On 22 October we took a bus to the Cambodian coast to the south. Unfortunately, taking a bus was the only way to get there. So, we researched and found a company with the best reputation and went with it. Of course, we still got a crazy bus driver that drove like we tourists were in some sort of hurry. It was a two-lane highway packed with scooters and reasonably moving vehicles which our driver felt compelled to pass without exception. One hand on the horn and the other on the steering wheel or messing with his cell phone. We were constantly passing with oncoming traffic forced to move over to get out of our way. After three hours of this it started to rain and get dark just as we arrived in the town of Kampot. We were still driving too fast for conditions when I looked up just in time to see a man standing in the middle of the street about one second before we hit him with the right front edge of our bus. The bus full of western tourists, all of us yelled for the bus driver to STOP THE BUS, which he did not. The bus station was only a few hundred meters away where we stopped and the bus driver took off. We pleaded unsuccessfully to get someone at the bus station to drive the bus back to the scene. A couple of expats that lived there jumped into a tuk tuk and went back to the accident scene to check on the guy we had hit. In the meantime Kassie was on the cell phone to the bus company manager demanding he send an ambulance (or police) and take the guy to the hospital. The whole lack of a sense of urgency was infuriating. Kassie and I then took a tuk tuk back to the accident scene and by that time the police had loaded him into the back of their pickup. The man was bleeding from his head, but still conscious. Again, no sense of urgency to get him to the hospital. We followed up the next day to ensure the bus company was taking care of the guy in the hospital and the manager showed us video of the man being properly cared for which was reassuring. It turns out the man is homeless without any family in the town and has a reputation of being a problem
Fortunately, when we reached our guest house late after the accident, the owner had an incredible dinner waiting for us, family style. With self-serve beer on tap, of course. Another great international group with Australia, Ireland, Germany, and America represented.
Time for the beard to go!
One way to get rid of gray is to shave it off.
We were told "happy pizza" contains "herbs" recently legalized in a few western US states.
This is a salt farm in Kampot.
Our tuk tuk driver, Mr. Ranny doubled as a tour guide.
Climbing more stairs to find another jungle-bound temple followed by our impromptu tour guide that didn't speak any English. We tipped him just the same.
A deep cave that Kassie wouldn't enter. And she was afraid our impromptu tour guide might push me off a cliff into the abyss. I escaped without incident.
This Russian backpacker volunteered at a pepper farm for a few weeks. He demonstrated this parabolic mirror by catching a stick on fire at the focul point. Cool!
We had never really given any thought to where black pepper comes from even though it's on every dinner table in America.
If you didn't either, now you do. Kampot pepper is famous. And here I've been taking black pepper for granted all this time.
Green rice fields everywhere.
Pepper plants need a little shade.
Crab pots right outside the restaurants in Kep.
As usual, we had the restaurant to ourselves and they even let us play our own music over their sound system.
Another interesting giant tree suitable for Tarzan.
There are normal gas stations, but these are more interesting.
Apparently, we weren't the only ones that hadn't heard what a fantastic destination Kep, Cambodia is.
We had this lush garden resort to ourselves for $25 a night including breakfast for two.
Oh, and some more bright green rice fields in case you didn't get an idea of how beautiful it is there.
