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Post by hwinpp on Nov 30, 2009 5:44:57 GMT
Last Sunday I drove to Kep with my girlfriend and a good friend. Kep is on the coast, about 170km from Phnom Penh, close to the Vietnamese border. It used to be the place to go on short holidays during the colonial time and numerous old villas dot the hills. There's not much of a beach to speak about but there is an island with little bamboo resorts, no electricity and decent water for snorkeling. National Road No. 2 Lotus and the entrance to a wat in the background Rice is ready to be harvested now Nearing the coast After lunch (see 'shellfish' thread) we drove into town on the road along the shore. The crescent of beach More shore Vietnamese island off the coast Villas tomorrow
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2009 6:01:22 GMT
Great start! It definitely isn't overrun with tourists.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 30, 2009 6:32:09 GMT
How pretty and peaceful, HW!
I love the picture of the rice fields. What a wonderful setting for the beach, with the heavily wooded land rising behind it. Did you all go to snorkel, or simply to enjoy the beauty?
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Post by imec on Nov 30, 2009 13:29:33 GMT
Very nice HW. What's the water temp here?
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 1, 2009 8:33:38 GMT
Actually, every hotel and GH I went to was fully booked until end of January. But there's so much to do there that I hardly aw any foreigners! I went for the crabs ( ), my girlfriend for the sea views and my friend Tony went to have a look at the accommodation. He's opening up a place in the north and wanted to see how Kep was doing. So that's exactly what we did. Eat crabs and check out some hotels and guest houses. And then photograph the villas. Most people carry on to an island of the coast called Rabbit Island. It's got much clearer water, is good for snorkeling and just two bamboo/ grass thatched bungalow resorts with no electricity. It's still very warm, Imec. In fact the water off the whole coast is pretty 'winterproof'. You have to go up half of Vietnam for it to become too cool for swimming. I did see some small catamarans and a couple of kayaks at the only luxury resort but they were all on shore. Kep is actually not so much a beach destination as a weekend getaway. For the beach most people will go to a place called Sihanoukville, about 120km further west. That's got a series of nice beaches.
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 1, 2009 8:49:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2009 12:16:36 GMT
Simply gorgeous,unbelievable. I can't recall ever having been so drawn to a place like this ever before. The picture of the Lotus set me off and it was all up from there. I have to look at more maps, it's that simple,I must go. I want the villa third from the bottom. I have a vision... Thank you so much for this HW.!
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Post by imec on Dec 1, 2009 13:54:14 GMT
I'll take the second one from the top - that place looks amazing!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2009 16:05:14 GMT
There are so many places like that all through Indochina that could be put back together very nicely if people really wanted to.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 1, 2009 16:29:44 GMT
So odd to see these abandoned villas looking like little cousins of the famous ruins of the region!
Were they abandoned because of economics, fashion, or because of war?
What a lovely place to get away from the city.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2009 17:31:16 GMT
In my thread about Dalat, this little place always appealed to me.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2009 17:54:58 GMT
Wonderful photos, hw!
I keep looking at those old villas and imagining what it must have been like to live in one, in it's heyday. I'd love to visit that area, so interesting.
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 1, 2009 21:47:06 GMT
I remember going to Kep and lying on the beach a bit, swimming a bit then eating lunch just back of the beach stretched out on bamboo platforms. Food was pretty good.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 1, 2009 22:05:40 GMT
Looks amazing, well worth the drive
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2009 22:55:17 GMT
I changed my mind,I want the last villa. I need a view of the water...
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 2, 2009 2:21:54 GMT
When the Vietnamese started pushing the KR out of central Cambodia, they fell back on the border regions and the 'fringes'. One of these was Kampot/Kep in the south. The last KR left the mountains in Kampot/Kep in '98. You might remember the story of 3 foreigners being kidnapped off a train, all were shot dead, in '93. That happened about 50km from Kep. I think it has not changed that much, Baz. I hardly saw any visitors this time or on my two previous visits. They are there, it's just that they're all doing different things and not bunched up. Food is still ok, next time I'll try one of the other 10 restaurants in that row The reason that nobody is doing anything with the old villas is that the property ownership is not clear. Nobody (including the rich and well connected Khmers) is touching anything there. I know the finance minister has a place down there, but it's a new building on newly developed land on the edge of town. The KR destroyed all land ownership records and burnt all the cataster offices with all other records (in an effort to nationalise land ), it's going to take the World Bank/Asian development bank another 20 years to recreate proper land titles from scratch (if the PM lets them).
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2009 13:32:12 GMT
Am enthralled and fascinated by this region and confess great ignorance about much of it's history and culture. HW or anyone else,if you could recommend reading material on,it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. And thank you once again HW on your fabulous posts and photos.
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Post by lola on Dec 2, 2009 16:19:13 GMT
Thanks so much for that look at your countryside, hwinpp. It does seem a shame not to fix up the villas, but they make great ruins.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 3, 2009 4:31:41 GMT
I always enjoy your travelogues so much, HW, because you go to interesting places and take great pictures. However, there is that special element in your threads, because you obviously have great affection for the country without being starry-eyed about it, and because you can explain so much of the background of what you show.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2009 6:30:38 GMT
HW, I don't remember if Cambodia has those people with the bottles or the vertical bricks along the roads of if it's just Vietnam. That always intrigues people the first time...
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 3, 2009 6:55:05 GMT
This looks more like Vietnam.
In Cambodia they sell the fuel from smaller bottles, usually arranged on a makeshift shelf.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2009 7:04:32 GMT
Yes, that photo is Vietnam. In southern Vietnam, they just display bricks rolled up in a newspaper, because it some bright person figured out that it was dangerous for bottles of gasoline to be lining the road and the bottles were therefore forbidden.
I can just imagine what sort of tragedy occurred to help them decide -- bottles lined up along the road, toddlers playing next to their smoking father, sudden traffic accident that smashes bottles... memories of the napalm days.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2009 4:55:21 GMT
Nice cheery thought there K.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 4, 2009 14:25:10 GMT
... my friend Tony went to have a look at the accommodation. He's opening up a place in the north and wanted to see how Kep was doing. Has your friend already picked out where he'll be opening his place? I definitely think you need to continue accompanying him on these fact-finding missions. I googled Kep. The first hit is a well-designed site that would make you think the place is bustling and crammed with expensive hotels. Only because I'd read your report did I look more closely to realize that it was all smoke and mirrors.
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