan to go on to Vientiane and checked into the Pakse Hotel. It was exactly what we needed...

Though it was pricey at $25/night, we finally had AC, and it felt like heaven! And for the first time in our travels, we had a shower curtain! Add to that super-fast wi-fi, and a super-big breakfast, and it seemed like the deal of a century. Our one night to get ourselves “cleaned up” turned into three as we enjoyed the luxuries of a city...

For the first time in weeks, we had a variety of foods available to us... Italian, Thai, Vietnamese and Indian food, and restaurants were open past 9:00pm! There were banks with ATMs where we got a better exchange, and markets where we finally found dental floss and sunscreen! Pakse even has a cinema and a brand spanking new bowling center, though it was strangely empty when we walked in.

On my birthday, we took a tour of the Bolaven Plateau famous for waterfalls and coffee/tea farms. On our return to the hotel, we visited Wat Luang where the very friendly monk, King (yes, that's his name), very carefully tied a yellow string on my wrist (monks are not allowed to touch women and vice versa) as a birthday blessing for happiness. But the best part was taking the night “sleeper” bus to Vientiane, which turned out to be real beds with pillows and blankets on the bus! It was the first time in our travels we had been on one, and it was fun! Happy Birthday to me!

Erik: Yes, after Mondulkiri, Don Khon and Champasak, the little city of Pakse was a very welcome slice of the (barely) urban world. Pizza, Indian Food, lasagna – all very mediocre and all welcome. AC! It felt so good that we hardly left the hotel room for the first day – especially as we had wifi in the room! Wow. With T's birthday looming, I racked my brain for something special for her, but the problem was that we didn't know where we'd be...in Pakse? in Vientiane? The Bolaven Plateau tour was the best I (we) could come up with, but we basically put the birthday off a day until we arrived in the capital. The tour of the plateau was a snooze (we spent most of the 8-hour tour in the minivan driving...good choice of a diversion before an 11-hour bus ride!), but the sleeper bus was good fun. We had a great time lying in bed watching the nighttime scenery roll past, and it's the first time I've really slept on a bus without prescription medication. Happy b-day, T!

More photos...

Pakse, Laos

Biking it in Champasak, Laos

Erik: The ride to Champasak was pretty straight-forward – boat, minivan and ferry. The highlight being the “ferry,” which was nothing more than two small dug-out canoes with planks nailed across like a primitive catamaran. Still, it managed to take 5 of us and a couple of scooters across the large mekong safely enough.

Champasak is not much more than a small village along the mekong. It's claim to fame are the nearby Wat Phu ruins, often referred to as the “Angkor Wat” of Laos. We were able to find an OK room for the amazing rate of 30,000 Kip (just under $4.) We also found a lovely lady up the street selling delicious noodle soups and the strongest cafe laos I'd ever tasted, all for very cheap prices. Needless to say, we went there every day. Often twice a day, for an afternoon iced-coffee pick-me-up.

Wat Phu itself was a bit of a let-down after the grandeur of Angkor Wat. The ruins are from the same Angkor empire, but the similarity ends there. Wat Phu is tiny compared to the the other angkor ruins, and in a terrible state of repair. The best part of our trip out there, though, was getting T on a bike. Yes, she actually cycled 20 kilometers there and back. White knuckles and all. Not bad for someone who wouldn't even mount a bike on a deserted street a few months ago!

Outside of the noodles and great coffee, though, Champasak had little to keep us, and so after just a couple of days we were off to the real city of Pakse...

Talor: Champasak being the capital of the district, we were hoping for a bit of luxury, but found it to be a bit disappointing with its one main dusty road with not much going on. But the highlight was definitely the bike ride out to Wat Phu. They say Laos is the best country in Southeast Asia to bike in because it has the lowest population density and traffic. So I decided to bite the bullet and cycle the 10km there. Swerving around the potholes and occasionally screaming at the puppies, chickens and water buffaloes wandering onto the road, I managed to get there and back in one piece. Of course I could barely move the next couple of days, but it was well worth it. Bring on the roads!

Photos of Champasak...

Champasak, Laos

Sweating it on Don Khon, Laos

Erik: After our 2^nd sojourn in Kratie, we headed north to Laos. We'd booked ourselves on what should have been a luxury minivan for the 5 hour ride, but they “overbooked” the van and instead of 10 passengers, we had 16! In addition to the cramped quarters, several of the seats were a bit broken, making things most uncomfortable. Our driver was cranky and I'm pretty sure that he was very hung-over as well, as he seemed to be trying everything not to doze off at the wheel – stopping several times for energy drinks, to pour water over his head, etc. What a fun ride! The border crossing into Laos was pretty uneventful, though we had to pay “overtime” fees to officials on both sides since we were crossing on the weekend, which must make for a tidy bonus for any official lucky enough to work the weekend.

Once in Laos, we boarded another, slightly more comfortable van, which took us to the Mekong River, where we boarded a small, covered boat to head out to the Si Phan Don (4000 Islands) area of southern Laos. That boat took us to the first major island, Don Det, where we needed to change to an even smaller, uncovered motorized canoe for the ride out to Don Khon, where we hoped to stay. I say “hope”, as when we arrived on Don Khon, it appeared that the island was full. There are only about 9 guest houses on the island, and the first 6 we checked were all full. Finally after much lugging of backpacks up and down the hot, dusty street (yes, only one dirt “street” on the island), we found the Pakha Guest House with a decent bungalow for 70,000 Kip, which we thought to be about $7. That was our next surprise – the Lao economy was strong and the Kip had gained against the dollar, so instead of a the 10,000-1 exchange rate we expected, we were only getting 8000-1, which made everything quite a bit more expensive.

The island was relaxing and lovely (I kept having to remind myself that I was in land-locked Laos rather than a tropical island,) though it was brutally hot as well. It did cool off a bit at night, but we still found it a bit difficult to sleep in the heat, as our fan only worked until 10pm, when they switched off the generator. At least it came with a much-needed mosquito net – ah the rustic life on a small island!

The next day we walked out to the Li Phi falls, where the Mekong plunges through a series of cascades into a beautiful rock gorge. The locals believe it to be a sacred spot which holds the spirits of all those that died on the river. We found it both impressive and beautiful. The walk there and back, though, was extremely dusty and hot (each day it was getting progressively hotter), so once back to the guest house we treated ourselves to one of their specialties, a coffee-banana shake. And then another. It was so good and refreshing.

That's more than can be said for most of the food on the island. It seemed that every restaurant shared the exact same menu – mediocre fried noodles or fried rice, pricey fried fish, etc. At least there was no shortage of cold, delicious Beer Lao on the island, which I found far more interesting than the over-priced, bad food.

The next day I decided to walk around the island. Unfortunately I didn't quite realize how big the island was. I also didn't realize that the sunscreen I'd purchased in Kratie was bogus, and actually provided no SPF protection at all (it claimed SPF 60 on the bottle.) The result being that I returned from a long, long walk, parched from lack of water and beet red on my arms, neck and chest. Did I mention how hot it was on the island? The last mile or so of the walk, I was whistling the “Bridge on the River Kwai” song, marching at full stride and trying not to collapse from exhaustion and dehydration. Water had never tasted so good as when I finally got back.

Still, all-in-all, Don Khon is a beautiful, tranquil place, and surely more pleasant when visited before the hot, dry season. We were treated to several beautiful sunsets over the mekong, but after just a couple of days, we were ready to move on.

Talor: After moving so quickly through Cambodia, going from place to place and never really settling in anywhere for very long, I was looking forward to just chilling out for awhile on Don Khon. With nothing much to do but swing on a hammock, read a book and just relax and watch life unfold at Lao pace, it sounded ideal. Unfortunately, the heat and the food made it an unpleasant stay...

There was just no way to escape the heat! The river water wasn't too enticing with it's weird soupy green color, and we heard that it had river flukes so that wasn't an option. Took cold shower after cold shower but found myself constantly soaked through with sweat. We counted the hours til 6:00 when the generator would be turned on and we could run the fan, but we found it hard to fall asleep once it went off at 10:00.

Also, after eating mostly Cambodian food for a month, I was really looking forward to trying Lao cuisine, which had some interesting sounding dishes. Unfortunately, all the eateries were attached to guesthouses and had pretty much the same menu serving their idea of what western tourists like to eat... fried rice, fried noodles, banana pancakes and muesli... boring!

On the positive side, the scenery around us was lovely, the sunsets gorgeous and the banana-coffee shake, as strange as it sounds, was really delicious. But sadly, it wasn't enough to keep me there so, once again, time to move on...

Our photos...

Don Khon, Laos

How many pineapples can an elephant eat? Mondulkiri, Cambodia

Erik: Some weeks back we'd read about the Elephant Valley Project in Mondulkiri. The original purpose of the project was to bring medical treatment to the poor, over-worked elephants in the Mondulkiri region, but the project had evolved into more of a sanctuary for old or sick domestic elephants, with an eco-tourism element which allows visitors to learn about and ride them. We finally gave them a call from Kratie and were happy to find out that they had space for us the next day to come and visit. That night we packed our day bags for a 2-3 day trip out there, and set off the next morning.

After a short bus ride to the ugly transport hub of Snoul, we shopped around for some sort of shared-taxi to the main Mondulkiri town of Sem Monorom. At the end of much asking around, we finally found a pickup truck heading that way. Remembering our horror-story pickup ride into the Moskitia in Honduras, we paid a bit extra to make sure we were seated up front in the cab, though with 8 of us packed in there, it was hardly comfortable. At least we weren't piled with the 12 others and a ton of cargo in truck's bed! After about 4 hours and one flat tire, we rolled into town just in time for our 3pm meeting with EVP founder Jack Highwood. An hour later, we bumped our way along a bad dirt road in Jack's pickup to the EVP. Along the way, Jack pointed out the unbelievable deforestation in the area. “Last week that was dense jungle forest there” he would say, pointing at a bald hillside, still smoking from the fire they had used to clear it. All the surrounding fields were equally bare for as far as we could see...

We were very happily surprised with the EVP set up – especially the new lodge and bungalows where we'd be staying – very nicely furnished, and boasting views over the (still) lush jungle valleys below. Wow – not nearly as rustic as we'd imagined our lodging would be. We had our own private bungalow, as did our fellow visitors, Daniela, an Italian psychologist living in New Zealand, and Arman, from Toronto. Nice.

Those of you familiar with our history of strike difficulties will laugh to hear that the next morning over coffee we found out that the elephants had gone on strike. Well, not the elephants themselves, but their mahouts (handlers.), hoping for more than Jack's already quite generous elephant salary. So instead of hands-on elephant training, we toured the facilities, saw the hospital and school which were still being built. We did SEE the elephants, but the mahouts would not take them out to play. Sigh. That afternoon the strike continued, so we trekked on foot out to a nearby waterfall, which though elephant-free, was still quite beautiful, cool and relaxing.

Next morning the strike was resolved, ($2.50 pay raise) and we made our way down to the valley to meet the elephants. They'd brought out EZ Rider and Gee Nyal (the two are inseparable, apparently.) Daniela and Arman went for a ride, then Talor and I got to meet them, learn their body language, etc. They really are amazing animals, and have such intelligent-looking eyes. Talor doesn't believe in riding animals, but I did take a spin on Gee Nyal, which was very interesting, though I doubt I'd do it again. Though I'm hardly a burden for this huge animals, my legs work just fine for getting around!

The previous night another of the elephants, Princess, had escaped, and Jack asked me if I'd like to help him look for her that afternoon while Daniela and Arman went for a longer elephant trek. I agreed readily, as we'd be visiting local villages and forests. They found Princess just before we set off, however – she'd been in one of the village's pineapple patches, so Jack and I went off to survey the damage. As it turns out, she'd eaten 106 of their pineapples. 106! (We had to count all the destroyed plants so that Jack could properly compensate the village...) To his credit, Jack kept a sense of humor about the whole scene and laughed to himself about the folly of his day-to-day life. On our way back, he toured the village with me, showing me many large craters from American bombs dropped during the Vietnam war, a dirty well which was giving the children dysentery, and the school, where kids had chalked scenes of men shooting each other with automatic weapons. My general Cambodian depression continued to grow. At least I'd finished reading that good, but oh-so-sad Graham Greene novel...

The next morning we were off, and except for getting stuck in the mud and another flat tire, we had little problem getting back to Kratie. (Oh, there WAS that 4 hour layover in beautiful Snoul.) I was very impressed by Jack Highwood and his EVP. He's quite young (mid-late twenties?), and yet has started up this ambitious project in the middle of nowhere, Cambodia, taught himself to speak Khmer, all within the confines of an extremely corrupt and bureaucratic government. Quite a feat for anyone, let alone someone so young. He has supporters and donations from around the world, and is getting more-and-more tourism and volunteers. Good luck, Jack! If anyone cares to visit or donate to the EVP, the website is here:

http://elie-cambodia.org/elieecotourism.html

Talor: Though I wasn't too keen on going back into a jungle, I wanted another chance to spend some quality time with elephants. Yes, it was an uncomfortable 4-hour bumpy ride to Sen Monorom and then another 45-minute bone-jarring ride to EVP, but I wanted to see elephants! As Erik said, the cabins were huge and gorgeous and far more luxurious than we had expected with our own bathroom and running water. But it was in the middle of the jungle... electricity for only 3 or 4 hours in the evening, a steep climb up a dirt/muddy path to get to the lounge/kitchen/dining area where we took our mostly vegetarian meals and there was no shortage of mosquitoes, ants and giant spiders.

But the elephants were magnificent! Though Jack tried to get me to ride one, I was just happy to watch. They are wonderfully amazing creatures with such soulful eyes! Just seeing them made the trip worthwhile!

Photos from the EVP:

Mondulkiri, Cambodia - The Elephant Valley Project

Floss-less in Kratie, Cambodia

Talor: From Phnom Penh we headed north and an 8-hour bus ride dropped us off at the small riverside town of Kratie (pronounced “Kra-chey”) along the Mekong. Checked ourselves into a comfortable fan room at the Heng Heng hotel that had a great river view. We spent the next couple of days just enjoying the riverfront... running in the mornings, walking around town and checking out the French Colonial architecture in the afternoons then going out to watch the sunset in the evenings.

Then we took a 4-day side trip to visit the Elephant Valley Project in the Mondulkiri Province (see next blog entry), and returned to spend several more lazy days just chilling out. On one of our more ambitious days, we rented a motorbike and rode to the neighboring town of Chlong (45 minutes away) along the bumpiest, dustiest road. By the time we got there, every pore was absolutely covered in red dust. Found a nice little eatery and chowed down on cold noodle salads and fresh spring rolls then ate some more dust on the ride back. On our return, we rode for another 30 minutes in the other direction hoping to catch a glimpse of the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins. We took a boat ride, and it wasn't long before we started to see them, but only for brief moments when they came up for air. And though we didn't get to see them up close, we felt lucky to have seen them before they became extinct.

Another happy thing about Kratie was discovering the bar/cafe/bookshop, Red Sun Falling. Joe, the owner, is an American ex-pat who has been living in Cambodia for eight years. He was great fun to talk to, and the food and drinks were very reasonably priced. So before we knew it, we found ourselves going there every night. We didn't even realize we were craving Western food until we started seeing his daily specials. We tore into his Flemish stews and veggie pies, and drank quite a bit of his beer and vodka too!

But then we ran out of dental floss. We literally went to every shop, market, pharmacy and even to a dental clinic, but most people had never even heard of it before! Oy, time to move on...

Erik: Kratie was relaxing and fun – and we did manage to get into a daily routine of exercise in the (relatively) cool mornings, then breakfast and a bit of exploring in the morning/early afternoon. Lunch, siesta, then beer while watching the sunset over the mekong, followed by dinner at Joe's place. After a while, the sunsets grew boring, so we just went straight to Joe's for a pastis or beer and his nightly dinner special. We were in Kratie over valentine's day, and joe had the place decked out in hundreds of big paper hearts, each with its own ribald, cynical valentine's day statement. “I liked you more before you started talking”, “I love you long time (or until your NGO funding runs out)”, etc. It was a fun place, and most of the ex-pats living in Kratie went there in the evenings, so we were able to get the local scoop on things. We even were invited to a birthday party for a lovely Australian woman working with the Irrawaddy fresh-water dolphins. We'd have liked to stay for the party, but our Cambodian visa was running out, so we needed to head on to Laos quite soon.

Oh, the part about the dental floss is true – we scoured the entire town, including every single stall of the market, but none was to be found. Also worrying was that we'd not seen any sunscreen, either. Finally, on our last day there, we did find some very cheap sunscreen - $3 for a big bottle of SPF 50. “Too good to be true” as they say...and it was indeed. I was to pay a higher price a few days later...

Our photos from Kratie:

Kratie, Cambodia

Phnom Penh...again

Talor: Our return to PP was very brief... just a day and a half to get a Laos Visa then board a bus for the north. This time we decided to try a different neighborhood, the Boeng Kak Lake area, which is the traditional backpacker haunt, famous for cheap rooms and great sunsets. We checked into the Grand View Guest House, where the only thing grand about it was the view from their 6^th floor walk up roof restaurant. Actually, their Vietnamese coffee was pretty good too. Though the digs were nothing to write home about, they did give us a good price to get our Visas turned around in 24 hours.

With a day to kill, we took a day-trip to the Phnom Tamao Wildllife Sanctuary, an hour outside of the city, where they house animals rescued from poachers and other animal abusers. We spent the day with Watana, our English-speaking Guide, and a French couple on their honeymoon, visiting the different wildlife, some running free within the sanctuary and others in cages. Though at times, we felt sad for the animals, we also felt happy that they had a safe home. We took a break mid-day and had a lovely picnic, and afterwards, Watana gave us a taste of muscle wine (yuck) and betelnuts to chew (double yuck). Then came the highlight... the elephants! It was the first time I had ever seen an elephant up close that wasn't caged in a zoo. And I even got to touch and “kiss” Lucky, an affectionate adolescent female. And I cried when I saw Chouk, a 2-year old, limping around because he lost one of his feet in a poacher trap.

Got back to the city just in time to watch the sunset then got cleaned up and packed before heading to the Lazy Gecko Cafe for “Thursday Night Trivia” where they also sold raffle tickets to raise money for an artificial limb for Chouk. We entered as “Lucky and Chouk,” chugged down 75 cent Stoli & Cokes and had a fun night.

Erik: The rescue center seemed more like a zoo than a sanctuary. I hate seeing animals in cages, but in this case it seemed for the best. (I did find out later, much to my sadness and disappointment, that it really is more of a zoo than a rescue center – see our forthcoming Mondulkiri entry for that...) Chouk's missing foot made me very sad as well. In fact, the more I saw and learned in Cambodia, the sadder I got. It didn't help that I was reading “First They Killed My Father” about a young girl's life under the Khmer Rouge, followed by Graham Greene's “The Heart of the Matter” - another very good and very depressing book – must find some lighter reading to counter all the sad stories I'm hearing here...The trivia contest (and the vodka) helped cheer things up for the evening – we were even tied for the lead at one point before we crashed and burned in the final rounds...

The next morning we were booked on a 6 hour bus to the sleepy little Mekong River town of Kratie.

Round 2 of photos from P.P.:

Phnom Penh, Cambodia II

Diving and beaching in Sihanouk Ville...

Erik: After reading and hearing about the non-stop beach party town of Sihanouk Ville, I was a bit dread to go there – especially after the calm of Kep and Kampot. It was on our way, though, and I did want to get a few dives in, if possible. At first blush I really hated the place – loud, obnoxious, drunk tourists everywhere, beaches full of both litter and bathers, and very little to actually remind you that you were in Cambodia. We had a hot, hard time finding a hotel as it was high season, but we did finally find a room at Villas de Roos, run by a friendly Belgian man and his Khmer wife. We had not one, but two queen-sized beds in the room, and not much else, as the beds took up most of the available floor space.

After a few hours in the town, I was ready to leave - it's really not a pretty place - but Talor convinced me to go diving the next day and relax a little, which was good advice. I shopped around and booked with the least busy of the dive shops, and was very happy I did – there were only 4 guests on the boat the next day, and I was the only diver, so I got personal attention. I also got to get my French back up to snuff (it had suffered more and more as I struggled to learn Spanish) – as one of the snorkelers was French and my dive master was Swiss. It was an enjoyable day - the diving was nothing special, but it was good to just get in the water again. We lunched on a small, lovely palm-lined island, which was a great way to chill out between dives.

Most of the restaurants in the town cater pretty much exclusively to the barang tourists, so it was difficult to dine in a Khmer environment, so instead we opted for a delicious seafood BBQ restaurant next door to the hotel, which served up really good grilled barracuda and snapper. (I've since learned that barracuda are over-fished here, so I'll not be enjoying that any more...glad I didn't know that when I ordered.)

We took one more day in “snookville” (as the ex-pats call it), to spend a little time on the beach. We walked an hour out of town to get to a beautiful, calm, nearly-deserted stretch of beach – and it was well worth it. We also spent some good time chatting over drinks with Marc, our Belgian host, and Captain Don, a surly, rugged old American who's been living there for 10 years. Don gave us his views on the the city's and the country's development, corruption, etc. We even ventured out to the beach bars for a full moon party, but after just one beer, the noise and annoying crowds of 20-something partyers got to us. Guess we're getting old.

So Snookville wasn't a complete wash. I'm glad that we went, but I'm also glad that we left after just a few days. Now I wonder what to expect from southern Thailand, which is likely to be Snookville amplified 10 times...

Talor: Sihanouk Ville was kinda what I was expecting... touristy with over-crowded beaches. And we happened to arrive on a Khmer holiday weekend so it was extra packed with people. But we did manage to find moments of peace and quiet and places to relax.

While Erik went diving, I had a run in the morning, my first in nearly three weeks, and man did I feel it the next day! Then I spent a really nice quiet afternoon at the Starfish Project's Bakery and Cafe. The Starfish Project is an NGO that provides social services and assistance to disadvantaged and disabled Cambodians. It was great chatting with Ra Tun, who has been working there for a year. Prior to that, he fished for a living and never had time or money to study. In fact, whenever he would pass by the university, he would cry because he was jealous of the other kids who could go to school. Now he goes to the university, his education paid for by the NGO, and is happy to be studying English. He hopes to someday follow in his employers footsteps and create an organization to help other people... so cool!

The next day, we walked to Otres Beach, about an hour away. Even just a 15-minute walk away from the ever-packed Serenity Beach, and it gets less crowded. A 30-minute walk and you see more cows than people. It was sad though to see so much garbage strewn everywhere. But after about an hour, we crossed a bridge then walked over a hill and when we came down on the other side, we were rewarded by a nice stretch of beach that was clean and nearly deserted. We parked ourselves under a tree for a little shade/a little sun and chilled out listening to the gentle lapping waves. About an hour later, a lady came by with a mini-bbq selling fresh cooked squid on a stick. We ate without even getting up!

That evening, we went to Victory Hill, the former backpacker area that has now turned into more of a girlie bar scene. But they say it's the best place to see the sunset. At the Bungalow Village, a quiet guest house/bar/restaurant on a hill, we sat on comfortable mats in their lovely garden and had drinks watching the sunset... aaahh, life is good!

More photos...

Sihanouk Ville, Cambodia

Peppers and caves in Kampot, Cambodia

Talor: Kampot is a very cool, very chill little town famous worldwide for their peppercorns. After settling into the Orchid Guest House, spent three days exploring the riverfront, the French colonial architecture and the lovely rural countryside.

Our first evening, we went out for a night on the town to celebrate our anniversary. Though the pretty riverfront is lined with bars and restaurants, it was fairly low-key... just my style. Clinked glasses watching the sunset, then being the party animals that we are, we were back in our room and in bed by 10pm.

The next day was spent exploring the town on foot and bicycle... yes, I finally got up the nerve to learn to ride a bike again! After a few false starts with everyone in the vicinity watching and laughing, ventured out into the streets that have paved roads and light traffic. Worked up a major sweat riding two whole blocks to the waterfront! Only fell down once, but then panic set in when I almost got hit by a motorbike then decided that was enough and walking is a lot safer and much more pleasant. So we walked across an old rickety bridge, that had been destroyed and re-built three times, to see what goes on on the other side... not much, but found prices a lot cheaper. Then came back via the new bridge and walked to the bustling market in the center of town digging the French colonial architecture everywhere. Finally got Erik a krama, a traditional Khmer multi-purpose scarf, which is great for sun-protection.

At the Epic Arts Cafe, an NGO that employs deaf and disabled Cambodians, we had our first western meal. The salad with tuna and fruit and the vegetable quiche were surprisingly good. And they had a fantastic fruit shake, pineapple and mint, that was super-refreshing. But the best part was just sitting and people-watching because it's THE gathering place for the deaf and disabled in Kampot. They were very friendly and patient with us as we tried using American Sign Language with them, but found it is very different from Khmer Sign Language. But through gestures, body language and lots of smiling and laughing we managed to communicate anyway.

For our final day, we rented a motorbike to explore the caves in the countryside. We were eagerly met by a bunch of kids who all wanted to be our guides for a tip. One of the oldest, who spoke really good English, wanted to guide us, but he had to go to school. It was good to find that they put a high value on education here, especially learning English, because they see it as their only opportunity to getting a good job. So we were led by one of the others and soon we had a group of three leading us and showing us “points of interest,” which really amounted to rock formations that resembled animals. Found the inside of the caves dank and claustrophobic, but enjoyed speaking English with the kids.

Afterwards, took a pleasant ride to the peppercorn farms. We got a guided tour and a tasting of the fresh peppercorns, which when eaten raw are super-spicy. With our mouths burning, we got back on the bike and enjoyed the ride back to town stopping every now and again to take photos (way too many) of the rural countryside and the beautifully green farms.

Our next stop along the Southern Coast, Sihanouk Ville...

Erik: Kampot was nice, and I was really happy that Talor finally built up the courage to mount a bicycle once again. She had a few bumps and bruises from it (as well as sore arms from being so tense,) but it should pay off well as we visit the more rural areas. Being a former French colony, there were plenty of frog ex-pats living there, and I was happy to find that after months of losing my French as my Spanish improved, it came back quite quickly. I even sat in a small bar and listened to Noir Desir's “Tostaky” - a French rock song that had been very popular when I was a bartender in Paris so long ago...strange juxtaposition!

Renting the scooter to see the countryside was good fun, and we met so many young kids eager to practice their English – it was a simply relaxing, pleasant day.

Next up, though, is Sihanoukville, famous as THE party beach resort of Cambodia...wasn't quite sure what to expect there, after the calm, quiet, easy life of Kampot.

Kampot photos:

Kampot, Cambodia

A little kip in Kep, Cambodia

Talor: Sleepy little Kep (population circa 2,000) used to be a favorite beach town for the French and Cambodian rich and powerful until Pol Pot destroyed it. Now it is slowly being rebuilt and attracting some tourists again. But for now, you can still see the damage with hollowed-out buildings all over town where squatters have taken up residence. It was a nice tranquil escape, but after a day or two we found it a little too sleepy. And though there are beaches, they're pebbly, not sandy. In fact, back in the day, sand was shipped there from Sihanouk Ville.

We settled into the N4 Guest House then took a walk to the nearby Crab Market, which is not really a market, but a series of food shacks all offering fresh seafood with a view of the ocean. We had a pricey but delicious meal of bbq'd squid and giant prawns. And in the evening, we walked up a bit of a hill to the Vanna Guest House and had drinks while watching a pretty sunset.

The next day, we took a boat out to Koh Tonsay (Rabbit Island), where there was a very rustic fishing village. Spent the day walking and exploring, sunbathing (talor), swimming (erik) and lunching on crabs and fish then napping on the beach, before returning in the late afternoon. It was a very rough day!

Erik: Kep was fun, and cute, but oh so touristy, in a laid-back kind of way. No partying or beach volley ball or jet ski's – instead mostly couples and family's enjoying very good seafood and sunsets over the sea. Rabbit Island was interesting – you can stay the night if you like, but the $5 bungalows are the ultimate in rustic, with one outside toilet/shower with no running water (you use water bucketed out of a large barrel), and a herd of cattle meandering and sleeping throughout the the little village. I'd hoped for some good snorkeling there, but the water was green with algae, and most of the beaches fenced off with fish nets. Still, a good escape for an afternoon or even an overnight if you don't mind sharing your yard with the livestock.

The food in Kep was very good. The “pricey” sea-front meal we had at the crab market was all of $10, which included 10 enormous tiger prawns, 6 big chopped-up squid (everything BBQ'd to perfection with a sweet-spicy glaze), fried rice and a big beer. Expensive compared to our typical street food meal, which is usually $1-$2 for the both of us, but quite a steal compared to NYC prices!

In the end, though, there really was no “local” side to Kep, and not much else to do but eat at barang-oriented restaurants and stare at the sea, so we moved on after just a couple of days.

A few photos from Kep:

Kep, Cambodia