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Happy Christmas Everyone! We hope you all had a great day and are looking forward to the New Year!
Our journey down to Kep was very interesting in a number of ways... Crossing the border into Cambodia was the first. We drove from Pakse down to the border, which took about 2 hours, then at the border post we met an Australian couple (backpackers, very young, looked very disoriented and confused). We paid our $2 each for the "handling fee" to get stamped out of Laos, and then stamped into Cambodia. This is a border post where the office constitues a wooden shack, and is quite infamous for its sticky fingered immigration and customs officers. I am ashamed to say that we submitted to the "fee", although because we had the Carnet du Passage we were able to avoid any further "customs" charges.
Once on the Cambodian side of the gate, the Australians still looked confused and now panicked! So we offered them a lift to the next town, Stung Treng. It is about 40km south of the border, and about an hours drive (the roads are not great here). Arriving at the Riverside Guesthouse (double room with air con for $12) we had a nice lunch then set off to change our Laos kip for Cambodian Riel. The bank refused, but pointed us towards the shops surrounding the outdoor market. As we walked around we noticed the ladies manning their shops with glass cabinets displaying which currencies they exchanged. We were directed along the line, until we reached the correct shopfront. Amazed that these women worked in the open, with bundles of cash on display and in complete certainty of their safety.
Baack at the Riverside, the young couple had more troubles as the boy/man had gotten bitten by a dog. Hmmm... things just don't seem to go right for them! We gave them the information for clinics in Phnom Penh, which the girl took down, and the boy ignored.
From Stung Treng we followed the Mekong south to Kratie. This was a bigger town, and the poverty all the more visible. The street was lined with grocers, bars, hairdressers and pharmacies. The only difference being some seats had people drinking, others had children with IV drips.
In Kratie we took a drive north to see a Turtle conservation centre and an evening boat trip out on the river to see the Irrawaddy dolphins. It was a beautiful day and interesting to see. The Mekong Soft shell turtles were thought to be extinct until they were rediscovered in 2007! Then we decided to head towards Kampong Cham taking the scenic route along the Mekong rather than the highway...
This was a bad decision - don't get me wrong, it was a nice drive, but we couldn't make it to Kampong Cham. The road became a dirt track which became an agricultural track and a bike trail... So we turned back and stayed in Kratie another night. Lucky that we did!
In the evening as we were heading up to our room a couple came up to us asking Fintan if he went to University of Leicester, because his brothers friend was doing this same trip... Fintan replied no, therre must be another car behind us... O hang on! Shonny went to Leicester, and what is your brothers name?? Pete Moorhouse! Yes, we know him!!
Paul and Kirsty were on their holidays heading to Phnom Penh and Siam Reap, so we offered them a lift down and ended up having a wonderful couple of days and a very drunken Christmas Eve. We arrived into Phnom Penh at midday on Christmas Eve and had a lunch, went to the Silver Pagoda and then met later for dinner at the Foreign Correspondents Club. They were offering a 3 course Christmas dinner with a glass of champange! Perfect! We then headed to some fairly suspect Irish bars. I don't know how late it was, but after a number of shots and my inadvertant drinking of some whiskey (Fintan had put his in a pint glass to avoid drinking it, a glass I then gulped from). Those who know my history with whiskey (Pete Moorhouse!!) can predict what came next. All night and most of Christmas day being sick and saying I'll never drink again! Ha ha! Well, it is Christmas!
We headed to the coast via the Killing Fields, Chouk Ek. As a monument and reminder of the tragedies of the Kymer Rouge rule it is powerful, silent (everyone is issued audio guides and silently walks around listening to the guide and taking in the history of this strip of grass). We were quiet most of the drive down to Kep.
Kep is a coastal town, famous for the abandoned mid 20th century villas and the local crab dishes. Both of which are fantastic. We had planned to then go to Sihanoukville for NYE - a party town. Arriving into Sihanoukville the next day, we immediately realised our mistake. This place was so touristic, with guesthouses and fancy hotels on the beach, rubbish everywhere, beggars with their children and cattle on the side of the road. A town of drunk foriegners and Kymers...
So we turned around and went back to Kep, a quiet coastal haven, with limestone mountains behind us and delicious seafood - we've been longing for this for months! Where better to welcome in the new year!
Hope you all have a happy and enjoyable new year!
Lots of Love, Shonny and Fintan xxx
- comments
mum Very interesting, and so glad that you happened to meet up with big pete's brother. Isn't it strange how you run into people in out of the way places? But I didn't understand the one bit of this blog, "some people drinking and some children hooked up to IVs". Maybe you can explain that later. Have a good NYE and a very very happy new year.