Kep to Phnom Penh

Jasmine Valley, Kep.

After checking in at Jasmine Valley quite early, around 10am. Spent the rest of the day taking in the eco guest house. The pool is the result of the flow of a natural waterway into the dammed pool area. The pool is full of small fish ranging from size 1 1/2 inch to 5 inch in length. Hilde sat with her feet immersed and allowed the hungry fish (around 50 in number) to nibble the dead skin on her feet, she described it as a tickling massage. I tried and jumped at each nibble so it just scared them away. Swimming was really nice, water fresh from the mountain and long as I kept moving the fish stayed away.

Hilde getting her foot massage in the pool

The guesthouse supplied a very good range of Khmer meals, pizza was also available. At night we were captive as travel down and back up the mountain at night had its issues, a 2 1/2 kilometre winding track. We were quite happy to spend the evenings at home.   We retired early and kept the lights out as the insect sounds outside were quite loud and we didn't want to listen to them inside. Access for them is easy as the airflow from the verandah is unobstructed. The mossie net over our bed protected us from creepy crawlies but during the night the net got in our way a few times, still no unexpected visitors. We woke to the crescendo of birds and the natural sounds of the dense jungle.
Jasmine valley provided us with a motor scooter to explore the surrounding country side, the first obstacle was the trip down the mountain through puddles and gullies, no problems for a good bike rider even though Hilde was not as confident as I.
We headed inland to see some of the famous kampot pepper plantations and even bought some of the red and black variety. It is reputed to be one of the highest in quality in the world. Seeing that is dried we have been assured that Australian Customs will allow it.
The ride back to the coast took us through working rice paddies and the emergency visit to a tyre guy on the roadside, our front tyre was down. After it was pumped we were away again, we came across some young monks swimming near a monk statue, they swam in orange loin clothes with their orange robes draped over the rocks. I seemed to attract them as they took photo's of me posed with them. That was different, normally it is Hilde who attracts this type of thing.

Another flat tyre took us to a guy who changed the tube for $4. We attracted the attention of local kids on their way to school.

Local school kids.
All geared up we headed to the crab market, Kep is well known for it's crabs and prawns. A water side restaurant had been suggested to us and we took a ocean side table with the odd wave splashing us. I ordered the pepper crab and Hilde the grilled crab, we watched as about 50 boats were crabbing about 200 to 300 metres from shore, one of the boats came in and a guy swam a shore with a basket full of crabs, sold them to the restaurant and swam back with a fist full of money raised above the water. The crabs were delicious, but messy and a pain to pull apart and eat.

Kep Crabs
As we left the restaurant a little girl was playing on my motor bike and looked a little scared when she saw us, when she realized that she was not in trouble, she turned into a real poser.

She loved having her photo taken
Back to the jasmine valley for a peaceful afternoon beside the pool and some table tennis. There were 2 french couples staying at the Jasmine and had planned to take a boat to Rabbit Island the following day, they invited us to join them and share the cost. That night we left our normal routine of eating only dishes we hooked into a pizza baked at Jasmines brick oven, It was really nice, even better than the ones I make.
The next morning it was overcast and the sea was flat, the open boat over to Rabbit Island took a half hour and we were dropped off at a fisher mans hut with much of the beach littered with rubbish. The boat boy took us for a walk through the jungle and we appeared at a nearby beach equipped with a few beach side restaurants and bamboo beds. Beds were selected and mats provided by the ladies from the Restaurant.  We enjoyed a swim in the cool water which was quite shallow for the first 75 metres or so. Lunch time soon came around after a snooze on the raised beds, I again went for the crab, this time the waitress who was fully dressed in  a smart outfit walked right into the sea up to her chest and retrieved a basket load of crabs from their crab storage facility. A crab basket floating some 25 metres from shore. The crabs were deposited in the kitchen and she sloshed fresh water over herself  from a barrel and kept serving us, soaked to thew skin.

Rabbit Island waitress
After lunch and another swim we headed back to shore, this time the wind and sea were up, we had all had a fresh water wash down and wore fresh clothes, the boat trip saw us soaked to the skin as the waves spent most of the time over the deck on us.
Later that afternoon with a few icy Gin and Tonics on the balcony we watched some of the rain squalls rushing through the tree tops from the mountain tops towards us, they came with a roar and passed by with a whimper.

Our last night at Jasmine the monsoon rains came and it belted down all night, the noises of the wind and rain blowing through the surrounding jungle was amazing, we made it to breakfast in between showers and relaxed all morning with some feet nibbling by the pools resident mass of fish. I saw a small snake on the pools edge, the reception had a snake book and we found that it was a reed snake, harmless to us, but not to frogs and lizards. It look like it had been washed into the pool and could not escape, we helped it on it's way, back to the reeds that is. The whip snake was also still around in the trees above us. Owen the owner manager of the guesthouse told us of two cobra's doing a mating dance in the property next door, they were killed and eaten by the local residents. He said that the cobras were very shy and would always take off if disturbed, they also hunted the 50 or so species of snakes in the area so were good to have around.

The Tuk Tuk taking the creek from Jasmine Valley
We checked out and our tuk Tuk arrived to take us to the bus station, it was pouring down and the track down the mountain was now a small river, our tuk tuk went with the flow and we reached dry land on the main road a little quicker than normal. As our clothes had become a little wet on the trip to the bus station, it was icy when we boarded as the air con on these vehicles is always set to the lowest possible temp.
The bus had a crew of three, the driver, the assistant driver and the cabin crewman/ticket collector, the trip was uneventful for the next hour or so, the rain stopped about 25 kilometres from the coast were it was still dry. We stopped a few times to pick up passengers, all Cambodians until one town had three poms, they consisted of a couple around our age and a younger girl. The driver and crew attempted to get them to board, but they were eating their lunch and told them to wait, for the next ten minutes the driver kept hitting his horn while they munched on their baguettes. Finally they unloaded their gear from a tuk tuk, put it on the bus and boarded. I was tempted to yell out leave the bastards, but refrained as it was enough for the Cambodians to tolerate only one group of rude westerners. I didn't need to add to the number. As we entered Phnom Penh the driver was negotiating the worst traffic ever, trucks, buses, tuks tuks, cars bikes and people, all going any which way without any sort of order. The large PB woman was on her mobile speaking to what appeared to be her hotel. She waddled down the aisle and stuck her phone into the ear of the busy driver. It appeared she wanted her hotel to explain to him how to take her to the hotel, she didn't want to go to the Central market with the rest of us.  He shoved the phone aside, if it was me I probably would have chucked it out the window. She seemed to expect a taxi service instead of a bus service with a $4 fare.
At the central Market we were confronted by a gentleman Tuk Tuk driver, Sam who spoke excellent English with an Aussie accent. He took us to You Khin house where we ate in the neighbourhood, the guesthouse is an oasis amongst a constantly busy city.

A block of burnt out apartments in our neighbourhood.
Our last day in Phnom Penh we had to tick off the remaining sites including Wat Phnom and a nice riverside restaurant for lunch. That night the riverfront was amazing all the locals were out, dancing exercising and playing games in the large paved riverfront area while on the road alongside it was mayhem as usual.

Phnom Penh Riverfront
Our last morning Sam the tuk tuk man picked us up and delivered us to the airport for our Laos Airlines flight to Vientiane, problem was there was no Laos Airline flights, I suspected that there may have been a code share deal or something but could find nothing. Finally I approached the Vietnam Airlines check in and surprising the lady said yes, you can come with us.
The flight of 1 hour 10 minutes was nice and cosy, they provided a full meal and drink service which surprised me of how efficient they were. There even warnings of turbulence but the cabin crew kept serving.
Vientiane is the opposite of Phnom Penh, neat rubbish free streets, no traffic congestion and road rules that people actually use. They also use their own money, the kip around 8,000 to the USD.

Laos will continue later.