who said: don't go into the jungle??

So here I am in a lovely town called Kep which is situated right on the ocean-front, right in the jungle, right where I want to be. It is quite laidback and the townspeople are very friendly and beautiful. We bused it here from Phnom Penh on Sunday and will be going back tomorrow morning early. We were going to take a boat over to Rabbit Island (kind of funny, eh Sahana?) but it poored all night long and into the morning, the clouds are still here. Strange weather since it is Asia's dry season. Anyhoot, we're moto-ing it around the area, up the mountains, maybe go for a dip in the ocean later. Who knows?

Arriving into Phnom Penh was interesting, as travel always is in these countries I've been noticing. We left from Kratie (home of some of the only remaining fresh water dolphins in the world...which we did not see due to time constraints) and bused it, stopping in a couple little towns along the way. When you arrive from anywhere to these little towns, you are immediately swarmed with women and children trying to sell you some goodies for the road. I've seen some interesting "goodies", ie. entire chicks and small chickens roasted over a fire on a stick, the innards of pigs and chickens roasted and on a stick, to name a couple. Grosse. Anyhow, so the way it usually happens is that I come off the bus or the local bus and the children -after trying to sell me something- start spouting out the only english they know and comment on my hair and piercings... they really get a kick out of my tongue ring! haha Sometimes Carly and I will start playing hacky sack (I'm getting much better at it too!) and they just love that. They learn so quick, some are like naturals at it! We've played with small kids and folks our age too and it's so awesome to see them smile and have fun together beyond language.

We arrived into Phnom Penh early afternoon and had to ask the driver to pull over so we could get off at a short walking distance from Lake Side, the area that Carly has lived in and knows people. We immediately swarmed with dudes asking us for moto drives - nobody walks in Asia so they find it strange that we do. We got there, dropped our stuff off at the guesthouse of Carly's Khmer friend Rowat's mother runs (sweet sweet woman) and booked it for the THE best iced coffee I'd ever tried. We read the Cambodian Daily: probably the most reliable source for international news I have ever encountred. I even read about Canadian politics and how f-ed up it is even on the homefront, just not as in-your-face as it is here in Cambodia.

***Speaking of which, I won't be able to vote for the non-confidence election that's up and coming very soon as our vote wouldn't make it in time. All I can say is: DAMN YOU HARPER AND EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR***

Well... more soon... I am back in Phnom Penh but I still have to tell you about Kep! haha I hope this isn't too confusing for folks... oopsies! I guess I still can't manage my time properly. Ah well.