The ride from Can Tho, Vietnam to Kep, Cambodia was all too easy - especially with one of our moto drivers, Kun, being a Ho Chi Minh City University Graduate (left a career in teaching for driving a scooter, better money). We easily negotiated the border crossing process (again thanks to our scholar), visa acquisition, and health check (involved a temporal scan, and Kelsey and I laughing that any physiological heat and indigestion was undoubtedly - strangely - linked to the countless spicy oily noodle and rice treats we live off).
About 45 minutes of back road Cambodia-side scooter travel landed us in gorgeous Kep, the beautiful town is brimming with the inevitability of tourism exploding in the near future - but for now it's quiet. We check into our guesthouse and grab a Tuk Tuk, piloted by Thy (pronounced 'Tea') to check out a few local attractions - vegetable farms, rice patties, a small pepper farm/plantation, and the 'notorious' crab market. We make short work of a small population of blue crab and four liters of local beer for dinner.
The next morning we catch a boat to Rabbit Island, a small island about 2 miles off the coast of Kep. Rabbit island is aptly named for its shape, not inhabitants... but if I had named it, it would be SpikeyLookingConcaveAndOddThing Island.
The small island is home to less than a hundred Cambodians, about a third of which don't fish, they operate 3 bungalow... hotels. After grabbing our own bungalow, we take a quick walk around the island - and more quickly learn that a 1 sq mile island has a >> 1 mile circumference, especially when rocky shores and local color (and a pig) are along the periphery. The next morning we catch a boat back to the shore, and a quick 3 hour bus to Phnom Penh.
Arriving in Cambodia's capital, we grab some food at a very upscale appearing restaurant about a mile from our hotel (Sky Park Hotel) - luckily even the upscale atmosphere doesn't mean the bill is over $20. We have by now made friends with another Tuk Tuk driver, Chang, son of a professor killed in '75 in the Cambodian genocide, and father of 3. He most likely learned te little English he knows by singing the Titanic theme song and Christmas tunes... all somehow tied to the celebration of Khmer New Year in April.
We spent the greater part of the next day, Friday the 29th, explaining to Chang why we did not want to go to the local gun club to shoot a B-40 rocket-propelled grenade launcher (at a cow or chicken of our choosing). While we discussed the gun club, we toured the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda (beautiful Buddhist temple with silver floor tiling and a few alleged 20 & 25 karat diamond encrusted Buddhas), the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek (perhaps the site of our Chang's father's execution), the Russian Market (just to haggle with half the Cambodian population for AUTHENTIC Gucci, Versace, Rolex, et. al.), and Wat Phnom (relatively small Buddhist park/temple).
The largest treat [and perhaps one of the most hospitable acts I've ever seen] was when Chang offered to have his wife cook us dinner and show us his home, family, and neighborhood. Since we'd been hearing about his neighbors irrefutable ability to brew rice wine, we unanimously and immediately accepted.
After 20 km or so out of Phnom Penh proper and stopping at the market where Chang shops (and half the Cambodian fly population eats) we made it to Chang's one-room rented house/shack/concrete bunker and met his adorable daughter. Kelsey and I took the girl for a walk and met the neighbors. Chang and half the block prepared something: a dish, beer, RICE WINE, whatever they had and we fiested/partied until Chang had to employ another Tuk Tuk to safely drive us back to the city.
Now we're on a bus ((another ****ing bus?!)) to Siem Reap. Six Cambodian hours, chul muy (cheers).