Kelly's Journals

Kompong Som To the beach! Kompong Som is the beach area of Cambodia. We found a $6.00 room at a new place called Monkey Republic, which we enjoyed. The restaurant at Monkey Republic served pretty good western food in huge portions which was such a treat after Northeastern Cambodian swamp food. The beach was fairly nice with powdery white sand, but the water was rougher and a darker green color some days. Lying on the beach was anything but relaxing. There would be people selling items that would come by every 5 minutes. You could get a manicure, pedicure, massage, leg threading, any kind of fruit, squid, lobster, spring rolls, post cards, bracelets, sarongs, bottled water, and more stuff we couldn’t recognize. We had a bunch of squid that is barbecued right in front of us on the beach. A woman carries two hanging baskets joined by a stick she balances over her shoulders. One basket is a cooler with squid and the other is a clay pot full of red hot coals. They were pretty tasty. Most of the ladies selling items would inquire politely and move on after we declined, but some of the kids were especially irritating. After you say "no thanks" they say "why not?" 25 times until you walk away. Man, it is so infuriating to feel like you are being bullied by a group of seven year olds. We found if we sat by ourselves the kids would press especially hard. There were kids I reluctantly found adorable. We met one 14 year old girl who had quite the chat with a couple sitting next to us. Her perspectives based on Cambodia values were fascinating to hear. She told Brandon and I that by 23 we should be married and have at least 2 kids! She was a very bright girl. We told he she should move to Canada and become a used car salesmen but of course the humor didn’t translate and Brandon and I were the only two laughing. We also met her brother who was trying to sell paintings. He was just as bright as his sister and adorably cheeky. Who ever taught him how to sell did an amazing job. Brandon made the mistake of telling him that he might buy a painting another time not thinking we would see the kid again. Sure enough we did--everyday. Brandon finally told to kid that he had no money to which the kid looked at me and replied "Madam is this true? No, I cannot believe. You see, if you had no money, you would also have no girlfriend." He was so serious and matter of fact I will remember that conversation for the rest of my life. We also go attacked by naked babies. If ever there was a time I regret not having a camera it was watching 6 year old butt naked twin girls try to pull Brandon into the water. At first it was funny, but then the pack of 6 kids started to win and we had to shake them off and run. They chased after us for a good stretch of the beach. It took effort, but in the end we were able to out run them. Kids swim naked and Khmer women swim in their clothes. Straight into the water in a blouses and blue jeans. You can actually follow high-heeled shoe prints up and down the beach. We met quite a few young people traveling this area who had run out of money. We had no problems at all on $10.00 a day each. The catch is that one cocktail can cost just as much as one really good meal. Every time we went to the Internet cafe we heard this conversation: "Mom, there is a Western Union next door. I don't know how I spent it all. Cambodia is more expensive than I thought!" Kep The Southern coast of Cambodia is not serviced by bus routs so we needed to take a taxi from Kompong Som to Kampot. A share taxi is only $3.00 per person compared to over $20.00 for a whole taxi. When our Toyota Tercelle share taxi arrived all we could do was laugh. We knew the car would be full, but we were the 7th and 8th passengers in the car. What an experience. I am so glad the trip was only 2 hours because any longer and I may have been crippled for life. From Kampot to Kep we were told we could travel in the back of a trailer the local people use. The trailer is pulled by a motor cycles, crawls very slowly and leaves when the driver decided it is full enough. We hoped in and the cart full of ladies cackled like I’ve never heard before. They had such a hoot with the two of us in their cart. When I sat down the old woman behind me slapped the bare skin on my back left exposed by my tank top. When I sat down she gave a heave on my exposed undies and laughed harder than you would imagine is possible. Khmer culture is very conservative and I must have looked just about naked to them . The cart was full of purchases from the market. Three large baskets started to oink and when I looked closer they were full of little piggies. It is days like this I wonder why people bother to come to Cambodia at all if they come on a tour. Sometimes trying to get to a location is a better experience than the destination itself. This was the day Cambodia became a special place to me. Kep is very small town where just about the only thing to do is eat fresh seafood. There is also a pepper plantation outside the city that makes the best pepper I have ever had. When you put the seafood and pepper together you get some of the best meals I could possibly imagine. For Christmas dinner ordered crab from our guesthouse. We were served 5 fresh crabs and 5 sliced up and fried Khmer style with pepper. It was the perfect way to celebrate Christmas so far away from home. Our guesthouse was a series of 8 cabins built into the side of a hill, really in the middle of nowhere. There were a few other small guesthouses, but not much else. To finish off our Christmas eve, when we went to walk back to our cabin the stars in the sky were more brilliant than I have ever seen. The deep blue sky and white starts were honestly breathtaking. One of the few pros to not having electricity. Our Christmas would have been perfect if it wasn't for the Karaoke. Karaoke has a special place in the lives of many Cambodians. There was a party at the resort down the hill from us where a company had rented the whole place out for Christmas weekend. The evening started out with live Cambodian music but around 10:00 PM it was karaoke time! The music was so loud it made our windows shake. The singing that was broadcast across the hills was beyond horrible. The sound was loud and horrible. When English Christmas carols were sung I couldn’t help but sing along in my head, correcting all the wrong words. When the karaoke ended four hours later, my head hurt and I was rather cranky the next day. Kampot We really enjoyed our time in Kampot. It has a large expatriate community that own guesthouses and restaurants. It was an enjoyable little stop. Not much to do but walk around, eat, and read your book.

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