Tired from Sihanoukville. Why we love to live in Kep

After spending one year in Sihanoukville, we decided to move from here in August 2018. Probably, many people in Sihanoukville are now deciding the same. Where can we go, if the living place suddenly becomes not as comfortable as before? The same question is asked by those who are looking to spend a holiday in Cambodia. We chose Kep, knowing quite a bit about this place. Moreover, information in the Internet does not clarify a lot, since no details could be found.

So, are there some places of interest in Kep? Is Kep worthy to come here? Today we are sure enough that Kep is a comfortable and interesting place. It is nice to spend a few days here, but you can stay also for some weeks, some months or some years.

We are happy to share the advantages and disadvantages of the life in Kep that we could notice. In Kep, the most important positive issues for us are the quiet rural atmosphere and beautiful tropical nature. There are no large scale construction projects, and there are no big trucks. The roads are in perfect condition, and only motorbikes and cars drive over them. The flora is much more diverse than in Sihanoukville. But the main things in Kep are beautiful green jungle-covered mountains on the backdrop of the sea. In Kep we started to remember the ancient Eastern proverb: "When God created the time, He created it enough." Perhaps this style is not suitable for everybody, but many people would definitely like it.

From a financial point of view, the prices for properties rent are lower than prices in Sihanoukville in 2017. The choice of real estate is not very large due to the small size of Kep. Of course, the appetites of the local house owners are growing rapidly, and in future prices for properties rent will be grow up.

Prices in restaurants and shops of Kep are comparable with prices in Sihanoukville, but some points are a bit higher. The bulk of not expensive cafes are in the area of the Crab Market. Fresh seafood is also sold there. Most of the shops are located near the food and clothing Kep Market. In other areas, local shops are unlikely to please the range of products. Near the Kep beach prices in shops and cafes are higher.

There are no banks in Kepa, but there are ATMs. ATMs of ABA bank are at the Crab Market and near the Kep beach. There are no big stores and shops, and you need to go to Kampot city for all electronics or household appliance. Kampot is 25 kilometers away from Kep.

The Kep beach in is not as large as Otres beach, it is about one kilometer long. But the sea is the sea, it is always beautiful. The picturesque scenery of the sea and the beauty of the sunsets in Kep are not worse than in Sihanoukville. From the Kep seashore you can enjoy views of Rabbit Island, the Vietnamese island Phu Quoc, and Bokor Mountains.

The beach is not equipped in the usual sense. There are no chaise-lounges, umbrellas and cafes on the beach. Why is that? Most likely, the local business cannot agree with officials. As an alternative for swimming, Rabbit Island can be considered. The sea and the beach of Rabbit Island is excellent. Cafes on the island offer to sit in the shade on the sun loungers. Prices in the cafes for some reason turned out to be lower than in Kep. A round trip costs $8 per person. For a large company there are options to reduce this cost by hiring a boat entirely. It makes sense to stay on the island for some days to swim enough. However, all housing on the island is quite ascetic.

Now let's talk about the benefits of recreation and life in Kep.

There are ideal roads In Kep. This is hard to believe, but this is right. There are several tens of kilometers of good roads, which, however, quickly end outside Kep. Traffic is absent, often you go on an empty road. Over sized transport is also absent.

Kep is clean. There are no spontaneous dumps. Cleaning utilities work. There are cleaners sweeping up, for example, the Kep central part near the beach. Cars collecting garbage regularly drive through the town. Civilized dumpsters are widely used. Of course, the ideal purity, cannot be established because this is Asia. But there are a lot of posters calling for purity. Maybe it will affect the public relation?

It is noticeable that in Kep the inhabitants are not indifferent to their town and they are very proud of the National park and untouched nature. At Kep, attempts at improvement are clearly visible. There is a nice seafront stretching along the whole town, a boulevard, parks, and sport spot which is opposite the city hall.

There are a lot of funny statues in Kep including a crab which is the symbol of the town, a naked white lady, a lady with a dolphin, Apsaras, a white horse, elephants. These statues are clearly made with love to the town in which they were installed.

Kep hotels are also built with love, many have their own unique face made up of design and style, cozy parks, beautiful swimming pools and the concept of ecological boutique hotels located at the foot of the mountains. If you miss the aesthetics in the design of housing, the hotels of Kep can pleasantly surprise you.

Electricity in Kep is sometimes turned off. According to our observations, it can happen about once a week, and not for a long time. This is no match for the Sihanoukville nightmare, when they can turn electricity off for the whole day, even for several days in a row, as it was in the summer of 2018.

In Kep there is where to travel. There are in Sihanoukville only the beaches (in fact, only Otres), the waterfall Kbal Chhay and Riem, In Kep the are the following places of interests:

- Crab Market where you can buy or try Kep blue crabs and other seafood;

- Kep National Park where you can travel through the jungle riding a bike or walking;

- Butterfly Garden is a jungle park with a large aviary, where tropical butterflies live in their natural habitat;

- Samathi Pagoda is a very beautiful place on a rock at the foot of the mountains; Samathi Pagoda is a Vipassana Center (Vipassana is a Buddhist meditation practice), where you can join the spiritual practices of the monks;

- Salt fields is a place of salt extraction by evaporation under the Sun;

- Rabbit Island with an excellent beach, cafes and bungalows; there are also the opportunities of hiking through the jungle, fishing, diving, snorkeling, kayaking or boat trips;

- the pepper plantation named  Patio is a place of growing up the Kampot pepper and other local plants and trees; there are also a lot of pepper plantations around Kep.

Kep, Butterfly Garden

Kep, Butterfly Garden

Kep, Samathi Pagoda

Kep, Samathi Pagoda

There are the following places of interests around Kep which are reachable with one hour of motorbike driving:

- Kampot (25 km away from Kep) is an atmospheric city in colonial Cambodian style with old buildings at the riverfront, numerous restaurants with live music, and with sunset river cruises;

- Bokor National Park (40 km away from Kep to the entrance to the park) covers mountains with height up to 1000 meters above the sea level with waterfalls, caves, mountain rice fields, a Buddhist monastery and the recently restored old French hotel (the former so-called “The Old Casino”);

- Kampong Trach (35 km away from Kep) is a village with pictures mountains and caves around (a temple cave and a bath cave);

- Kampot pepper plantations (15 km away from Kep) with an excursion program and souvenir shops;

- Angkol fishing community site with Angkol beach and Angkol pagoda (15 km away from Kep);

- Secret Lake (15 km away from Kep) is a beautiful place surrounded by mountains;

- Numerous caves and cliffs, including equipped climbing site named Climbodia (20 km away from Kep).

Bokor, Sampov Pram Pagoda

Bokor, "The Old Casino" (a picture was made in January 2018)

Kampot, the Riverfront

Kampot, the Riverfront

From Kep it is close at hand to Vietnam, which is visa free for citizens of many countries. It is half an hour to drive to the Vietnam border and just outside the border you will come to Hatien city. There are buses from Hatien to Ho Chi Minh City and other Vietnamese cities. Ferries are available from Hatien to Phu Quoc Island which is visible from Kep. Combined tickets to Vietnam can be bought at Kep. In the same place, there are several casinos located at the Vietnamese border. Getting there from Kep is easy, so the gamblers can enjoy, just like in Sihanoukville.

To make brief conclusions, Kep loses to Sihanoukville in terms of beach quality and infrastructure development. The first drawback is compensated by the beautiful Rabbit Island, and the infrastructure lack is compensated by the proximity of Kampot.

The significant advantages of Kep are lower prices for rental properties, peaceful and quiet atmosphere, absence of construction sites, beautiful nature, mountains and diverse tropical vegetation, lots of tourist attractions, proximity to Vietnam, cleanliness, and ideal roads.