Going to our happy place

Sue returned from Bangkok last Wednesday night. Angie was about to be released from the hospital and after five nights sleeping on a hospital sofa she was ready to get into a real bed. Little baby Justice had an even better sleeping pad in Bangkok - inside mum's suitcase. Sue said he looked pretty adorable tucked into his suitcase bed!

Anyway, we decided to proceed with our planned week-end getaway to a little coastal town called Kep. Aussie friends Mark and Jo joined us too. We have been over two months in Phnom Penh now, and were seriously feeling the need of fresh air, green trees and sand between our toes. So following language class on Friday we packed and, seeing that buses were already gone, haggled a taxi fare for the 170km, three hour journey ($25).

Sand ... water ... greenery and cool sea winds. We now have a 'happy place' to go to!

Kep is a delightful, unspoilt little sea-side town, famous for crabs and seafood. In earlier days it was the Cambodian Riviera for French and wealthy Cambodians, who built beautiful villas along the beaches and on the hillsides. The Khmer Rouge thoroughly trashed these expressions of bourgeois opulance - and to date very little has been rebuilt. Jungle greenery grows over formerly-lovely houses. There are a few accommodation places that have recently been built, and signs are that Kep will not remain such a quiet, near-forgotten place for very much longer.

Queen Sihanouk's holiday residence - ready for a spot of renovating

Home sweet home for someone, it would appear

Kep is a great place to do very little - read, walk, explore and sit around a dining table talking for hours. We checked into some modest little wooden bungalows high on a hill that overlooked the coast through to Vietnam. With a nice wind coming off the sea and some rain showers, temperatures were perhaps 5 degrees less than in Phnom Penh - wonderful!!

It was a bit wet and windy to do the half-hour boat ride out to Rabbit Island, where real white sand and blue waters lie. No problem - next time. Apparently the boats are reluctant to go much further out than Rabbit Island as the Vietnamese border is somewhere further offshore and it is not a good idea to annoy the boys with machine guns.

Jo and Sue exploring Kep a la moto. We booked a couple of guys for an hour - but 40 minutes was more than enough to see around this little town.

Bush walk with Mark and Jo. Susie insisted on a good snake-killing stick but alas, not a snake in sight!

Coming back to Phnom Penh was somewhat eventful. The bus had been towed out of a scrap-heap last year, I do believe. Five hours of bouncing has persuaded us that a few extra dollars for a taxi is the way to go - both ways! Never-the-less, we are refreshed and blessed - and looking forward to returning to our happy place every couple of months or so.