More Adventures in Kep

Sorry if you're getting bored with Kep, but I love so many of these pictures and want to share the beauty and adventure! All photo credit in this post goes to Aaron.

On Saturday night, Aaron insisted that we visit this one tree that he had seen earlier in the day around sunset. After we finished fully enjoying our running-out-of-gas misadventure (to be explained in a future post), we hit pavement with the motos and zipped over to the spot. We were treated to a second pretty amazing sunset (made prettier by Aaron's artsy mood).

I could see this hanging in a gallery somewhere.

Friends bein' friends.

After breakfast on Sunday (see this post for all the details), we headed off on a hike. The Kep National Park trail passed right by the Jasmine Valley Resort, so we picked it up and went on a sweaty, muddy adventure.

No brakes! We're going into the jungle!

We got rewarded early with some great views.

down to the Gulf of Thailand, with the town of Kep along the coast.

At one point, we turned a corner and ran into a section filled with butterflies of many different varieties and colors. Walking through a surprise field of butterflies was an amazing experience!

After the hike, I was messaging back home. My response to "How was the hike?" was, "It was great! Very hot and sweaty, but saw monkeys and walked through a field of butterflies." I suddenly realized how bizarre that message must have read to the recipient in Madison, Wisconsin in mid-March! 

It's still hard to believe that even after ~9 weeks here, I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I'm in Cambodia. I've thought about it a lot and I think the real factor at work here is the "world's getting smaller" phenomenon. It feels like I've lived in Phnom Penh for years. I've been comfortably settled in my apartment for weeks, and I pretty much know:

• my way around most parts of the city (granted, it's not an enormous city)
• how to get anywhere I want to go
• how to accurately pinpoint the fair price for any tuk tuk ride, no matter the distance of number of riders (unlike most taxis, tuk tuk drivers generally charge additional fare per person)
• how to communicate to any driver or shop owner what I want or where I want to go - this is partially facilitated by my very small but effective Khmer vocabulary that I've acquired 
• where to direct visitors for recommendations for good restaurants, attractions, etc. 

No, I'm not a lifelong PP expat, and I'm not fluent in the language (which is a whole different level of knowing the people), but I do feel familiar enough with the city to feel very engrained here. The most significant realization for me is that I do not feel that I'm really living in a foreign place anymore. I have my schedule, my home base, even a laundry routine. I wonder if it's going to be a shock getting back to the USA. It might be a shock when everyone speaks English again!

I will admit that during this last week, I'm finally getting a bit homesick, though. The timing works out pretty well, in that sense. I will be landing on US soil in 16.5 days. While this has been an incredible adventure so far, it will also be wonderful to be amongst big hugs again.