Kep and the beach
I have passed through Phnom Penh and headed further south to the former great city of Kep.
Kep History
In short, Kep was once upon a time a rich town full of Cambodia's wealthy people. It is also the place where extremist Khmer Rouge first resided. It was the poor people who lived on the outskirts of this wealthy town who decided enough with the slavery and on with revolution! The old homes remain and offer an interesting perspective of what life was once like in Kep.
Pepper and Caves
I rented a motobike from the next city, Kampot, and joined Marcel on a ride through the country side. On a small farm that we came across, I met Mark and David, both here in Cambodia to help the people. Mark has created a ram pump to be used for farmers and its brilliance is that it uses no gas and no electricity. After some photos were taken, we headed down the dusty road and bought some pepper from a pepper farm - the pepper is yummy when it's fresh.
We bounced on the dusty road for about 11km and then came to one of the most impressive caves I have ever seen. It is referred to as the Dragon Cave and when you enter (the mouth), you come to an opening (the stomach) that offers a view to the sky. The opening looks like a bomb was dropped on the mountain and left a HUGE hole to the sky. The caves was full of interesting images, budhas, and sounds.
General thoughts
I'm starting to see how easy it is to fall in love with this country and the people. Now that I've seen Kep, I feel the balance from what I see in Phnom Penh. I have lots to do in Phnom Penh so I will be leaving to back there tomorrow and stay for the remainder of my time in Cambodia. I've been offered to help out an organization called Future Cambodia Fund to test water and maybe look at some filters for purchasing. For sure, more details to come.
posted by CarlySteiger @ 8:28 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Carly: Below, is the reason for the carnage in Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam war. You have experienced the other great battle field of the war ( Mekong River)so now,have you heard of or even been aware of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
I hope this isn't too much, but when I was in France, I was unaware that Normandy was only One hour away and I missed that bit of History! Ole Dad.
Pasted from www.u-s-history.com
The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a network of roads built from North Vietnam to South Vietnam through the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia, to provide logistical support to the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War. It was a combination of truck routes and paths for foot and bicycle traffic. The trail was actually a 16,000-kilometer (9,940-mile) web of tracks, roads and waterways.
The name, taken from North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, is of American origin. Within Vietnam, it is called the Ðuong Truong Son, or Truong Son Road, after the mountain range in Central Vietnam. Another name given the trail is “The Blood Road." If relentless American bombing didn't get him, it would take a North Vietnamese soldier as many as six months to make the grueling trek through jungle down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The North Vietnamese also used the Ho Chi Minh Trail to send soldiers to the south. At times, as many as 20,000 soldiers a month came from Hanoi by this way. In an attempt to stop this traffic, it was suggested that a barrier of barbed wire and minefields, called the McNamara Line, should be built.
The United States could not block the Ho Chi Minh Trail with ground forces, because the countries it passed through were officially neutral. Extensive aerial bombing did not prevent the North Vietnamese from moving hundreds of tons of war supplies per day down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the south.
The trail undeniably lay at the heart of the war.
On November 11, 1968, Operation Commando Hunt was initiated by the U.S. and its allies. The goal of the operation was to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh trail, through Laos into South Vietnam. By the end of the operation, three million tons of bombs were dropped on Laos, which slowed but did not consistently disrupt trail operations.
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