CAMBODIA CAPERS

Monday, September 1, 2008

Monday, August 25, 2008

a little reminder

Dear cyberfans
Please scroll to the bottom of the page and read upwards. Sorta like a reverse upside down asian olympic scroll experience.

Go Ball xxxxx

Friday, August 22, 2008

Cambodia is such a land of contrast. My last night was spent checking emails and then a steak at a fab French restaurant. It was really early the next day when Kong the tuktuk driver picked me up and I headed to the airport for the end of a great adventure.

One last road stop

We passed a shrine to travellers and stopped at a lovely roadhouse for lunch, then back to PP to pick up some last minute shopping.

heavy hearts

It was with heavy heatrs that we piled into Rit's taxi for our trip home to PP. The trip was nearly over and we had also received word that gorgeous Emily was in a Bangkok hospital with dengue fever. Jeff was being the wonderful friend and keeping us in touch.

What do you mean no pina colada??

We loved our beach villa but the cocktail list was hopeless. We added vodka to the coffee shake and had a few of these after quite a few G&T's, but we needed something more exotic. Ali marched to the kitchen? You got coconut cream? you got pineaplle juice? you got alcohol? YOU HAVE GOT A PINA COLADA!! Took us a few to get the proportions correct, but someone had to do it.

no sharks here

It was wonderful to cool off in the dark velvety water with the lights and fireworks overhead.

night falls

Night fell and the fireworks and firetwirlers started up and still we stayed on our loungers happy

Many hours later!!!!!

We settled onto our loungers and soon were surrounded by the local beauticians who painted our nails, massaged our bodies (6 hands at a time) and ripped our hairs out with a piece of cotton (my beard and moustache caused them to point and laugh so i said yes and it was excrutiatingly painful and i will never do it again).. Local kiddies sold us bangles and practised their english and stroked our hair and said how beautiful we were and loved us in return for money.

What is it about Russians and schlong togs??

We swam and drank and swam and talked and...

w saw a guru.

settling in

Didn't take long for us to settle in and sample their great food and a particlarly wonderful coffe shake.

It was raining as we set off with Rit our taxi driver to the beach resort of sihanoukville. We hadn't booked and it was really busy, but we found a beachside room at Malibu. Perfect for me as there were only 3 steps down from my room to the bar/eating and another 1 to the beach!!

the posse parts!!!!!!

That night I slept in a bed out on the verandah with a view to die for. It was soooooooooo magical and peaceful and wonderful till the obligatory whipper snipper started. Progress follows me everywhere!!

The next day we split up. Emily was still feeling really bad and she and Jeff werer heading back to PP so we waved them off in a taxi and we set off for Sihanoukville.

dinner at the sailing club.

We decided to see how the other half lived and went down the hill to Knai Bang Chatt Resort. We couldn't eat there but ran into mtes Brian and Beth from Brisso. http://www.knaibangchatt.com/
Alongside the resort is the Sailing Club where we sat and dranked and chatted and ate a horrible meal. Note to self: stick to local not foreign

O MY GOD!!!

While we were swanning on the beach the wind had picked up and our boat ride back was terrifying. This is a pic from the first trip cos all we could do was hang on, try and protect our cameras and scream and laugh hysterically. It was exhilkerating in a sorta near death way.

more serenity

Had a wonderful day with even more Kampot crab for lunch.

off to Rabbit Island

Emily wasn't feeling too good so she stayed at our villa and Jeff, Ali and I headed off on a bit of a windy day to Koh Tonsay, or Rabbit Island.

sunset

A drink at sunset and then off for Kampot crab at a little cafe by the sea where they send the kiddie out to catch the crab to order. YUM!

run amok

The food was wonderful and Jeff was really pleased with his choice of Amok.

Verandah Guesthouse

The view from our guesthouse was spectacular. Originally founded as a French colonial retreat in 1908, the seaside resort of Kep-sur-Mer managed to retained its fun-loving and elite flavor with Cambodian high rollers continually flocking to the resort to gamble and indulge in water sports. That is until the Khmer Rouge and the famine of 1979 ended its days of grandeur.

Nowadays, it has that shabby chic feeling. Located on a small headland, a 6km palm-fringed road runs along the coastline with wonderful artdeco ruins and crab markets on wither side.

off again

first things first, an early morning swim in the river.
brekkie at Bodhi Villa and onto a tuktuk for the next part of our adventure. We called in to Epic Art Cafe so see Jai and Colin run a dance workshop for deaf children. see http://www.kampotinteract.org/epic_arts.html for more on this interesting place. AND THEN WE WERE IN KEP.

sleep like a princess

I slept in a room in my princess bed while the others slept on the pontoon in the river.

Jai and Colin (who live there) and Hannah joined us for a sunset swim before we headed off to Bodhi Villa for dinner and a cocktail (as you do)......starting to see a pattern.

Next day after a slwwp in we were picked up in a taxi and headed for Kampot where some friends of Ali have a house by the side of the river. It is a wonderful typical Khmer house very open, in timber and surrounded by water and plants.......tranquil.

the sistine chapel??

Time to eat so we hopped onto motos (well not me) and headed off to Italian Restaurant Le Duo which had great food and a sistine chapel ceiling. It's easy to get a little confused in Cambodia.

Who would have thunk

Surprise surprise but we all had a few drinks to celebrate Ali's success.

Meta House

A few arvo drinks at Rubies and then it was off to Meta House for another wonderful art exhibition. This was a group show of local artists and international artists and Ali and Punka had contributed a photo work which was a little controversial in its subject matter. go to http://www.meta-house.com/ for more info on this exciting venue.