Today I took my trusty bike aka “lil’ bullet” for a ride along the coast to the beach side town of Kep. Kep is affectionately known to the ex pats in Kampot as being a bit gay and pretty much a rubbish place to visit. Then again the same ex pats call backpackers snails, when they have a pack on, slugs when they don’t and pregnant snails when they have a pack on front and back!
So off I rode on lil’ bullet across some pretty bad road. Its easy to navigate in this part of the world. Most of the roundabouts have statues on it, so its straight through the giant durian roundabout, veer right at the white horse etc etc. Seriously, that is how locals navigate because there are minimal signs.
The white horse roundabout
The road to Kep, is dodgy at best, but not too hard to navigate the pot holes on a bike. Its a pretty spread out place, mostly guesthouses spread over several kilometres. It seemed to be a dull and lifeless place. but they do have a white lady statue, which has been fitted with appropriate clothing (she was naked) and a big crab, which was probably an ex pat aussies idea!
The big crab
Had some lunch at what appeared the be the Kep CTD (central tourist district) where a few restaurants were. Iced coffee has been a lifesaver for me while in Cambodia. Nothing fancy, just coffee and ice.
Managed to get the bike up to the 60 kmh speed limit on the way back which is no mean feat, but I knew where the flat bit was…. Then to my surprise and delight I found the Kampot Ice cream and Pie palace. I’m going to need a lot of visits to the gym when I’m back home next week.
Fishing
Tomorrow i’m taking the fast bus with luxurious seating, wifi and non stop service and its costing me $8. The trip down on the slow crap bus cost me $8…. its the whole buttering your mates palm with commission thing going on. A local will only ever tell you about the services his friends offer. Fortunately the french couple here tell you everything and Emmanuel literally just said “I do not lie, very often”.