Day 9: Knai Bang Chatt

Today we are travelling from Phnom Penh to Kep



After all the dedicated sight-seeing since we've been in Cambodia, we're now entering the decadent section of our holiday.  After a leisurely 9am start we take the 3.5 hour drive from Phnom Penh to Kep.  We have a new driver, who is pleasant enough but there's a foul smell in the back of our minibus and Richard suggested he is probably sleeping in the van (and farting in there too, I'm guessing).  The air-con takes care of this little problem.  It is a good while before we clear Phnom Penh as we are moving along slowly with the commuters and general city life, but we're not in a hurry and it's good to simply people watch out of the window.  Soon enough we are back out in the countryside with the paddy fields, water buffalo and houses on stilts but it looks a little different this time.  I don't know - maybe the villages are a bit more prosperous?  Kep is the nearest beach to Phnom Penh and was established as a retreat by the French colonists in the early 1900s.  The elite of Cambodian and French society had holiday villas along the beach front and, although these were destroyed or ransacked during the troubled times, now that the good times are rolling back Kep is a popular seaside getaway again.  The road from Phnom Penh to Kep was mostly good quality, just a little bumpy for the last 15 miles, and the towns we passed through were bustling with life and trading.  Louise has resolved a little concern of mine - most houses have a hammock and there is ALWAYS someone lazing in it.  Don't they have work to do rebuilding the country?  Louise suggested that as there is only one hammock per household, and they tend to live as extended families, then the hammock has to be time-shared!  OK, at ease, so they are just taking a well-earned rest.    

Our hotel is Knai Bang Chatt meaning a rainbow encircling the sun.  If it sounds a little out-of-this-world that's because it is.  I insist that you click on the link to the hotel because I want you all to be jealous of where I've been.  After a perfect  welcome with a glass of ice cold passion fruit juice, we were taken to our luxury rooms with a veranda, seaview and fully working air-con inside.  We convened in the beach bar and, with nothing whatsoever expected of us for the rest of the day, we decided on a full-on lunch.  Seafood salad for me, goats cheese salad for Lousie and beef loklak for the men and a bottle of Sauvingon Blanc (or was it two?).   We were the only lunch guests and the staff were friendly and efficient.  It was all laid out on a white-clothed table by the sea with the lush garden behind us and tropical palms swaying gently in the sea breeze.

In the afternoon Louise and I did the circuit of places to park our bottom: poolside loungers, deckchairs, veranda chairs, day bed, hammocks and hanging wicker pods.

Next stop - Happy Hour in the sailing club (it's all go).  Louise had a Snake in My Swimsuit (so to speak), I had a Sunset and the men had a Pina Colada.  If I remember correctly we had another one. Who knows what we did next.... 

All looking windswept and interesting

MARKS OUTTA 10

Richard: Upside - driving past temples and not having to stop.  Walking into our new hotel room.  Downside: Journey was long and bumpy.  6/10

Ian: Upside - arriving in our hotel room and banging on the air-con.  I also enjoyed watching the people, villages and countryside on our journey here.  Downside: I'm not feeling well and not sleeping.  7/10

Louise: Upside - Lunch by the sea shore chatting with my friends, good food, good wine, relaxing.  Downside: Mosquito bites.  8/10 

Jackie:  Upside: Incredibly, the hotel is living up to the marketing blurb in every respect!  8/10