Days 20-21: Farewell from Cambodia

Three weeks family trip from the top of Cambodia right on the Thai boarder to visit the spectacular Prah Vihear Temple then straight through the centre and down to the most southern tip spending time in Kep and on Rabbit Island - what a AMAZING ADVENTURE.

Phnom Penh - Wed 5/1

We are back in Phnom Penh from Kep and preparing to depart for home tomorrow.

Tonight we had our final tour dinner together after a river cruise on the Mekong to watch the sunset - unfortunately the sky was completely cloudy so there was no sunset, but the river cruise was pleasant and dinner was definitely a great finale for us to sample Khmer flavours one last time.

Our last couple of days in Kep were pretty chilled.

Following our day on Rabbit Island, the next morning we spent back on dry land. Firstly, we went to visit a local pepper plantation - pepper was a major crop of the region before the Khmer Rouge era and pepper trees dot the landscape. A few plantations are now being renewed and Kep pepper is now back in commercial production.

We expected a fairly formal tourist setup at the farm we visited, but were amused to find just a very small shed beside the field of pepper poles with a poster on the wall on how pepper is produced. However, the lady was very friendly, although with not much English, and let us show ourselves around.

Next up was a visit to some limestone caves at Kampong Trach - these caves were formed millions of years ago through the actions of the ocean eating into a limestone hill. At some point, enough of the foundations of the hill were eaten away that the middle of the hill collapsed, leaving a large hole in the middle of the hill open to the sky. From the outside, you walk in through the caves under the edge of the hill to emerge into this amazing amphitheatre in the middle of the hill. In the wet season, the whole bowl fills with water, but for our visit it was completely dry to walk into.

The caves themselves are classic limestone caves and you can imagine in the past they were just like our own limestone caves in the Australia. However, like many things in Cambodia they have never been protected, so all the delicate formations in the caves have been destoyed by people - you can see the remnants of what were no doubt spectacular formations in their day ... but no more.

The middle amphitheatre was worth the visit, it's just a pity that the rest of the caves have lost their true beauty.

The afternoon was free for R&R with the girls mostly just reading and/or recovering from sunburn.

Chris & Julie decided to return to the sailing club on the waters edge to watch one more sunset and were rewarded with just a spectacular 40 minutes as the sun set and the sky shone with many colours. There are a number of photos posted to give you an idea of the progression of colour during the sunset.

Our final day in Kep we also kept free and again the girls were happy to stay home and "chill" - Chris tackled a solo bushwalk into the National Park behind our resort chasing more butterflies ... the photos again tell the story.

Today we arose for a leisurely breakfast and then our 3 hour bus trip back to Phnom Penh.

This afternoon the shopaholics had their last quick crack at the markets before we headed out to our river cruise.

So that's pretty much a wrap for the Ramsay tour of Cambodia for 2010/11. We hope this blog has served to keep everyone at home informed about what the girls have been up to over 3 busy weeks. Hopefully the girls have had the chance to experience a different culture, learn about the diverse history of this country and also had some time for rest and relaxation - all in one big package.

Chris promises a multi-media slideshow to tell the pictorial story of our trip in some more detail - but this will take a few weeks to complete.

One more sleep and we know the girls are all looking forward to see family and friend again back in Melbourne - see everyone real soon !

Days 18-19: Chasing Rabbits and Butterflies

Kep - Mon 3/1

Well, the days are passing rapidly and the time is fast approaching that we will be winging our way back to Oz.

The last couple of days we have been exploring the area around Kep to find out what there is to see and do.

New Year's Eve we spent at our resort, but we could hear the various activities going on around us - the girls decided to celebrate with a late night swim ... resulting in a fast sprint from the pool back to rooms in a state of semi dress (ask no questions).

There were fireworks off in the distance ... apparently ... but the old farts were long asleep by then ...

Sleep in and lounge around on New Years Day, then in the afternoon we ventured down to the Sailing Club - as the name suggests, this venue has a couple of boats for hire, so the girls had a sail each (with instructor) out on the gulf - not much wind, but still enjoyable. We then sat and had dinner to watch the best sunset so far out over the water.

Very pleasant, although we are still struggling with many of the local restaurants and their ability to serve food to a table all at the same time and in a timely manner - there's a lot of sitting around waiting for food !

Sunday was our day to visit Rabbit Island - this is a small island a 30 minute "putt putt" boat ride off the coast. It has a little more sand and is very much set up as a tourist destination. You can stay overnight in little huts but we just opted for the day trip.

The photographer spent much of the day chasing the amazing butterflies that inhabit any part of Kep with flowers that they feed on - you can check the pics for the results !

Everyone else pretty much spend the day  lazing around on the main beach, floating on inner tubes and trying to avoid getting sunburnt - some were more successful than others in this respect ...

After a long day in the sun, another evening meal back at the resort before a very early night.

We'll check out a couple more of the local attractions in the last day or two, then we head back for a last night in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Perhaps one more blog to wrap up the trip from Phnom Penh on Wednesday evening.

Days 15-17: Kep and Surrounds

Kep - Fri 31/12

We are now down on the south west coast of Cambodia at Kep. We're losing track of the days here ... but we think this is day 17.

Thanks again for your comments Wendy ! Don't believe everything you read on the blog ... some stories take on a life of their own ... and yes, the girls have not forgotten returning to training, but perhaps they are dreading that just a touch.

But back to a couple of days ago ... after our last shopaholic day in Phnom Penh, an early rise the next morning for the bus trip to Kep. Back in a mini bus for this trip, so just on our own and we were able to decide when to stop - and only 3 hours for this journey on much better roads that up north. Any road in Cambodia in a continual string of little towns and villages along the way - the photos hopefully capture samples of the sights along the way.

Kep is a fascinating place - check the map, but is right near the southern point of Cambodia on the gulf of Thailand, very close to the Vietnamese border. Not sure of all the history, but during the time of French colinisation this was the "French riviera" of Cambodia.

Kep was apparently another victim of the Khmer Rouge, as scattered along the foreshore are the skeletons of what were clearly magificent French homes a number of decades ago. Only the concrete walls of some homes remain, while others only have the foundations left. The walls that still stand are pock marked by gun fire, and the ones in the best condition are now occupied by new Cambodian squatters.

Scattered among the ruined houses are some that have been restored (mainly by government agencies), plus new tourist resorts that are slowly emerging. Where ever there are tourists, there are always locals as well trying to sell something - but you can already see that not too far down the track this area will be a "new mecca" for rich tourists prepared to fork out big bucks to stay in ritzy seaside hotels.

As for the seaside itself - the shoreline is very pleasant, with sub tropical forests extending right down to the seaside. As for the beaches ... as with many countries, what the locals consider a nice beach is woeful compared to our Aussie beaches - usually just a narrow strip of coarse sand or sometimes just rocks

This morning (Friday) we drove to Angkul beach (secret beach) to see supposedly what is the best beach around. Unfortunately, one of the major problems of modern Cambodia has completely spoiled this beach as well. The big problem with translating traditional village life to a modern context is that they just do not know how to deal with rubbish.

In traditional villages where all things were biodegradable, there was probably not a problem. But throw in modern materials, particularly plastic, and most villages are littered with rubbish and junk just lying around everywhere. There is no concept of rubbish collection and keeping a village tidy. Anything and everything is just discarded and lies around on the ground.

Angkul beach was no exception - one end of of the beach had a village, with all the fishing boats tied up at the shore - the combination of what the fishermen discarded from their catch, plus all the garbage blowing into the water from the village just made the place very unpleasant.

You will see a couple of nice looking pics in the photos - amazing what the camera can hide, these are a bit further down the beach where it looks a lot better - but from what was just behind the camera, no one felt the desire to swim.

This sort of encapsulates the ongoing problems of Cambodia - how to you blend the traditional village life with modern materials and practices without making a complete mess ? Both economically and of your environment ...

On that note, it's hot and time for a swim - in the nice clean resort pool.