Travel Day to Kep

From 11/5

We woke up quickly at 6:30 to eat breakfast and then head over to the ferry station. We paid for a package that gets us all the way to Kep today. The ferry was a lot smaller than the ones in Seattle, but there was still plenty of space in the cabin. The views were pretty cool but the windows were tiny. 

(Our window with some islands in the view)

Once we got to the ferry station after a quick 90 minute ride we found a list with our name on it and crammed into a van. No joke there were people sitting on the floor next to bags. We got the station, which was actually just a restaurant, and they prepped our passports and bus tickets until 11. We ate a quick bite and I beat Alex in cribbage again. 

(Some of the bags the were crammed with us)

Then we crammed into another even smaller van, packed with two people per seat. They told us it was just five minutes. They never told us where we're going, or what's going on, they just put us in vehicles and go. They also had our passports at this time, so that was a bit nerve wracking. I don't care who you are or how good your reviews are online, if I don't know where my passport is its not comfortable. 

(Crammed van number one)

We drove and got to the border in about ten minutes and sat and waited for about an hour before crossing the border. There was no fan or air flow and it was extremely hot and heavy. The border here seemed to be somewhat of a joke. I didn't try, but I feel like if I walked with enough confidence I could get across the border with no problem (especially if I wasn't white).

(Our guy leading us to the border)

(Our guy smoking a cig in his right hand as he deals with border patrol)

Finally free from the border and into Cambodia, they mixed up the vans and moved us to the Kep van. Which we were hoping was less packed, but you be the judge. 

(Packed van)

It doesn't show it that well in a picture but we were sitting four across and my knees were touching the girls knees in the bottom of the picture. I was sitting on the crack between to seats as well. Luckily it wasn't a two hour ride like I was expecting, but only about thirty minutes. 

Also, it was extremely hot. No AC, only windows. 

We got dropped off at a random lot and took a tuk tuk to our place. We got there, put our stuff in the bungalow and ate immediately after that. It was almost 3pm and all we had really eaten was breakfast at 6:30am. The noodles were delicious, as all noodles are. We decided to just chill by the pool for a couple hours since it was already kind of late in the day and the pool looked so nice. 

(Our first pool of the trip)

We hung out for about an hour or two and then we started to hear thunder so we went up to our bungalow to play some cribbage until the storm passed. It started pouring and there was lightening across the entire sky above the ocean. From our bungalow we can see the water so it was magical. 

(View from the bungalow porch. You can see the water and some islands in the distance)

Once the storm passed over we took a tuk tuk into town to get some crab and walk around the crab market. Our tuk tuk driver was awesome, but the town was not. It was so dark and there was nothing going on. The market was not open, or it seemed that way because there was one stall open. We were kind of creeped out by how dark and empty it was.

When our tuk tuk driver came back at 8:30 he took us to an ATM that was in the actual town, not the market area. It's still small, but at least it was lit up and there were some people around. When we went to the ATM it offered US dollars or Cambodian riel. We noticed the menus are in US dollars and all the tuk tuks give you the price in US dollars, but the ATMs providing US dollars?? That crazy! It was funny - we're so used to making sure we don't take out too much money, in case we don't spend it all in the country, we were like "how much should we take out?". Then we realized if we don't spend it all, it's US dollars...

After the ATM we headed back to the bungalow feeling a little better about Kep and where we were going to hang out tomorrow. We sat in the lobby area for awhile chatting with our new Dutch friends about their travels and stories. We headed back to our bungalow and tucked in the big night tight. 

Earlier in the night we saw a bat hanging from the top of our front porch, as well as a massive lizard. The bat was cute, once you got used to the shock of it staring at you, but the lizard was nasty and huge. When we were both a little freaked out by this another bat came swooping in and I screamed, which scared Alex probably more than it did me. 

(The bat - hard to see with the lighting)

(The massive lizard)

Spooked by those events earlier we made sure no bugs or animals could come through our windows or into our bed. It took awhile to fall asleep but once asleep it was pitch black so fairly easy to keep sleeping. 

Tomorrow we'll walk into town and hang at the beach. Everything is super close, like one kilometer, which is a nice change from Saigon, but also Phu Quoc Island which was very spread out. Hopefully not monster lizards tomorrow!

"The journey is part of the experience - an expression of the seriousness of one's intent. One doesn't take the A train to Mecca."

- Anthony Bourdain