Same Same, but Different

8 Dec 2013

It’s hard not to compare Kep, Cambodia with Luang Prabang, Laos (where we were this time last year)– noticing things that are the same and things that are different – sometimes better, sometimes worse, sometimes just different. Both South East Asian, both basically Buddhist, both with warm tropical climate and friendly people, and both carpet-bombed by the Americans during the Vietnam War. Today, Laos has a single-party communist government and a population of just 6.5 million in a rumpled green land while Cambodia is a much flatter, more agricultural country with a population of about 13 million, still recovering from its extraordinarily brutal recent history.

The entrance to Bacoma Bungalows.

From our point of view the differences are subtle. The bungalows here at Bacoma are similar in feel to the ones we stayed in outside Luang Prabang last year.

One of the round bungalows.

Bacoma has been built by an ex-pat, Michael, from  Switzerland and sits in a lovely spacious tropical garden tucked below the green hillside of Kep National Park. There are three or four little round thatched “hobbit huts” for the backpackers, a wooden Khmer-style house on stilts and our concrete and thatch “square bungalow” with tiled floors and integral bathroom – home to the massive spider, Gregory! Apart from the geckos bombing us with poo from the ceiling it’s very peaceful.

Artist at work.

So far the electricity has been on all the time, although Michael tells us that it is intermittent and expensive. In Laos, of course, because of the hydroelectric plants, electricity is dirt cheap but goes on and off at the drop of a hat. Constant electricity means constant wifi and internet access. I haven’t decided whether this is a GOOD thing or not yet. In Laos I rather enjoyed the days of enforced freedom from Facebook or emails. Here I’ve been reading the news, checking the weather in UK, talking to Holly and Ben, dealing with emails, etc. Hmmmm

A massive new road is currently being built, hoping to bring more tourists to the region.

Kep is a seaside town, strung out along the coast on the strip of land between the sea and a line of steep green wooded hills. It is basically a fishing and beach town and at weekends is busy with daytrippers from Phnom Penh. Families come to picnic along the seafront, sitting on rugs by the side of the road, eating and drinking, or in hammocks under thatched shelters that can be hired for the day. Much like Branksome Chine really - but warmer.

Kep beach.

Compared with Luang Prabang there is less overt spiritual practice here in Cambodia. Fewer monks of course. In Laos every house has a spirit house out front – a structure a bit like an elaborately carved bird feeder, often painted gold – where the family leave offerings of food and drink for the household gods. I’ve seen one or two here but not many. In Laos you also get a much clearer picture of everyday life. The huts along the side of the road are open and you can see families eating, or preparing food or washing as you pass by. I suppose there’s more space here because the land is flatter, so the houses are often further away.

This is a typical scene - dog snoozing in the middle of the road. So far they've all been peaceable.

In Kep the land seems to be divided into plots bounded by walls, with pillared gateways. Sometimes the plot is a field, perhaps with a few cows grazing, sometimes an orchard, sometimes an abandoned garden with a ruined villa. 

Ruined villa.

In its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s the town was a popular resort for the rich and famous. Large luxury villas were built by the French colonial expats all along the seafront, and Kep became the St Tropez of SE Asia. Sadly, almost all the villas were destroyed in the 1970s, either burnt out by the Khmer Rouge or pulled apart for materials by a local population struggling to survive in desperate times. Today, the blackened remains peek out from the vegetation, sad ruined shells with occasional hints of their former glory – a sweeping staircase here, carved detail or colonnaded verandah there.

Fishing boats.

Of course as money starts to come back to Cambodia the houses are starting to be rebuilt. Developers are showing a keen interest in this bit of coast. Already a few luxury resorts have been opened and no doubt in a few years’ time it will be in another cycle of wealth.

Newly completed villa.

It certainly has the climate. Another contrast with Laos is the near constant breeze. Although the temperature is higher – reaching 30 in the afternoons – the wind keeps it comfortable all the time and it never feels too hot. Yet. We don’t get the morning mists either.

And there are birds! The garden here at Bacoma is full of birdsong and I can hear owlets in the woods on the hill behind. Lovely.

Lovely sunsets across the Bay of Thailand.

Yesterday was Michael’s son’s fifth birthday and we were invited to join in his party along with some teacher friends. A multi-cultural gathering of Dutch, Swiss, Khmer and English guests enjoying Senegalese music and BeerLao on a tropical evening!

Michael, Somnang and his mum, SriaNa, cutting the cake.