Monday, June 25, 2012

Crabby Kep


In Kep, we stayed at a guesthouse with beautiful grounds surrounded by trees, exotic flowers, an amazing wood dining/sitting area, and cute treetop bungalows.





 We visited the famous crab market to watch the lunch time action. Women fully clothed and wearing brightly coloured raincoats and patterns waded in and out of the water dragging huge wood crab cages. Other women haggled over crab, shrimp, and fish prices with the smell of grilling seafood in the air.







From our seaside crab shack seats we watched the action take place. Enjoying what else, but crab!



It was way harder to eat then we anticipated!

 After, we found an empty temple in the jungle surrounded by gold animals and ships, with a beautiful view of the ocean and Vietnamese islands.



Can't go wrong on Koh Rong!

While in Cambodia, Laura and I found paradise! We had visited many beautiful beaches throughout our trip, but none with such undeveloped, deserted, picturesque white sand beaches and turquoise waters as these. It was what we were looking for and had always dreamed of. Although we said this trip wasn't to "find ourselves" and that we weren't going to become "nuns", we did find heaven.... and it is a 4 km empty white sand beach with an Italian restaurant at the end in a small bamboo hut that houses the cutest orange tabby kitten named Milo.



Our seaview bungalow

The view from our bungalow

Studying to get my PADI advanced diver certificate.




The 4 km white sand beach... just to make you bit more jealous :)




BattamBANG

Battambang is a cute town in Cambodia (surprisingly, it's actually the second largest city!). It has lots of character with French colonial architecture, well preserved buildings, beautiful wats, and a a lovely river.



Just outside of Battambang, we did a day trip riding on the bamboo railway. We were told that this is its last year running as a tourist attraction, so we definitely had to do it. It was very worth it., think old wooden roller coaster with no safety restraints and probably no safety check, but it's no problem cause it only ever goes in a straight line! It's an exhilarating 20 minute ride to the village at the opposite end. When you meet another train on the tracks, the one with the smallest load is taken apart and lifted off the track for the other one to pass, then put back together. Pretty impressive... our conductor offered for us to help lift it. We decided it was best just to watch.



At the end of the bamboo train line, there is a small village where they make bricks. We visited with the kids and learned how to make bracelets, stars, and a grasshopper out of bamboo grass!


This is how the ice is delivered in huge blocks, which are sawed in 
pieces and distributed to every house and business.

We then visited a temple with 400 steps to the top. This cute Cambodian girl followed us to the top... Who am I kidding, she beat us to the top without breaking a sweat.


She loved taking photos and became our photographer for the climb.




She really liked taking pictures of everyone!


After spending the morning sweating, we spent the afternoon in Laura's favorite place:


The one and only VINEYARD in Cambodia!




We tried their wine, grape juice, and ginger juice. Although they should probably stick to producing grape juice.