Stairway to Heaven revisited

On Sunday 19th we walked the National Park Trail.

Kep National Park is tiny - less than 5 square miles in area - a precious patch of dense green forest on a hill overlooking the coast at Kep, Cambodia. That there is a well-marked 8 km trail round the park is largely testament to the work of one man, a French ex-pat with a passion for nature called Christian Debenath.

Apparently he first came to Kep in 1992 and set up a popular cafe called Led Zep. Then starting in 2008, he single-handedly devoted many hours to mapping, creating and maintaining trails through the forest of the National Park for visitors to enjoy. Some of the steep, narrow paths were only accessible in dry season with the help of ropes. Without this work, I doubt that the national park would've remained protected.

Led Zep cafe had a wonderful frieze of 1960s album covers on the walls and a fascinating display of photographs from the heyday of Kep Sur Mer in the 1960s.

Sadly, we only met Christian once, about 8 years ago. He died in August 2017, aged 61. We were pleased to see that the local authorities have decided to recognise his work by placing a memorial (albeit a pretty hideous one!) on the trail in the park. And many of the named paths remain, although we failed to find the broken steps that used to mark the start of the Stairway to Heaven - the steep way up to Sunset Rock.

The trail has been widened and resurfaced with concrete since we were last here but the views and the sense of immersion in nature remain.

One annoying niggle: Google calls this new structure "Toucan Viewpoint"! That's like calling someplace in the Arctic "Penguin Pass"! Obviously it should be "Hornbill Viewpoint". Toucans live in South America - they don't live round here! Hornbills and toucans are a wonderful example of convergent evolution. Until a few years ago there was one lonely male hornbill living in Kep National Park. Sadly no more.

Trevann likes to blend with the landscape

The newly surfaced path isn't as picturesque as it's former gravelly, rocky incarnation but it does at least mean you can look up and around as you wander along

Looking down on Kep

A few pix from earlier this week

A little puppy getting lots of love

How bizarre to see this familiar brand here!

This grand palace has been "in process" for as long as we can remember. It started as a 1960s Modernist ruin, then suddenly sprouted pillars about 8 years ago. Since then abandoned. At last it's getting near to completion. It's in a great spot with wonderful views

Dramatic skies for our sunset beer

November 2023 - Parkstone to Cambodia

Thursday 16 November

Day 6 since we left home and I still feel a bit jetlagged. Finally, this morning I woke at a reasonable hour - 7:30 - but then dropped off to sleep again and found it was nearly 11! Oh dear. Slowly getting there. Trevann takes Nytol or he would never get to sleep at all.

 

Otherwise all is well. Ben and Ellie waved us off from Victoria Crescent on Friday for the 3pm coach to Heathrow, which conveniently stops at the end of our road.

It's a long old journey - 11 hour flight to Bangkok , 2 hour wait there, then another hour on to Phnom Penh, arriving 10pm Saturday. We had booked a hotel overlooking the runway that we had stayed in many times before. It's reassuring to look out of the airplane window as we land, and see the big lit-up sign "You Eng" on the hotel roof! Small room, big bed and sleep beckons. Nevermind the dead cockroaches in the bathroom.

 

Next morning our taxi driver arrived to take us to Kep. It's less than 3 hours now that the road is fixed. Most of the way it's dual carriageway with just a short dirt road section at the end. Very dusty if you're following a truck.

 

Our guesthouse, Casa Kep, is a small establishment, just along the road from where Bacoma used to be. Run by an Canadian/American called Kate, it's a peaceful, shaded plot filled with trees, palms and bananas. We have a little bungalow at the back with bathroom and kitchen attached. There are plenty of places to sit in the gardens, with roaming cats, cockerel and dog for entertainment. Kate has three rooms to let out in the house and a small cafe so it's quite quiet (apart from the inevitable construction site next door!)

 

And what of Kep? How has it changed in the 3 years since we were here last? Not too much considering! The crab market restaurants are still there; the beach itself is unchanged; the sea, sunset views and green national park mountain remain.

 

Yes, there has been construction. A few years ago the government decreed that Kep would be developed into a "World Class Resort". We thought this charming little crab fishing village would be spoilt and that we would never return. Three-lane highways were built, replacing the beautiful flame-tree avenues, and multi-storey buildings started to appear and the burnt-out ruins of the 1960s Modernist villas were demolished. Most bizarrely, truck-loads of stone and gravel were poured into the sea to create huge areas of land reclamation. Where did all this material come from - and why!? The old Sailing Club with its pier went overnight. It's now several hundred metres inland!

 

However, it's all starting to make sense. There will be big new beaches (if the storms leave the imported sand alone!), lovely walks along the shore and some posh new restaurants (not for the likes of us!).

 

And yesterday, our friend Dara came to visit. 

At the St Johns bus stop

They love their bling! Our hotel foyer

Children run around the cars, knocking on the windows to beg, in the middle of the expressway where the traffic stops at an interchange

Cooper the rooster eyes up my toes. Tasty treat!?

Our Casa Kep garden

Kep Beach

Still good seafood. $6.00-8.00 a meal

Perfectly good villa was obviously not perfectly good enough.

The "Pearl" dominates the skyline.

The old wild almonds and broken pavings have gone. New palms and walkways

The old saliing club

Posh new seafront restaurant

Reclaimed land car park? Market area? Building plot?

Crab Market restaurants

Our bungalow

Our lovely friend Dara arrived, bringing his guitar for Trevann to borrow.

Storms far out to sea. It's been warmer than usual, about 30 degrees, with some heavy rain at night