24 December 2019
We meet all sorts here at Bacoma, including plenty of adventurous travellers, like the Swiss couple who have just driven overland from Europe in their motorhome, or Bob and Margaret who sold up their family home in Shipley and are heading gradually towards New Zealand, or Clare and Derek with no end date for their trip. We sometimes feel very staid in our low-movement lifestyle. Hardly even slow travellers!
Nevertheless - we're very comfortable here. My initial reservations about developments in Kep soon passed. The pace of change is - and is likely to remain - quite slow. The regional governor has dictated that Kep should be developed as an "eco-tourism" resort, which encourages me to think that the National Park and green Kep should be OK.
Mind you the new toilet block didn't last long!
Our annual trip to Rabbit Island provided a change of scenery last week. Thinking about the current fashion for "rewilding", I imagine that the vegetation of the island is probably natural and unmanaged by humans. Although it is inhabited there's no evidence of farming and the people who live there are traditionally fisherfolk.
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| Rabbit Island beach - a peaceful spot with no traffic other than the boats. |
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| Our bungalow is right on the beach (there's no tide to speak of), which is perfect for swimming whenever we feel like it. There's limited electricity (6-10 at night) and no hot showers! |
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| The Rabbit Island "pier" has seen better days. |
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| Pirate bay, Rabbit Island |
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| Rabbit Island groundcover. |
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| Lots of grasses. |
Back in Kep, this is "home".
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| Our bungalow |
Some days we walk down to the Crab Market, accompanied by our faithful protector Spock, for a beer on the seawall at sunset.
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| Having an intelligent conversation! |
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| I keep trying in vain to catch these big butterflies with the camera. |
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| They will not sit still! |
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| This guy on our orchid, on the other hand, sits stock still for hours. |
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| And this one (Trevann's pic). |
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| We had never been before to visit the King's villa, which sits, abandoned, on a hill at the end of Kep beach, but noticed that the gates were unlocked and the gardens being tended. |
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| It is still unused but has beautiful views over the bay. |
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| On Human Rights Day, which is a public holiday, a coach-load of monks and students arrived to do a litter pick on the beach. Encouraging. |
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| What Cambodian families enjoy more than anything else is a picnic by the beach. Shaded palm leaf platforms, hammocks and picnic mats. Lovely! |
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