Crabby Kep

January 11^th-13^th, 2025 

I stayed at a place called “Khmer Hands” for my two nights in Kep.  It was owned by a man in his late 50s or early 60s named Chris and his Cambodian wife, whom I never formally met.  Chris originates from southern California but has been in this country for at least 12 years and has a few kids with his Cambodian wife.  They started off small with the place but they built it up over time and now have 10-12 huts and bungalows and a restaurant.  Hats off to them as it was quite a nice place.

 

The restaurant at Khmer Hands.

My bungalow.

On my full day in Kep, I rented a scooter to ride around the area and check out Kep National Park.  I first stopped at the local fish market.  Kep is known for crab, as there seems to be an abundance of it in the waters nearby.  Squid as well.

That's one big squid...by the fisherman's market.

The fish market.

This woman's trap is filled with crabs...some are pretty small, but there were a lot in there.

Some squid in a styrofoam cooler...that didn't look very cool.

Looking back from the end of the market.  The hills are part of the Kep National Park, where I drove to next.

These look like manatees...but I wouldn't have thought that they lived around here.

A nice beach by town.  That's a statue of some mermaid-looking woman.

Kep is famous for its crabs...especially it's big statue of one.

I drove around the peninsula and then found the entrance to the national park, which was technically the exit, not that it seemed to matter.  It cost all of $1 US to enter and although cars couldn’t drive in, you could ride your scooter around the 8-kilometre narrow road that ran up and around the mountainous area to the actual entrance, which was on the side of the mountain range where my guesthouse was.  There was the occasional gap between the trees that provided a nice view.

Scootering up the small mountain in Kep National Park.

A viewpoint, which when you visit by yourself, tought to get a picture with you in the heart.

I rode from the exit to the entrance without stopping much and then backtracked and checked out the odd viewpoint including a lookout tower.  There was the odd hiking trail that branched off from the paved road, but I took a look at one, and it looked quite overgrown and steep, so I didn’t bother.  That was pretty much it for my scooter tour of Kep.

Looking out to the ocean.

A little coffee stop area with a few "Insta-pose" places like a swing looking out to the ocean.

Really hard to see in this pic, but in the middle on the horizong is Phu Quoc Island of Vietnam, which Naomi and I visited.

A lookout tower just a two minute walk off of the main road.  And it wasn't to spot forest fires which most "lookout towers" are used for in Canada, it was actually just to "look out".

I stopped at a little cafe/restaurant by the ocean to catch up on a few emails.

I should have photographed these earlier when I passed by before going into the national park when they were occupied.  There were two or three rows of these shelters that were used by families for picnicking.  It is across the road from the nice sandy beach, but what a great idea!

A Vishnu roundabout (at least I think it's supposed to be Vishnu).

I stopped to take a photo of this seemingly overloaded motorbike tuk tuk with too many things to sell...but the the yellow Lab came out to say hello to me.

That evening, I walked back down to the fish market where there were some restaurants on the waterfront.  I had to try some kind of crab dish and opted for curried crab.  It was pretty good, but it didn’t blow my mind.  I had a nice conversation with a couple of Austrian women at the table next to me and then walked back to the guesthouse.

It was a gorgeous sunset.

Hard to see here, but it's setting over Phu Quoc Island.

On the walk back to my bungalow, I stopped at a store and outside they had these poor guys in cages.  They were making all kinds of interesting sounds, some of which were like they were talking.  Poor birdies locked up.

Tomorrow I have an easy journey to Kampot, just 45 minutes away, to spend a couple of nights.