a visit to kep [mary & jim in cambodia part 5]

no visit to cambodia is complete without a trip to our favorite sleepy seaside town, kep.  we went with my parents last year for a relaxing weekend get-a-way when cedar was a newborn, but this time it was a lot different with a toddler in tow.  for daniel & i, it will forever be remembered as the god-awful weekend of tantrums & [night] terrors.  luckily my parents were there to help us, the context for cedar  meltdowns was ideal - our guesthouse was beautiful & relaxing, & it seems to have just been a long-weekend freak-out phase. [fingers crossed.....]   

escape to the seaside [kep]

while amanda's parents, jim & mary, were visiting we had the chance to escape phnom penh & explore a bit of cambodia. our first excursion was a long weekend at the seaside village of kep, one of our favorite cambodian getaways.

we stayed in bungalows, had leisurely breakfasts, played scrabble, took photos where we tried to look very serious & very cool, ate seafood, stared at the baby, napped in hammocks, walked by the ocean, went swimming, played more scrabble, stared at the baby some more...

& visited a mango & pepper farm!

beach retreat to the city of ghosts [hannah visits cambodia part 2]

[refreshed]

the day after hannah arrived i figured what better way to beat jetlag than by relaxing on a tropical island. so we hopped on a bus (with ryan & daphne too!) & ended up in kep, an old french colonial seaside town. during the civil war it was heavily bombed so the town is now littered with haunting burnt-out villas. cambodians call it "the city of ghosts".

but the town is slowly coming back to life & i am guessing that the beautiful beaches on nearby rabbit island, where we slept in simple wooden bungalows & ate delicious fresh crab, shrimp, & squid won't be an expat secret for too much longer.