Cambodia, Destinations, Travel log

Kep: Crabs, Beach and Sunset Cocktails

Entrance of Kep Beach

During our stay in Kampot, we decided to visit the city of Kep known for its seafood and for hosting the Cambodian elite. We met around 11am with Caoimhe in order to go to Kep by tuk-tuk. She was planning to spend 2 days there staying in the hotel where Ehren works. Indeed he is in charge of the eco development of a luxury hotel: managing the development and improvement of water; clean waste management; as well as creating a full garden to provide the kitchen with fresh organic products.

Kep is only 45 minutes away by tuk-tuk on quite a good road so we arrived there around lunch time. While Caoimhe checked in her room, Silviu and I explored the hotel, which is indeed very nice and quiet by the sea. We then met Ehren who was finishing his lunch at the sailing club next door.  We followed him to the market for his post-lunch coffee. Believe it or not, he managed to find a stall in the middle of the market which makes REAL coffee with an actual coffee machine (a Breville one!). The lady who runs the place is lovely!

After Ehren went back to work, Silviu and Caoimhe wandered around looking for our lunch: fresh crabs and shrimps! As always I sacrifice myself by staying at the table to keep it reserved! 🙂 We followed the explanation from Ehren: go by the sea, buy the seafood directly from the fishermen then go back to the extremity of the market to have them cooked. Indeed, close to where they bought the seafood a lady tried to scammed them with the cooking part (increasing the price every 10 seconds), while the one at the other end of the market was very nice and honest. She prepared the crabs by literally chopping them alive before cooking them with the shrimps in a secret sauce that included some full grapes of green fresh Kampot pepper. Eating all of this with our amateur hands was a challenge but the food was delicious!

After that we decided to walk down to the famous Kep Beach. On the way we saw some monkeys looking for food in the trash… My previous experiences made me a bit wary around monkeys so I was trying to avoid them…

We were again disappointed to see that the beach was so littered. We managed to find a clean spot, so Silviu and I still enjoyed a well-needed refreshing bath.

Rita and Flynn later joined us as the beach and we went back altogether to the hotel to enjoy a few amazing cocktails, while watching the sunset. Best part of the day! All this, was followed by a delicious dinner at the sailing club restaurant. Thank you Rita and Ehren! The sunset was beautiful again!

We then had to say goodbye to Caoimhe and rush back home as it was time for bed for Flynn… and he was calling for it! Silviu was in charge to calm the crying tired baby during the car ride and he did a pretty good job (ok thanks also to my phone…). Ehren eventually drove us back to our hotel. Next day, we had to leave the place … already… Time flies and we are already looking forward to the next holidays together with them somewhere in the world!

Next beer on you? Beers cheers

It is now possible with the Booking.com referral system, all you need to do is use our referral link.

Here’s how it works: on your next booking, use this referral link for Booking.com and grab an accommodation anywhere. Complete the stay there and once it’s done, 15 EUR (or equivalent in your currency) will be refunded back into your credit card, while Booking.com will reward us 15 EUR also.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *