Leaving Our Friends in Kep. Heading By Bus To Siem Reap & The Temples

Our Marathon Bus Ride To Siem Reap & Ankor.

May 9th, 2014

Off we go onto our next adventure. It's sad to leave the pepper farm but we have more exploring to do. We decide to go to Siem Reap to explore the Temples of Angkor. We are told the best way is by bus... (later we find out we could have taken a shuttle). We catch a bus at 8:00am from Kampot with a stop in Phnom Penh. No other tourists are on the bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, but there are two ladies who help signal us to the right spot since no one is speaking English. At one of the stops the same lady helps us price out some snacks because we are getting the tourist price. By snacks I mean fruit, fried banana and pork buns. At the same stop we see a stall full of fried bugs... BIG ones!!!

Not So Appealing? But Interesting.

The Bus Stop Was a Trip.

We also got swarmed by children trying to sell overpriced fruit and one of them has a live Turantula. I see him talking to Jess and I cruise over. All of a sudden, he throws it on my shirt (I'm thinking, OK interesting)? I decided just to hold the thing, considering its fate could be far worse than being my part time pet. I think these spiders may be less gnarly than people think. The whole experience blew our minds. It was badass and we had a great time.

When Things Break: Stop Fix & Hope For The Best.

Our bus continues on but takes a detour through the back country & we get a flat tire (this will be the 1st of 2 flats on our bus ride). At the second stop to repair the 2nd flat we meet Shā (Spelt Shā but spoken as Schããā .... that's how we say his name). He is the only one who speaks English on the bus and he sees us struggling to call a hotel to book a room for the night. He says he can help us get a room and a tuk tuk since we are getting in at midnight. We take him up on it (only to switch hotels the next morning) but we end up really liking Shā (he's a rock solid friend from the start) we book him as our guide for a 4 day tour of the temples. The following days in Siem Reap have been amazing, Shā is a Full Bro, and a killer resource showing the local restaurants and cool things to do around Siem Reap. Perhaps in all the chaos, lied a certain destiny? It's amusing in travel, we struggle with shit that doesn't work, changed plans, and other forms of confusion. More often, these events -- somehow, seem to spearhead awesome adventures to a destination (or with friends), we never considered. We realized how blessed we are in landing on these small nuances, changing our path for the better. Our trip was 15 hours in total (supposed to be 10) but it's worth the journey.

 

 

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Exploring Outside of Kep Province. Beyond The Pepper Farms.

An Epic Adventure With Our Local Friends.

May 7, 2014

So we decided that two days is not enough and we extended our stay another day. We swam in the saltwater pool, very green and more like a pond but nice. After, we ate a late breakfast and made some calls home to share our stories and check in with family. Today was the day we planned on going to the caves, so of corse we asked the girl who was working here on how far, what it was like.... Her name was Sitaat and she asked if she could go with us... her and another girl from the Vine. We waited till they got off work at 2:30 and hopped on our moto bikes and headed to their village so they could change out of work clothes. At Sitaat's house she introduced us to the whole family and broke out the dried mango paste that they made from the trees on their property which tasted amazing and looked like a fruit roll up.

They also cut some fresh mango and jackfruit for us to take to the caves. On the way there the road was really rough with rocks and dips and we ended up getting a flat tire. We pulled over at the first auto shack we saw, which Sitaat happened to know the people and we tried to put air in the tire but the tube was flat. Apparently the bike we had was not one that they ride in the village and no tubes were available anywhere nearby. They had a motorbike there which we asked if we could use and we left our old bike and headed off to the caves hoping to buy a tube which we could bring back for them to replace. The caves were amazing, the children swarmed up when we got there and kept holding out flash lights hoping that we would choose theirs to use. After the caves we stopped for green mango salad, with shrimp sauce and peanuts which for 4 drinks and 4 salads only was $4. Super local price :) We got the tube and stopped in a dusty town for he girls to pick up fruit for their family and take home. They also picked up another woman so there was now 3 on their bike. On the way home we managed to flatten another tire... This time however it was just flat, not popped.

We did not know what to do, so the smallest girl jumped on our bike and we took theirs and someone came driving by and picked up the other two. We drove back to the auto shack laughing because we flattened their tire too. They did not care one bit and jumped on repairing our broken bike (the 1st one). As they were repairing, it started getting windy and was going to rain. We managed to rush home before the storm and ran straight to our laundry to pull it inside just as it started pouring. I decided to jump in the shower because I was covered in red dust and during my shower the power went out and it was pouring. We went upstairs where we helped shine flash lights to mop the floors which were soaked. We shared our fun day of flattening two different bikes and drank wine and beers over candle light. Best day ever. True Cambodia!!!!

Here's a clip of the local kids hustling up a Cave Tour at Phnom Chhngok. We had a great time, these kids were classic!

 

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The Next Chapter. Out & Into The Country

Life on a Pepper Farm.

Ahhhhhhh, we finally broke out into the county. We have to say, it was worth it.

The Vine Pepper Farm

We've been staying at retreat called the Vine. Here are some of our stories:

May 6, 2014

We ventured out from the vine on our motorbike in hopes of going to the village. Of course we got lost and ended up driving passed mango fields where we passed moto bikes that were so overloaded with mangos that they had to be pushed up any small hill. On our way back we saw our friend from the Vine and she told us to follow her to the village where she would show us the school.

We got a tour of the school from one of the teachers and it just happened to be break time for the children so they were out in full force. We learned that it costs 2,000r every month for a child to attend school. That is the equivalent of $0.50 a month. We made a donation to the school which would help 6 children to go to school each for a year and headed back for our hike at sunset. Our hike was guided by two elders of the village who did not speak a word of English and smoked cigarettes at every stop. They were super friendly and very tiny little guys. The trek was straight up a mountain... and by straight up I mean the most vertical hiking you can do next to scaling up a cliff. It was tiring but the views at the top were phenomenal!! We saw all the way to the islands in Vietnam and the complete landscape of Cambodia. All in all it was a very rewarding day.

 

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Several days in but let's start in Phnom Penh

Hello,

This is our blog that I'll be sharing while Jessica and I travel through South Asia. I'll do my best to script out some of our adventures, highlights, as well great culinary explorations. We've been locked in Cambodia a few days here... but so far, it's been a blast!! We'll follow up with more details on what we've been up to. For now here are some pics. Enjoy.

Phnom Phen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phnom_Penh

So we'll begin with our first stop, Phnom Penh. For the beginning our blog, until we get some technology issues worked out; all the pics seen will be taken from our Iphones ect... We have an amazing camera and will be working on loading them onto the cloud in one form or another. For now, let's start with some fun stuff.

Transport and Tuk Tuk's: these little rides seem to dominate the scene in Phnom Penh. Jess and I have a been bargaining and avoiding "more than eager" drivers to take us around the city. Our first realization is, the Capital is a lively and active city. There are a ton of people equipped with cell phones and looking to catch up to the rest of the first world. The food was good here and we really wanted to branch out. After going to the National Museum and Royal palace we were ready to roll and see the "rest of Cambodia!"

Food & Stuff To Experience

There was some really fun food to try in the Capital however, now we see that there is so much more amazing things to try throughout the whole country. The food here is amazing. The local food is referred to as Kamar (pronounced: Kum ãï -- or koomaï).

Above are Picts of some of the food scene in Phnom Penh. There are some nice meals to be enjoyed here. This shows Jess and I enjoying Squid Kampot in fresh green pepper sauce. As well, we really enjoyed the beef hot pot, a local friend referred to try. This pic shows us experiencing the dish, while having no idea what to do. :)

 

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