Saturday, 18 January 2014

What we did in Kep.

We arrived in Kep for a two night stay late in the morning of a day that I am sure has a name and a date, but on theses details I'm a bit blurry. I was feeling a bit whacked and opted to read for the afternoon, while Kim put in 10 or 15 kms. 

The next day was "ride our rented bikes to the beach day" and by all accounts the most lovely and secluded beach in the area is Angkual, about 12 km east of Kep. Maps show a pathway leading to Angkual but one of our hosts assured us that the path had been closed at some point and the only access was the 28 km route by road, so off we ventured.

Our rented bikes were brand new Giant brand.....

We interrupt our narrative for an imagined bit of conversation between engineers at the Giant Byycicle Corp.

"Bill, I've got to say, this new bike is just the cat's pajamas. You've got your 15 gears with click button shifting, you've got your light weight, welded aluminum tube frame construction, caliper brakes and easy ajustable handlebar and seat stems, but darn it Bill, this seat is not going to cut it. You know that we here at Giant have a long history of manufacturing bikes with seats that, after only an hour or so of riding, are driven clear through the rider's taint to lodge firmly in the lower colon. Let's send this design back to......

We now return to Kim and Lou's adventures in Kep.

Two hours each way on what were really very beautiful country roads. Every child under 12 that we passed shouted out, "Hello!", over and over until we had passed, smiling, laughing, waving. We are a total hit with the locals. We were riding through farm country, rice fields , livestock. The beach, well, yes, it was sparsely populated but less in the, "Holy shit, this beach is totally pristine and barely anyone knows about it or comes here and everyone else in the world is stupid 'cause this is frickin' Eden, man", and more, "Ah, there are a number of pretty good reasons why you don't see many folks at this beach". It was kind of shallow until a long way out, bunch of old plastic floating about, and by knee deep the bottom was mud. In many areas you couldn't get in the water as a fleet of fishing boats were tied up at the waterline. So Kim and I had a 5 min dunk, bought a couple beer, and headed back to Kep. We arrived back at our lodgings sunburnt, dehydrated and unable to sit. Don't get the wrong impression - we both enjoyed ourselves and were happy for the outing.

We later walked the 4 or 5 km from our rooms to Kimly's restaurant where we had prawns in Kampot green pepper sauce (not green bell pepper but the seeds that will be dried and ground for the pepper shaker).  Holy shit, the best seafood sauce ever.

Tuk tuk home and to bed.

As I write we sit on the bus to Phnom Penh.



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