Food in Kep

Kep is famous for its seafood, and specifically its crab. Everyone raves about the restaurant Kimly, which is a seafood restaurant in a strip mall-type setup along the water. However, Kimly turned out to be closed for the week, so we explored about five alternates. All the nearby restaurants appear to be pretty similar, with extremely similar menus. Each main course is about $5, and the menu includes various preparations of crab, fish, squid, pork, beef, and chicken. Some of the most famous Kep preparations is "with spices," in which your choice of protein comes in a Khmer-style curry, and "with green pepper," which is generally cooked with onions and clumps of green peppercorns still on the stalk. We decided that eating anything but seafood while in the area was probably pretty sacrilegious, so here's what my first dinner looked like:

We identified our favorite restaurant, called Kep Thmey, and went there twice. We loved the food, loved the price of the $0.80 stout beer (usually ~$1.50), loved the free pineapple for dessert they brought us, and more. We tried to order the shark on the menu here, but the fishermen hadn't caught any recently (Darn! I will just have to get my cousins to make me shark tacos when I get back!).

Pseudo-Guest Post 1

Here are some pictures of our Kep trip that Aaron and Colin took. All taken on Aaron's DSLR, most shots by Aaron, but Colin got in on the action as well. The following are some of my favorites, and you can find the whole album here. I'll feature many of the others in future posts, so all will be explained in due time. Enjoy!

The first sunset.

Waking up in our treehouse. Look at the other cool bungalows hidden in the jungle like ours!

Check out our cool chair loungers!

Our super cool bunks. The princess got the big princess bed, of course!

I think this photo really sums up the style and feel of the place.

The resort had amazingly charming little details like this all over the grounds.

Adventures in Kep

After a comfortable 2.5 hour bus ride to Kep, we bypassed the enthusiastic tuk tuk drivers offering to take us to our guesthouse, and headed down the street to the water. As we made a game plan for the evening, we watched a beautiful sunset over the Gulf of Thailand.

After the sun set, we braved the bumpy dirt road a few kilometers up to our eco resort, the Jasmine Valley. We thought the tuk tuk was going to break from the effort. It was dark when we arrived, so we didn't really know what we'd wake up to find! We set out back down the road to the crab market for dinner. I'll post pictures of the food and Aaron's shots from around the resort in later posts.

On Saturday, we woke up early in our tree house to bright sun and the sound of jungle birds. We ate a luxurious complimentary breakfast, and rented two motos for the day. Once they were delivered, we headed back down into town to see what we could find.

First dip in the Gulf of Thailand. The water was clean and very warm. This shot is from the
water looking back towards Kep Beach.

The one street food I couldn't resist

The blogosphere very nearly didn't get a picture of this since it was gone so quickly. A friend and I made a pretty quick stop by Central Market after clinic today, and couldn't help stopping to try one of these. They are essentially pancake sandwiches with chocolate inside. YUM! With other listed flavors such as blueberry and honey, I might just be back for more!

P.S. Kep post(s) coming soon!

Plans for the weekend, and my apologies

Sorry for the radio silence! The internet in our apartment has been shoddy for the past week. It's extra irritating that it will work for about 25 minutes after we get back from the clinic, and play dead for the rest of the night and next morning. Our best troubleshooting points to a problem proximal to our router, so every trick in the book (including throwing the router at the wall) wouldn't fix the problem. Tried to go to the apartment office to try to rectify the issue, but alas, they open at 8, when we have to leave for the clinic by 7:30. Boo.

Thankfully, I'm not suffering nearly as much as my blog is! Fridays tend to be much slower than the rest of the week in terms of surgery, but I'm working on a bunch of other projects (to be explained at length in future posts), so I'll just leave you with this morsel.

The group made a somewhat last-minute decision to take a weekend trip to Kep. It's a town on the river pretty close to Kampot, where we went two weekends ago. We got a recommendation to stay at the Jasmine Valley Resort from a good resource, and our group is splurging on a room that is said to have phenomenal views. You can check out the website, see our complimentary breakfast menu (bottomless coffee!), and see a short video tour of our "Treehouse!"

Kep is famous for its seafood, and most notably its local crab. We will be visiting Kimly Restaurant, which we were told is the absolute best. A meal or two this weekend will likely look something like this:

From TripAdvisor

In other news, I've booked some flights. I leave for Thailand two weeks from tomorrow, April 6th, and fly home to California April 17th. About two more weeks in Cambodia, two weeks in Thailand, then back home (it will always feel wrong to go east to get there!).

Happy Friday! Anyone else have weekend plans?

Odds and Ends

Here are some miscellaneous photos that have been piling up on the blog back burner. So without further ado, I give you the first installment of Odds and Ends.

Especially in honor of my sister who works for Beam, our bar's only possession: Jim Beam Black. Convenient that it's only $14 in Cambodia.

Cobra/scorpion liquor that was opened at a BBQ. 

Turns out that a cobra eating a scorpion tastes like rotten fish. Yuck!

Raspberry margarita. Now we're talking!

I had a request from my dear cousin for more food pictures. Here you go, T-sa!

Kampot Recap

It turned out to be a short but sweet trip to Kampot. When I arrived, my friends who had gone to Kampot the day before were still coming down off the mountain. When they arrived, we ate at a restaurant called Epic Arts, which employs and welcomes deaf and disabled people. The food was delicious and it was a very cool place. 

Next we took a lengthy but refreshing (in that "it's nice to sweat a lot every once in a while" way) trek to our bungalow that was a few kilos out of town.

We made it! Colin and Aaron in the loft. 

Our very own bungalow.


Girls bedroom downstairs, boys upstairs.

The bungalow next door. They had the hammock version.

Kampot Weekend Getaway

Woke up bright and early this morning to join my friends in Kampot. The sun was still rising over the Tonle Sap river as I waited for my shared "taxi" ride.

Kampot is a small town on the river and it feels nice to have a break from the crowds of Phnom Penh.

We're staying at this funky bungalow tonight and are hoping to take a boat ride to see fireflies at sunset.

Off for a swim first! Will continue to be seranaded by Jack Johnson in the water, wafting from the open air reception/bar/restaurant. You can jump straight off it into the water. I'll try to take some pictures with my underwater camera to better explain what I'm talking about.

CANNONBALL!!!

Sihanouk Ville: The Recap, Part II

Otres Beach

We ventured to Otres Beach on Saturday. It's considered one of the nicest, cleanest, and less touristy of the beaches in the area.


Walking out onto the beach.

It's a very laid back town in general.

A sight you don't see on California beaches: a coconut buried in the sand!

Incredible tropical water colors.

Found a sandy pup! Appears to live a pretty idyllic life.

The group opted for a catamaran over kayaks, but I would love to go back and take out one of these little speedsters for a spin.

Sihanouk Ville: The Recap, Part I

Last weekend the four current med students and I visited paradise. We got a bit sunburnt (we put on sunscreen but underestimated the intensity of the sun), but it was so worth it. 

The A marks our spot.

View to the water from out bungalow patio.

Halfway down the steps to the water.

We ate at a Greek restaurant for dinner and therefore dubbed the night Colin Night. Here he is posing with the menu. Best greek food I've ever eaten! If you're ever in Sihanouk Ville, go eat at Greek Soul Kitchen and order the souvlaki. The taziki sauce was a bit runny, but the flavors were incredible. Also, Colin bought a round of Oyzo and told us about his uncle's gyro stand in Duluth. I really hope to make it there someday.

A few drinks on the beach on our first night after we walked the length of the beach, exploring the area.

Canada slept in the hammock each night. Acquired some mosquito bites but woke up to the sound of the waves.

Paradise

If you're looking for me, I'm here. And I may never leave : )

Weekend in Paradise

Woke up to Sihanoukville this morning. I think I'm going to like it here!

The ocean (or, Gulf of Thailand in this case) always feels like home away from home.