Day 2-3: You never know what adventure awaits when you travel with Kat. We however, have discovered many of them. It does not surprise me at all that all of her roommates have her on the “Find my friends App” so they can locate her at all times. Is she coming, is she close, or is she lost? Anyway. Kat planned a trip for us in Kep (pronounced “Kype”) on the Gulf of Thailand. Before checking out of the hotel on Wednesday morning in Phnom Penh, we headed back over to the AIM store. There seemed to be some problems with the inventory numbers not matching up with the inventory count..... Hello... 2 days with no sleep! It seems we were not the best employees to be in charge of this activity. So while I covered the “need more sleep part”, Jordan and Kat went to the store and recounted everything. We packed ourselves up and took a taxi, complete with all of our luggage and headed to Kat’s work in Svay Pak. While Kat worked on her “to do” list (which is a mile long, no wonder they are trying to hire 4 people to spread out the work load) Jordan and I unpacked all of the suitcases and organized all of the kits and supplies for my classes. Kat finished up and we packed ourselves up, called a cab and started our 3 hour (supposedly) journey to Kep. If you are not familiar with the roads in Cambodia, they are really something. If the highway needs repaved, they don’t tear it up a section at a time and work their way through it. They tear up 100 miles all at once, and then work on it when they feel like it. The taxi driver decided to take a “short cut”. The road we ended up taking was torn up from here to kingdom come. The pot holes were so deep the car bottomed out several times. Bridges were out and you just drove through the water around where the bridge was supposed to be. We were maybe going 10 mph, in the dark, on a back road with no other signs of life. Jordan is sitting in the front seat, Kat is passed out in the back seat, and I am watching “Designated Survivor” on my iPad (so good!) So we have no idea what is happening in the front seat. We had stopped once for gas and he filled it about 1/2 full (with the car running of course). Meanwhile we are still about 45 minutes to an hour out of Kep. Jordan notices the fuel light is on and staying on. We have no clue what is going on since we are busy with our activities in the back seat. The driver keeps looking at all of the closed gas stations we are passing. She is in internal panic mode (I don’t blame her) and I thought she was going to kiss the ground when we finally arrived. So she tells Kat that we were on fumes for the last 45 minutes, in the dark, in the middle of nowhere, in a third world country. Kat response is : “Oh, it’s not a problem, Cambodians are so helpful if we would have run out of gas someone would have stopped to help us. That’s how it is here, you are never in danger because everyone is so nice, and they love community and will help anyone”. I don’t think Jordan was convinced. So 4 hours plus later we arrived at our hotel. It was right on the ocean and we had a beautiful view. I would like to say everywhere in Cambodia is so beautiful, the ocean, the mountains, etc. but is is so full of trash. Litter everywhere, bottles, cans, paper you name it and the ocean doesn’t look much better. I wasn't going in. It really surprises me because they seem to take such good care of their persona space and possessions. But they throw trash everywhere.
We had planned on buying a day pass at a really fancy resort and spending the day by the pool. the tuk-tuk driver took us as far as possible up the mountain where the resort was, made us get out and walk because we were too heavy for his engine. OK back to Keto for me. What’s really funny is that Kat said there is a gentler grade on the other side that goes up easily, he took the back way so he wouldn’t have to go as far and could get paid the same. So we climb all the way up the hill to the resort and it’s closed. The staff was having a staff retreat somewhere. That’s why we couldn’t book rooms there. We just thought it was full! So we walked ourselves all the way down the hill and climbed in the tuk-tuk (who couldn’t be bothered to drive up the hill) and went off to Kep Coffee. It’s a great little coffee shop that is owned by two ex-pats from Washington State. Best omelette I have EVER had and they make all their own bread and baked goods. The cinnamon roll was to die for. They also take in women in trouble and help them get on their feet. Really great couple and family. From Port Orchard I think.
Kat decides we should go to the resort on Rabbit Island, so we take Flat bottom boat across the ocean to the island. We barely get me in the boat in one piece, you have to jump off the pier to get in. It was pretty choppy but nothing like the trip back. You get out of the boat in thigh high water and walk to the shore. Then a little guide with no teeth takes you on a trail across the island to the resort area. Long beaches, lounge chairs, outdoor eating and a bar (think Gilligan’s Island) I am not a fan of third world country bathrooms on remote desert islands with no electricity. The girls braved it and changed into their suits. They played in the ocean, it was like bath water with the tide coming in. You couldn’t see the bottom it was so churned up from rainy season, at least that’s what I’m telling my self. I’m thinking pollution. I stayed on shore in a lounge chair and read “Girl wash your face” (excellent book) and was eaten alive by red ants, and sniffed by wild dogs. They had a great time. We headed back across the island (no guide,I guess he is only one way.) and found our boat. However, our boat captain was taking a nap and didn’t want to wake up so another guy volunteered to do it. Back though the water and up the rickety ladder. Now the ride back was something. The Ocean waves were so high they were swamping the boat and absolutely drenching us. I was sure we were going to die. It’s weird to get hit in the face with salt water, it sure makes your eyes sting. There were only the 3 of us on the boat and he moved us to the other side, something about ballast or large Americans that could cause us to to tip over and die. It was the roughest ride of my life. We were dry when we started on the island, picture blow to show the results.
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